Arsenal FC- Challenging for the Title 2012

Brief History

Arsenal were founded in 1886 by a group of factory Workers of the Royal Arsenal. They were originally named Dial Square FC but were quickly renamed the Royal Arsenal and moved to Woolwich. They built Highbury and moved to North London in 1913. They dropped the Woolwich from their name and became The Arsenal. In 1919 they were elected to join the first Division at Tottenham's expense, which combined with the fact they moved into Tottenham territory, started the huge rivalry between the clubs. In the following years Arsenal became hugely successful including winning 3 titles in a row due to the foundation laid by Herbert Chapman. Their next period of success started in 1971 when they won the League Title and the FA Cup double, they then lost 3 consecutive FA cup finals and finished runner's up in the Cup Winners Cup in 1978. George Graham led the next period of success when he won the League Cup in 1986-87 and then winning the League title in 1988-89. Arséne Wenger lead the next successful period when he led the team to titles in the 1997-98, 2001-02, and the Invincibles in 2003-04. He also led the clubs to FA Cup titles in '98, '02, '03, and '05. Could the next period of success start now?


I wasn't going to do this but these forums are really good, So I'm going to post all my updates in a row at the beginning of this thread so don't post till I tell you guys.

English First Division/ Premier League: 13 Titles, 8 Runners Up

FA Cup: 10 Titles, 7 Runners Up

League Cup: 2 Titles, 5 Runners Up

FA Community Shield: 12 Titles, 7 Runner's up

Euro Cup Winner's Cup: 1 Title, 2 Runner's Up

Arsène Wenger is undoubtedly one of the most famous and successful managers of all time and has transformed Arsenal from a mid table side with an occasional good season into a perennial powerhouse. The Arsenal were struggling to deal with the fact that George Graham had taken bribes to sign certain players so the Board sacked the Manager despite several successful seasons. Stewart Houston took over as caretaker manager and only led the club throughout the rest of the season with a 7-3-9 record. Bruce Ricoh took over on a permanent basis the next season and did considerably well but was sacked after an argument with the board of transfer funds. The club had fired their manager just days before the start of the season. Stewart Houston and Pat Rice then took over the team and led them to a respectable 5-2-3 record before the Arsenal board decided on Arsène Wenger as the replacement.

Wenger had just led Nagoya Grampus to a top 3 finish in the J-League as well as an Emperor's cup. The Frenchman had been in charge of AS Monaco for seven years before that and had developed a reputation for buying young starlets and turning them into super stars such as George Weah and Jürgen Klinsmann. Wenger was still relatively unknown in the UK however and the appointment of the Frenchman turned many heads. At the end of the first season at the helm, he led the Gunners to a third place finish and missed out on the Champions League on goal-difference. His second season in charge he won the League and Cup double with the help of some Wengeresque signings such as Nicolas Anelka and Emmanuel Petit. The next few seasons were not as good leading to what many regard as one of the best purchases in modern football, The transfer of 22 year old winger turned striker, Thierry Henry. After failing to establish himself at Juventus, he was sold to the Gunners for £11 million, a bargain price for what he would achieve for the Club. Wenger and Henry would lead the team to several triumphs including the Invicibles season where the Gunners went 49 matches unbeaten.

Wenger's last success in English football however was the 2005 FA Cup, Under pressure from the media, and the club's supporter's could this be the season he turns it around and provides us with multiple trophies?

To be announced

1. Arsenal
2. Aston Villa
3. Blackburn
4. Bolton
5. Chelsea
6. Everton
7. Fulham
8. Liverpool
9. Manchester City
10. Manchester United
11. Newcastle United
12. Norwich
13. QPR
14. Stoke City
15. Sunderland
16. Swansea City
17. Tottenham Hotspurs
18. WBA
19. Wigan Athletic
20. Wolverhampton

Arsène Wenger has rocked the football world by naming his successor, prompting discussion whether "The Professor" will retire. Dragan Stojkovic, who was bought by Wenger in his Nagoya Grampus days, has left his job with the Japanese club and took up the position that was occupied by Pat Rice. Rice left his post and joined the Clubs youth ranks as Director of Coaching. Stojkovic has already been highly praised by Wenger and the Frenchman told ESPN last year that he would like Stojkovic to take over when he was done at the London Club saying that "We do things similarly."

