Written by Fab4.
Well, that’s that then. Who’s surprised? Another transfer window slams shut and yet again millions of Gooners around the world are left deflated and wanting more.
It all started on the 27th March 2010, Birmingham away at St Andrews when Almunia threw away 2 vital points and with it Arsenal’s title hopes, when he palmed a routine save into his own net. I said at that point this summer was the most important in Arsene Wengers reign. The simple fact is you can’t win things without a top goalkeeper and a new No.1 had to be top priority in the summer transfer window.
Fabianski was given a few end of season games to prove he was the man to save Arsene some cash and was ready to be Arsenal’s main man between the sticks. He blew it and errors against Wigan and Blackburn showed everyone, including the boss, that he wasn’t up to the task. So a new goalkeeper was on the cards this summer.
The early signs were promising and it seemed that interest in Fulhams Mark Schwarzer meant the penny had finally dropped and Le Boss had realised what everyone else had known for 2 years.
Suddenly Cesc-gate took over and Arsene had to shift his priority to convincing his captain to stay put. Then we lost four centre backs meaning we had to go and find replacements, on top of this there was a World Cup where Arsene took a month off to work as a commentator for Castrol. But surely he would still have time to tie up a relatively simple purchase of a 37-year-old from just down the road in Fulham?
As the speculation grew Arsenal were linked with pretty much every goalkeeper on the planet but the Schwarzer rumours wouldn’t go away and chairman Peter Hill-Wood confirmed we had submitted a bid for the Aussie. YES! Finally we had confirmation we were after a goalkeeper. Schwarzer came out and expressed his desire to leave Fulham and join Arsenal to have one last crack at the big time. It was only a matter of time now before we had our man.
Suddenly things went quiet and transfer deadline day arrived. I, like many Arsenal fans, was 100% confident Wenger would sign a goalkeeper and 99% sure it would be Schwarzer. Shay Given was meant to be heading to the Cottage to replace the Arsenal-bound Schwarzer but mid-way through the day City confirmed Given was staying and in the end this proved to be a devastating blow to Arsenal’s pursuit of Schwarzer.
Big Ben sounded and time was up. Mark Hughes came out and showed his delight that Schwarzer had stayed and then shocked everyone by claiming Arsenal hadn’t even been in touch on deadline day regarding their goalkeeper. So in the end, Arsene didn’t even pick up the phone and try to sign Schwarzer. He was probably sitting in his office starring at the accounts and smiling at another successful transfer window of spending as little as possible.
We are now left with a goalkeeper in Almunia who knows his manager has lost faith in him. How can we expect him to perform under these circumstances? Our No.2 Fabianski is not ready to be first choice, he may be talented but he has shown time and time again he’s not up to it, so where do we go from here?
It’s nothing short of a disgrace, that a club like Arsenal couldn’t sign a player in 3 months. Arsene Wenger has known for over 3 months now, if not longer, that he had to sign a goalkeeper yet here we are with the window closed and no new No.1.
How many Gooners are happy with Arsenal’s transfer business this summer? The biggest positive was obviously Cesc staying, but what’s the point in that when we don’t have a goalkeeper who can lead us to a title or trophy? I would rather have sold Fabregas and used the £50m to buy a world class GK (Lloris and Buffon were available), a replacement CM (Ozil, Van Der Vaart or Arteta maybe) and a proper CB (Mertesacker, Subotic, or Zapata would have been good). Right now, who else would have sacrificed Fabregas if it meant we got Lloris, Ozil and Mertesacker in return. We could have done that and still had money to spare!
Instead we have Fabregas, but he’s playing alongside a goalkeeper who can’t get near his national team squad and is proven to be a liability. A new centre back in Squillaci who can’t get in his national team ahead of Gallas, a player we just let go to our rivals for nothing, and another centre back who has only played one year at the top level of French football! It’s almost laughable.
I’m not making snap judgements on Koscielny and Squillaci, I’m just giving the facts. To be honest, i hope Squillaci is ready to dive straight in because Kos doesn’t look like he’s ready just yet. But it’s all going to be irrelevant anyway, because Wenger has failed to address the major issue and come what may it will have once again cost us.
I will still support Arsenal, i will still be unbearable to live with after we get beaten by Chelsea and Man Utd at the Emirates again this year, and i will still be gutted when we end the season trophy-less. But for me, Arsene Wenger has let the club down, many of the players down, and most importantly the fans down. I fully respect everything he has done for the club in his 14 years and i’m sure Arsenal wouldn’t be half the side without him, but i have supported Arsenal far longer than Arsene Wengers reign, and i can see as well as anybody he has his faults. Failing to sign a goalkeeper this summer is one of his worst decisions ever.
How can we blame players for wanting to leave? Our club has no ambition anymore and the fact that we were pissing about for a deal to sign a 37-year-old for around £2-£4m shows it. If Arsene wanted him so badly why not just put in the £4m bid 2 weeks ago, so Fulham had time to find a replacement, and we wouldn’t be in this mess. It’s pathetic.
I honestly fell for all Arsene’s rubbish this time. We all know the story, at the end of the season he says he knows where we need strengthening, he’s identified his targets and wants to get the transfers done quickly. Then f-all comes of it. But this time i thought he was finally ready to spend the money we keep hearing about and on the players we needed in order to make us a real threat again. More fool me, it won’t happen again.
Simple facts: Arsene wanted to buy a keeper – we had the money – keepers were available to buy – he had 3 months to do it – he failed to deliver
Another transfer window full of broken promises.
Rant over.
