In the summer, Arsenal fans were disappointed with the lack of signings. We brought in Flamini and Sanogo on free transfers, but missed out on Luis Suarez, Gonzalo Higuain, Stevan Jovetic, Lars Bender and a host of other big names.
We played Aston Villa at home on the first day of the season and lost 3-1. Things couldn’t have got any worse.
But then, on transfer deadline day, we pulled off the unthinkable – we signed a world class player at the peak of his career. We signed Real Madrid superstar Mesut Özil. The club had a massive lift and for the majority of the season so far, we’ve been at the top of the league.
Now on the last day of the January transfer window, we find ourselves in a similar position. We’ve been linked with German super-kid Julian Draxler but found out that deal was never going to happen. So instead, we’ve managed to sign 31 year old Swedish International Kim Kallstrom from Spartak Moscow on loan for the rest of the season.
The signing makes sense, with Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and Tomas Rosicky all injured. And we also have Mathieu Flamini out for 4 games after his red card against Southampton, and the number of yellows he’s picked up previously. Mikel Arteta is really our only recognised central midfielder.
I haven’t seen much of Kim Kallstrom to form any sort of opinion of him. From the International games I’ve seen in World Cups and European Championships, he strikes me as a reliable midfielder who does the basics right. Anything special? Perhaps not. Decent cover? Probably.
How Arsene Wenger settled on Kim Kallstrom is a strange one. We all know transfer deals are complicated, drawn out and involve so many different people, representatives and officials. Was Kim Kallstrom offered to Arsenal as a midfield option? Was he our first choice or someone a lot further down the pecking order?
I guess we’ll never know. But he does strike me as a last minute panic buy, in the same mould as Andre Santos, and we know how successful he was at the club.
Don’t forget the BFG and Arteta was also called a panic buy together with Santos and we know how they turned out. I must admit I know nothing about Kallstrom but we should stay positive. He can’t be capped over 100 times for Sweden if he doesn’t have some decent capabilities. COYG!!!
Panic buy? Give rational Gooners a break! Wenger was negotiating from the opening of the TW but he determined that there weren’t any players worth the investment. Draxler was NEVER considered, except by the shite spinning media which you, as a simpleton, believed totally. We now have a decent, on loan defensive midfielder with International experience and a good reputation. Excellent backup for the DM position and Wenger’s preoccupation with defensive football is now assuaged.
Stop talking down to people like you know Wenger’s master plan, I have news for you – he doesn’t have one, you are the simpleton believing he does.
Let see how it pans out and as Wenger always says – judge me in May, anything less than a trophy (most realistically the FA cup), or 2nd place is failure in my eyes.
You faggot
I think kim signing is not bad but arsenal really needed a top class striker, failing to sign newcastle united striker papi’s cisse is absolutely a big failure to the club and show that arsene was never serius on signing coz he coulding sign him in a parmanent contract but wanted to brought players on loan, arsene should know that he dont have a strong attackin to win the title.
Papiss Cisse ?? Really ? He has 1 goal in 15 premier league matches. To put it in perspective mertasacker has more goals in premier league than cisse
This article is a joke! He was not a panick buy but a LOAN! Can’t you see he wants to spend out hard earned money on a proper target in summer. Draxler will be cheaper then and we need someone to help push us on, not a project for next few seasons. It’s blogs like this that help create the non sense from Gooners we read/hear. Have some faith for Christ Sake! Also we are no longer top of league coscity are so your wrong claiming we are top ‘so far’….
If he can do a job when called for then I will be happy…
Coyg
draxler wont be cheaper in the summer, he is under contract with a release clause which will need to be met. don’t where you get your assumptions from.
Agreed, not a panic buy, but the Swede is a tactical solution for injuries and suspensions in the next 6 weeks when we have some tough games ahead.
I am however, extremely dissapointed with the lost opportunity of providing Giroud with some cover. Let’s face it, we didn’t necessarily need a world class striker to come in, just an improvement on Bendtner, and I just don’t believe there weren’t any options available.
We still have exactly the same problem we faced at the end of the summer!!
I’m not convinced we do need a better striker than Bendtner. He’s scored an important goal for us already and seems motivated to prove himself. He’s never been a bad player and is capable of covering Giroud imo.
On another note, never understood why Park wasn’t really given a chance. He looked like he had the ability but struggled to get into some of his games, which could have changed with a bit of match time. Reminds me a bit of Vela although he really earned more opportunities with his cup performances and never really received them.
We arsenal fans let the media dictate what we think. Wenger always insisted he wasn’t signing Drax this TW. Big quetion: which big name is ready to b sold this TW? Would it b a trophy guarantee? Wenger is NOT a fool. On Kallstrom being a panic buy, you could b a panic writer, who knows?
My impression of Kallstrom is that he gained a pretty big reputation when he was young and did well in France which led to him being signed by Lyon (when they were the top side) and he just did ok there. I think overall he never reached his potential but has been a solid player overall. I can see why we signed him: he’s an adaptable and strong midfielder who can play similarly to Arteta or Wilshere – how well he can cover for them at this stage in his career is the big question!