Stojkovic has been highly successful at Nagoya, bettering Wenger with a J-League triumph and Manager of the Year Award. The Serbian had a highly successful playing career including 4 years at Red Star Belgrade. He won the Champions League with Marseille in 1993 and was runner up in the same competition 2 years earlier. He then won two Emperor's cups with Nagoya and was named the league MVP in his second season under Wenger, 1995. He was also voted into the J-League best Eleven team in 3 seasons and was the Japanese Footballer of the Year in 1995.

It appears that Wenger was pulling the strings to get Stojkovic to the London Club so is Arsène's future in doubt? Will the Frenchman retire at the season's close or earlier? Only time will tell.

7/1/11

Wenger has launched a quadruple bid to land several starlets at the Emirates for the upcoming season. Wenger is known for his ability to pick a diamond in the rough and these stalets have shown glimpses of their tantalizing potential at their current clubs. De Bruyne, who is also wanted by Chelsea and Liverpool, currently plays in the Belgian Pro League for Racing Genk, the current champions. Fernando Canesin, signed for RSCA at the age of 17, from Ole Brasil in his native country. Canesin has shown huge potential for the future and is regarded a playmaker, a figure that is indeed missing from the Arsenal dressing room. Phillippe Coutinho is another playmaker likened to former world great Ronaldinho. Finally Younès Belhanda is a defensive midfielder for Montpellier. The 21 year old is known for being able to spray balls out wide and start a quick counter attack.

De Bruyne and Coutinho, both world renown at this point have had bids submitted to their respective clubs in the region of £10 million. Canesin, a relative unknown has been contacted and a bid is in place with his club Anderlecht for £5 million. Belhanda's club Montpellier are going to want big compensation for the defensive midfielder and Arsenal have bid £18 million, £3 million over his market value. In other news Brek Shea, a top target for many Euro clubs over the summer, is unavailable due to the lack of cover in FC Dallas' squad.

Montpellier HSC has laughed off Arsenal's bid of £18 Million for the Center Midfielder and Arsenal have broken off negotiations with the French Club. René Girard has said that it would take a bid that we just cannot turn down to get rid of the Moroccan. The French Club did the same thing a year ago when they told Arsenè Wenger that it would take a £25 million bid to get Spahic, which is absolutely crazy. Belhanda would fit into a central midfield role or a defensive midfield role, which would help get Wilshere more involved in the attack. Song currently plays next to the teenage wonder kid but he is rumored to be heading out the door with Juventus, Sevilla, and Wolfsburg all interested in the Cameroonian. Wenger has told The Sun that he will not be negotiating any more transfers with Montpellier until they get more reasonable and accept more neutral negotiations.

In other transfer news regarding The Gunners, Arsenal are close to signing De Bruyne and Canesin from Genk and Anderlecht, while Internazionale has turned down their bid of £10.5 million to sign Coutinho. They are believed to have re-submitted a £11.5 million bid. In world transfer news, Manchester United are getting close to signing Alexandre Pato and Chelsea are rumored to be after Sevilla's Jesus Navas.

Kevin De Bruyne and Fernando Canesin have made their moves to London's most historic club official with a combined transfer fee of over £15 million. The duo were both playing in Belgium for the arguably the Nations two biggest clubs, Racing Genk and R.S.C. Anderlecht. De Bruyne is coming off a league title winning and career year in the Pro League, scoring 5 goals and racking up 16 assists in Belgium's top flight. In total De Bruyne has played 65 times and scored 7 goals for the Genk outfit. Fernando Canesin has only played for Anderlecht 4 times but has impressed Arsenal scouts enough to persuade Wenger to make a formal bid for the player. Anderlecht were eager to sell as £5 million is a lot of money to clubs in small leagues.

