blutgraetsche wrote:No matter if it is a good deal for Arsenal or not, if very likely is (but City basically always overpay), there is a danger of what we call "Substanzverlust" in German - too much 'substance', too many starters, lost. Even if those players didn't have a great season, it won't be that easy to replace them, if they are replaced at all that is. New players will need time to get used to the team and league, and the new season is going to start soon.
It's simply not what a top team, a team that wants to challenge for the league and in Europe, does.
Toure hasn't played particularly well for a couple of years now, and £16m is good money for him (and wages of £120,000 are ridiculous, but that's what we've come to expect from City), but I don't want him to go.
He is our longest serving player, one of our few experienced players, the one genuine link in the squad to when we had a successful team, and a popular player with the team and the supporters.
Our centre-backs are now someone getting towards the end of his career, someone who is unproven in this country, a talented young defender, our first choice defensive midfielder, and Senderos - who Wenger is trying to get rid of. It's not worth including Silvestre in the list, he shouldn't ever play for the club, and should be sold as soon as possible.
This has been four or five years now where we've let important players leave, and in none of those years have we actually strengthened the squad. It's a continual state of maintaining what we have, or letting our squad weaken. As you say, the substance of the team is continually being undermined and weakened.
We really need to bring in reinforcements now, but it's been pretty quiet in that respect. We arguably need a new striker (Bendtner is our only physically strong forward now), a defensive midfielder and a new centre-back, and I think the chance of us bringing in more than one player is slim. I must admit, this is really concerning me now. The whole club appears to have lost its direction. There are too many distractions off the pitch, and I just can't see a clear plan from Wenger to improve the team and our fortunes on the pitch. We're just drifting, and are falling further away from the leaders, and worryingly close to the teams below us. We haven't got long before the start of the season, and we must use the time wisely. (Sorry to start posting again with a large dose of pessimism!)
Toure can do ok for City, but they really need a strong leader at the back alongside him. When Toure has someone directing him and keeping him focused he is fine. He gets a little bit into headless chicken mode without that though.
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wrote:The whole Diarra thing was hilarious, because it was *so clear* that Flamini was gonna up sticks at the end of the season. Let's not forget that he had Palacios on trial too - and then bizarrely recommended him to Steve Bruce...