First of all…we are 2nd in the league by 1 point! To the supposed best team in the world! Not many people rate Arsenal STILL after half a season of proving people wrong!! They all say Citeh and even Chelski are miles ahead of us! If so, how come we are ONLY 1 point behind Citeh and 2 points ahead of Chelski?? I will tell you, because we have performed well this season and more than matched those mercenaric ‘superclubs’! We are well in the mix and have been top of the table for the majority of the season!!
We have only lost to Villa (which we were very unlucky to lose and half our fans were booing the team etc) and to City away! We scored 3 goals there and coulda scored 6 like they did!! They got lucky! We missed our chances! And we lost to RVP! but again, we played better than united!! so we have only lost to one lower team! and lost away from home to 2 big clubs!! That is incredible!!
Chelsea have lost to Stoke, Newcastle and Everton! and Man City have lost 4 games against Cardiff, Sunderland, Villa and Chelsea! So basically City have lost to one big team and lost to 3 small teams in comparison and Chelsea have lost to 3 small teams in comparison! So out of the top 3, Arsenal have the best record against lower teams! And guess what? there are more of them than big teams!! So for me, Arsenal have been the best team in the league so far! Because (apart from villa) we only lose the games we ‘should’ lose! Losing away from home to big clubs is fine! Losing at home or away to smaller teams is not good!! CHAMPIONS are consistent!!! Like Arsenal have been!
So basically my point is that Arsenal have been better than most of you lot think! The same squad of players that got us to where we are now are STILL here!!!! If they got us this far, why can’t they continue??? We don’t need more players!!!! We need our current players fit and in form!!! I would even argue our squad is in a much better state now as we have Poldi and The Ox back fit!! They missed most of the first half of the season!! So they are 2 new players!!! Yes we have lost Theo! But he has had niggly injuries all season long so we have been fine without relying on him! Apart from Theo and Diaby, all our squad is looking fit!
I know Rambo is out for a month and Flamini has a 3game ban! BUT GUESS WHAT?? They are central midfielders and we signed an experienced central midfielder!!!!! So well done Arsene!! Great vision once again!! Many of you will argue…we didnt sign a striker!! WE DONT NEED ONE!! We have Giroud and POLDI is back as our 2nd choice!! (everyone has forgotten that Poldi is a striker!!!) Sanogo is a wonderkid and back fit now! Plus we have Bendtner as an extra body who can play up front on his own!! That is 2 very good strikers and 2 good back up!! You dont need more than 4!!!!
Kallstrom is in as cover ONLY!! Not first choice!!! Wilshere, Rambo, Arteta, Flamini, Diaby are all in front of him!!! He is not bad as 6th choice!!! In fact, look at it this way…We got rid of Frimpong!! Who was our back up midfielder! So Kim Kallstrom is his replacement!!! SO we have actually improved our 1st team squad loads!!! Plus we got rid of Park, another bit of deadwood!! Only Bendtner left now! Then our squad will have no DEADWOOD left!!!! AMAZING!!!
About the Draxler deal..im sure we were interested but it was papertalk, pundits, newsnow and twitter which created the buzz about singing him!! NOT Wenger or Arsenal!! and to pay £35mil for a 20yo kid is ridiculous!!! So all you naysayers and doom mongers and glory supporters/plastic fans…you brought your misery on yourselves by believing every tweet, paper or newsnow article you read!! MUGS!!! Instead of dreaming about spending millions on players, get behind your current team, you claim to support? and maybe with great support, we can push our current squad over the line and win something!!! thats what real fans do!!!!!!
Wenger does not need to spend big to improve on what we have now. I believe we just need one good striker and we will be fine. This is where I believe Wenger missed an opportunity. He should have signed Loiuc Remi who is available for around 10million and the goals would have been flowing in for Arsenal. Remi is an intelligent striker with movement and that suits Ozil and Casorla well. You guys would have seen the best of Ozil with those killer passes and Remin running on to them. Remember the begining when Walcot was the beneficiary of those passes? Ozil need strikers with movement which sadly Giroud has not got. Giroud like the ball to his feet rather than running into space which makes it easy for defenders to defend against. This is why Giroud has struggled with goals.
Remi would have been a fantastic buy and would have brought out the best in Ozil. Sorry guys but I think Wenger has missed a golden opportunity here to secure the title. This is why I have always believed that Wenger is tactically naive. Giroud and Ozil will never work together. Walcot will work better with Ozil because of his movement. Period
I’m sure that if not for the rape charges Remi may have been playing in Red and White and NB52 would have been elsewhere.
Think AW got a bit confused….. he only looks like Draxler……
All swedes are having a laugh, he’s not a starter in the national team or Spartak and Lyon didn’t want him. He’s much to slow for PL. Please AW, don’t let him play.
Signing kim is an adition 2 z team i know him playin 4 sweden & lyon he is technical and hard workin player but i think z fatal problem of z team is lack of sharp finisher zat can fulfil z work done on ozil. If such big money is spent on asisting player, why not on a finishing zen?? I don know why a problem visible 2 whole world is hidden from AW.
Lets just hope 4 d best.
kallstrom z jus an xcuse 4 Wenger dat z 4 sure a panic buy.hw cn Wenger xpect da best wen he doesnt invest in quality players?shame on u who believe Arsenal wil win any silverware.dnt cry wen u lose losers!