De Bruyne and Canesin both sign contracts that will see them at the London outfit through 2015. They will both earn £ 15,000 a week. Kevin De Bruyne is excited by the challenge ahead saying he thinks he can make a real impact on the team, first as a super sub, and then as a starter. "Well I'm hoping to get a few appearances under my belt in the start of the season, and who knows, if I get lucky, I may be able to force my way into the line up." Said the 20 year old winger. Canesin however seems more content with training and playing in the Cup and making a few sub appearances for the Gunners this season. "I'm only 19, some of the best players in the past didn't even make the move to Europe until they were in their 20s, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo and many others. I'm just lucky I was in the right place at the right time." The young Brazilian said. Wenger spoke highly of the two saying they were both "technically gifted" and presented a "good attitude" to each training session.

7/19/11

Andrey Arshavin has closed the curtains on his disappointing Arsenal career after a bright start led to horrible criticism he just couldn't "live with." He has been sold to big spending Manchester City for £8.5 million as City try to add winning experience to compete this season. Mancini identified his wings as areas he could improve so he decided to buy the 30 year old Russian. Arshavin stated that he loved Arsenal and its supporters but he feels he could never please them and said while he has great respect for the club and he will always support them as he has since he was a child, it would be very had to forget what the fans have put "me" through. Chamakh meanwhile has reportedly signed a contract with Wolfsburg after Arsenal accepted a 10.5 million bid for the Moroccan. Chamakh, while scoring 7 goals in the beginning part of the 10-11 season, has seen his fortunes totally turned around as he has failed to score in the Premier League in almost 8 months. Chamakh was singed on a free from French club Bordeaux, and looked like another genius Wenger signing until his form rapidly decreased starting in December of last season. The English game had reportedly taken its tole on the striker and Chamakh was increasingly unsettled. When Wolfsburg came knocking with £10.5 million it was just too good to refuse. Wolfsburg is said to be looking for a replacement for losing striker Mario Mandzukic.

This will be abnormally short since it is only a pre-season match of little importance.


Arsenal got their pre-season off to a good start with a come from behind victory over Spanish club CA Osasuna. 2-1 was the score and Osasuna got off to a graet start when Raul Garcia scored a goal after good work from Roland. De Bruyne jumpstarted Arsenal's attack in the 71st by drawing a foul in the area and Park converted the penalty. Chamakh then came on to secure the win for Arsenal when he scpored a wonderful solo effort after beating Bertran and firing in from 18. In Transfer news Chamakh has agreed to a 3 year deal with Wolfsburg and will begin training next week.

Player Ratings
Mannone- 6.9
Santos- 6.9
Miquel- 5.9
Koscielny- 5.8
Jenkinson- 6.4
Coquelin- 5.7
Coutinho- 6.4
Canesin- 6.1
Benayoun- 5.7
Chamakh-N/A
De Bruyne- 6.4
Miyiachi- 6.9
Park- 6.7

Arsenal have confirmed the sale of Alex Song to Sevilla for around 17.5 million while they have bought Younes Belhanda for 10 more million. Alex Song departs the North London club after having spent the better part of 6 years in the English capital, he leaves to join former Arsenal transfer target Emir Spahic in the Spanish city. As a direct replacement Younes Belhanda has been bought to replace the Cameroonian. The 21 year old usually plays as a central midfielder but will probably drop a little deeper than usual as Arsenal look to employ a screen across the back four.

