Cabaye, Di Maria & Expecting Wenger to get it right…..

Cabaye, Di Maria & Expecting Wenger to get it right…..

Morning all.
Gossip to start with and then Steve’s post…
Reports in The Daily Mirror suggest that Yohan Cabaye’s representatives were in London last night to discuss a £16m deal.
Apparently Joe Kinnear has said  “We’ve told Arsenal our terms, the ball is in their court’.
Other reports suggest that Newcastle want £20 million for their player but surely they are having a laugh! I have a sneaky feeling that this deal could be done very soon.
Bendtner is reported to be on the verge of a move to Crystal Palace where he’ll join Chamakh. Would be good to finally get him off the books but he’ll have to take a pay cut, unless the deal is another loan.
Finally, The Metro believe we are all set to bid £25.8  bid for Real Madrid winger Angel di Maria. Good old Metro!
Onto the main post….
The positivity is back with us for a game or so. No doubt a good win tomorrow will maintain that feeling.
No let up on transfer talk but I must say Wengers’ few words the other day has given me food for thought.
Wenger will be active he says and although he has also made it clear that we have a very good team he must also be aware that the squad could be a hell of a lot stronger. Wenger can say just a few sentences and with them, he usually get the backs up of most of the supporters.
He surely knows we are getting desperate after the clear out has left us depleted but in fairness to Wenger, we wouldn’t have used any of those who have left anyway.
Wenger surely knows that he needs a few players  in that he can call on at any time and despite there being eight days left in this window, he still has the time to sort out a few. Personally I don’t like his way of doing things because I feel its unfair for other clubs who may lose players, leaving their manager no time at all to sign a replacement.
Why should Wenger care about that, after all its a competitive sport and he like many others will only be interested in making his own squad stronger.
Many see our neighbours competing in the market and spending vast amounts on new players. They seem to have a flair for it , their man who pull the strings and writes the cheques is doing a good job. Their manager is excited with his new signings and no doubt he feels a bit like we do on Christmas Day, when we keep opening presents one after another.  I can remember many Christmas Days like that but it wasn’t long before I realised that some of the toys I was given as a kid, weren’t as good as I thought. One year I got a round target bow and arrow set. You spun the target round and fired the sticky plunger arrows and they would stick to the target but after a few hours of firing and missing, the plungers wouldn’t hold any more so the target got put to one side and the bow and arrows went outside in the garden. It wasn’t long before the arrows disappeared and the bow was cast aside and that’s how I think some of their players will end up.
Wenger on the other hand seems to me to be one of the kids that would have negotiated with his parents as to what presents he should have I can see him now with his little microscope taking wings off of flies and working out how they work.
Apparently he played football and was a defender he played a good standard but was hardly a renown player, and with his many degree’s and qualifications he understood really early that good money was to be earned by being in charge. Wenger speaks about 12 languages fluently he has business degree’s, he has psychology qualifications and I would assume he also has sports nutrition degree of some kind and all that goes with it.
He is a very intelligent man but at times, to a layman like myself, he seems a bit of a plank.
He hardly smiles, he gives nothing away in actual fact he comes across as being quite boring, the kind of man that if I sat in a pub with him, I’d probably talk to myself. Despite my view, he seems to be the only manager who is followed where ever he goes, never a day goes past without some sort of story involving the man. Why so many find him that interesting I don’t know.
As he talks in interviews, he hardly says anything to get fans excited but he knows football, he knows what he wants from it and he knows how to get the best from his players. Wenger has huge respect throughout the football world. Arsenal are not the most successful club in the world but everybody knows him. Many are asking for his head, yet many clubs around the world would jump at the chance to sign him up as their manager.
I have taken to Wenger, not that I am on his wavelength at all, because the man is stubborn and he’s his own man. He wont be brow beaten and if he believes he’s right he will stick with it. Wenger has for years done things the same way he knows his limitations he knows the clubs limitations and he knows his players limitations. I feel he balances them together and tries to work out the best he can achieve with what he has always realising that price and talent is not a true science.
He has the backing of the owner and board and as far as I know they have complete trust in him and why shouldn’t they he has made them all rich. He has as we are all told over and over again, a salary of £7 million a year and many fans believe this is far too much for what he is doing and has done but the people that pay him would gladly double that, as they know its money well spent.
We are one game away from another £30 million coming in which will make it 17 years on the trot of being in the Champions League so if you think he’s not worth that £7 million, you are having a laugh.
Wenger will no doubt now step his work rate up for these last few days of this window. He will have targets, he will no doubt also bid low so he will get knocked back quite a few times but he will be feeling them all out. Yes there will be the outcries from the Pardew and the likes but the ones who he actually deals with will say very little.
Wenger is not that complicated when you sit back and watch. I wouldn’t expect him to go overboard with his signings but I expect to see quality players . He will know exactly what he wants from them and it will be a lot but those players who come in, if they do what he wants them to do, will be looked after. He will take them under his wing, protect them on their bad day and praise them on good as he’s a mans manager. He will get their respect and he will make them better players and he’ll make them richer too. Of course, he will make himself richer too as Arsenal go from strength to strength.
Will we win the League or Champions League? Maybe, maybe not but we will be up there challenging.
Is this team good enough to win the League? No I don’t think so, but with a few signings we could…
We’ll have to wait and see what happens over the next week….
Have a good day all.
http://highbury-house.com/2013/08/26/cabaye-di-maria-expecting-wenger-to-get-it-right/