Arsenal Fans Let Their Voices Be Heard

Morning all. What's crackin? Not a whole lot of news to go over today regarding Arsenal, except that Gareth Barry reportedly really wants to come to Arsenal. So nothing we haven't heard before. Would you rather have Gareth Barry or Xabi Alonso? That's a tough question. I'd certainly take either but I do wonder who most of you would take if you could pick one.

So yesterday I asked you all to fill out a survey about the 08/09 season for Arsenal, and the responses were really interesting to me. So today I think I'll just go over the survey results and talk about what they mean for Arsenal.

The first question was simply, how do you feel about the season as a whole, and 40.9% of responders said they were disappointed, probably online betting people. 27% said it was acceptable, while 18% said it was neither acceptable nor disappointing. So very few people were REALLY happy with this season and not many were VERY disheartened either. I'd say that's probably a pretty accurate reflection of all of the Arsenal fan base. While there were some positives, like reaching the semi-final of the Champions League and the FA Cup, winning zero trophies yet again makes it disappointing for me.

The next question was about the player of the season, and this one really surprised me! With 31.8% of the vote, Robin van Persie was selected as Arsenal's player of the season over Andrey Arshavin and Manuel Almunia, who placed second and third. I may get bashed for this one but I think Robin van Persie gets a lot more credit than he deserves. He's a great player no doubt but if you're never fit than how useful are you really? He did a better job of staying healthy this year but if I'm asked for my personal player of the season I'm taking Almunia or Alex Song, who I thought really made a breakthrough.

A whopping 95.5% of responders said that Arsenal need to strengthen the squad before next season, so no debate there really.

50% of fans said we weren't too far off from Champions Manchester United, while 40% said there is a noticeable gap between us and the league winners. I think when you look at the squads as a whole, the gap is possibly wider than it appears. When you look at our bench on most league games, you see players like Eboue, Diaby, etc while on United's you see Tevez, Berbatov, Giggs, Nani, and others that I think are better players. Our first eleven can play with anybody, but I think we lose out in squad depth.

For the question asking which position needed strengthening the most, unsurprisingly the top answers were center back and defensive midfield. I think everyone agrees with that. Even with Song's emmergence, we could still use an experienced player like we got with Arshavin that could really lock down our midfield.

82% of fans say that Cesc Fabregas is our most important player, and he damn well is. He's our Xavi and Iniesta all rolled into one, and when he's gone our team isn't half as good as it is with him.

A really interesting one asked if it was more important to play beautiful football or to win trophies, and amazingly, the vote was split 50-50. I have a follow up question for those of you who said beatiful football is more important. Are you saying that you would rather Arsenal always be able to play good football and not ever win another trophy? Personally, I'd rather have the trophies. Arsenal used to be a 1-0 team forever but winning still felt nice.

100% of fans said that Arsene Wenger is the right man to take Arsenal forward as manager. That's right, 100%. So that should put that debate to bed. In Arsene We Trust, that's right.

So the survey did provide some interesting results, and I think most of them really showed that Arsenal fans have very similar opinions about most subjects regarding the club. We still have faith in our manager, and we know where are main weaknesses are, so let's get them fixed. Come on Arsene, if Barry wants to come, then let's bring him in.

If you have any thoughts, share them. If not, thanks for reading. Cheers.

Arsenal To Sign Two Prospects and End of Year Survey

Good morning all. What did you think of the Champions League Final? If I had to guess I'd say you probably all enjoyed it immensely, getting to watch the red cunts from the north crying and getting crushed by a team that resembles a better version of our team. We tried to play that exact same game that Barcelona played, but there are just a few differences. Denilson is not Andres Iniesta, Theo Walcott is not Leo Messi, and Adebayor is not Samuel Eto'o. So as we get those slight problems worked out, we'll be as good as them! Really though, watching that Barca team is fantastic. Iniesta was man of the match for me. He was pressuring United all over the field and his dribbling and movement was astounding. Of course Messi was scary as shite every time he touched the ball, but that's just a given now. He's amazing. I was really hoping Thierry would score, and I loved when he skinned Rio Ferdinand and Rio ended up on his arse and Thierry got in a shot, but it wasn't to be. At least he finally got the medal he deserves though. I love TH14, and if it couldn't be Arsenal winning the trophy, then I think Barca deserves it more than any other team, for the way they play, the players they have, and the way they have dominated everyone this season.

Right, on to Arsenal then. It appears we're going to have two new signings, but don't get your hopes up because they are both 15 years old. Jamie Edge, from Cheltenham Town, has had a fee agreed on by the two clubs and just has to agree to personal terms. The other player is Martin Angha or FC Zurich. Edge is a midfielder and Angha is a defender. That's pretty much all I know about either of them.

This does tell us a lot more about Arsenal though. We have previously discussed which trophies Wenger prioritizes, but now we know the answer to that undoubtedly is the FA Youth Cup. We won it this year, and now he's restocking the team to make another run at it. No wonder we haven't been making many first team signings, it's because what really matters at the club is whether or not our 16 year olds can win trophies next year. Now I see the project finally coming to fruition, all this time I thought we were trying to get things like the Champions League and the FA Cup, but really it's about holding onto the Youth Cup. Everything is clear to me now. It's also being reported that we're after 16 year old Dutch youngster Luc Castagoines. We're really going to make a run at that trophy next year!

Robin van Persie has been looking to sign a new contract but says that right now there is "nothing to report." He still has 2 years left on his current deal but with the way players can leave on Webster's and Bosman's and all of that you can never have long enough contracts. Hopefully they get this one done pretty soon because we all know what an important player RvP is for Arsenal when he's healthy, which unfortunately is not enough.

And last but certainly not least today is Theo Walcott being called up for the Under-21 Championships this summer. A lot of people seem to be making a fuss about it, saying he will be tired from not having a summer break, but I'm not buying it. He's only 20, it can't be anything but good for him to play more. I hope Theo has a great time and while I'm not from England I'll be rooting for them to do well because of Theo.

That's about it for today. Hopefully there will be more news soon enough, because the last week or so has been dreadful for Arsenal news. Cheers.

I've also made a survey to poll responses from all of you Gooners to reflect back on this season. It's only 10 questions and takes all of 3 minutes, so please leave your input. It will be much appreciated. Thanks. Click Here to take the survey.