Alex Song was bought by Arsenal in the summer of 2005 from Bastia, initially on loan the deal was made permanent the following summer for a fee speculated to be around £1 million. Song had a rough start to his Arsenal career and was loaned out to eventually relegated Charlton Athletic for the latter part of his first season. He started at centerback for Arsenal's 07-08 League Cup campaign but missed the humiliating 5-1 defeat to Spurs because he was competing in the African Cup of nations for Cameroon. The next season proved vital for Alex's career. He went on to make almost 50 appearances in all competitions for Arsenal and cemented his role in front of the Arsenal back four, a position previously occupied by Mathieu Flamini, who left for AC Milan on a free. This season remains the highest appearance total he had been able to rack up for Arsenal. Song had a good following season and was excellent in the 10-11 season. Wenger said that the money was just too good to turn down and that Arsenal had Emmanuel Frimpong who could follow in Song's footsteps as well as the newly acquired Belhanda.

Belhanda has been acquired from Montpellier HSC. Belhanda has made himself more and more important to the French club's setup which is why the team charged so much for the young playmaker. Belhanda has made 69 appearances and scored 4 goals since breaking into the team in 2009 and Wenger has big plans for the Moroccan midfielder. "He's a player that will be able to make an unbelievable trio with Ramsey and Wilshere in a few years." Those were the words that Wenger spoke to the press during the presentation.

Arsenal FC have confirmed that Fillipe has been signed for £12.5 Million, roughly £1.5 million more than Atletico bought him for last year. Following the departure of Clichy the North London club have been looking for a reliable left back. Kieran Gibbs was seen to be that option but he is very injury prone and Andre Santos has been very inconsistent in the past. Fillipe has spent the past 6 years in Spain playing for Real Madrid's B team, Deportvio La Coruna and last year Atletico Madrid.

Fillipe was born in Brazil to a Polish father and started his footballing career with now Arsenal teammate Andre Santos at Figueirense in 1995 when he was 10. He was promoted to the club's first team in 2003 and was loaned out to Ajax the following season. He was then bought by Uruguayan club Rentistas but was almost immediately loaned out again to Real Madrid. He spent a full season with their B team before heading to Deportivo La Coruna on a two year loan deal. He appeared 52 times for Depo before the deal was made permanent and he spent the next two years with the Galician club. Atletico purchased him in July of 2010 but Arsenal's offer just a year later was too good to refuse.

With Arsenal he is expected to fill in at left back and occasionally right back to give Sagna a rest. He played with now teammate Andre Santos in his childhood, something he says will help him settle in North London quicker than other summer signings. " I played with Andre when I was a kid. Hopefully this chemistry will help us adjust to lie at the Emirates quicker than some other players in the past."

Arsenal defeated a strong Newcastle side 2-0 thanks to goals from English winger Theo Walcott and wonderboy Jack Wilshere. Arsenal had several new signings making their debuts for the club today; Mertesacker, Belhanda, Arteta, and Gervinho were all in the startins line up and Fillipe and De Bruyne made appearances from the bench bringing the total number of debuts on the pitch to 6 for Arsenal. Newcastle started young Tim Krul in goal and it looks like this will be his first full season in charge at the back for Newcastle, same goes for the young Szczesny in Arsenal's goal.

Arsenal started off well and Theo Walcott produced some magical dribbling in the 3rd minute to free up space for Robin Van Persie to have a shot, though it was straight at Krul from 18 yards. The opening goal came just 2 minutes later for Arsenal, courtesy of Theo Walcott. Sagna made a great last ditch tackle on Jonas before okaying Wilshere at midfield. Wilshere turned and found Van Persie who flicked in Walcott. Walcott raced past Santon before slotting it under Krul for an early lead. 1-0 to the Arsenal rang out as the Home crowd was stunned.

Arsenal continued to barrage the Newcastle goal with effort after effort, first Van Persie in the 30th after good work from Belhanda, Krul was up to the challenge. Then again in the 48th when Wilshere's ball in behind the defense was taken in stride by Theo Walcott but he could only shoot straight at Krul. 3 minutes later Mikel Arteta hit the bar from a Van Persie lay off after a corner kick from Wilshere. Mertesacker blocked the clearance and Van Persie collected and layed off the Summer signing but the bar came to Newcastle's rescue. Newcastle signee Yoann Gourcuff then forced an incredible double save from Szczesny moments later.

The away support could sense a second goal coming and their side obliged on 83 minutes when Wilshere found the net from 22 yards after Belhanda beat Colocinni and pulled Williamson out of position. Belhanda then passed to a wide open Wilshere who took a touch and slammed it into the bottom corner. Fillipe and De Bruyne came on moments later but there was no time for anyone to make an impact as the damage had already been done. 2-0 the final score for the Gunners.

Player Ratings

Szczesny-7.9 MOTM
Sagna-6.3
Mertesacker-5.9
Vermaelen-6.5
Fillipe-N/A
Belhanda-5.7
Wilshere-7.6
Arteta-6.8
Walcott-7.8
Van Persie-7.2
De Bruyne-N/A
Gibbs-5.8
Gervinho-6.2

Arsène Wenger may see a big fine coming his way via the FA after this pre match interview. When asked by a certain reporter what he thought of his opponents Liverpool and if they could challenge for the top four after the appointment of Kenny Dalglish, Wenger came unglued. Ripping into Liverpool FC saying that they were no longer a top 4 club let alone a title challenger. He then went on to say Kenny Dalglish was one of the most disrespectful managers in the premier league. He had some other things to say about his own team throughout the interview which you can read below.

Unnamed reporter: What are your thoughts on your opponents Liverpool and if they could challenge for the top four after the appointment of Kenny Dalglish?

Wenger: Liverpool are one of the most entitled and small time clubs in the Premier League at the moment. No big club goes from a comfortable fourth place finish to not even playing European football in two seasons time. Liverpool are in crisis and in my opinion will never challenge for the title again, at least not in the foreseeable future and especially not with Kenny Dalglish in charge. He's very disrespectful and he's not good at what he does. He inherited a good team and had several obvious transfer targets that have turned out well. A good motivator maybe, manager not a chance.

Callum: What is your realistic ambition for the coming season?

Wenger: Well I would like to believe we could challenge for the title but a top 3 finish is more likely but you can never be to sure, there are more top teams now then last season and they could really give us a good run. Teams like Tottenham, Manchester City, and Newcastle, they all have good squads coached by good managers.

Abu Bakar: Were you impressed with the dubutees vs Newcastle? Do you think your team can challenge for the title now?

Wenger: I was very impressed with my debutants against Newcastle. I thought they all did very well and have settled in quickly. I was especially impressed by Mikel Arteta. He terrorized the Newcastle defense all night and was unlucky not to get a goal. I do think we can challenge for the title, or at least give the other teams a good run. It is to early to tell for certain though.

Neal: You know, Mario Gotze is a fan of Arsenal, and he's already been linked to your club, do you think you will try and sign him at some point to fill the void that Nasri left? There have been rumours that Van Persie want's to leave, any truth to that?

Wenger: Well I was actually unaware of that fact (Götze being an Arsenal supporter) but I can confirm he will not be signing with the club this season. We were negotiating to bring him to the Emirates before we were cut short on Transfer funds. Dortmund made it very clear they value him at £40 million and after we signed Belhanda our funds dropped well below that. We will most likely try again next summer. I am unaware of the Van Persie rumors and can tell you that they are completely false at the moment. Though a lot can change between now and the close of the transfer window.

Aus: With many clubs challenging in the top 4, do you feel you can grab a spot? Anymore signings to be announced?

Wenger: I always feel as if we can finish in the top four. The day I do not believe we can is the day I will resign and let Stojkovic take over and take the club forward. At the moment we are trying to push through one more transfer but I will not release the name of the player at this moment. He is a striker though.

Alright you guys can post now. Should have a liverpool match up sometime in the next few hours

Woah, all those updates in 10 minutes

Good luck

Good luck.

Mike wrote:

Woah, all those updates in 10 minutes

Good luck

yah I didn't want to be behind on my other one.

Callum. wrote:

Good luck.

Thanks mate.

Good luck, I love how the graphics blend in with the background.

Good luck

You came here
Good Luck.

Thanks everyone