Apparently

Comment Deleted by Site Moderator

Ace, if you read the comments after he signed for Chelsea it seems fairly he clear he probably would have come back here if Wenger went in for him.

Bet he doesn't regret it now, though.

As for us, Cesc is a level above any midfielder we have, and surely would have slotted back in perfectly.

Personally I would have sold Ozil or Cazorla to make room for him, even taking a £15m loss on the former.

It's been four bloody months. These fans pining for Fabregas are pathetic, it is time to move on.

Our back four, dm and keeper today was something special

3rd choice keeper
Youngster - over the hill - shiet fullback - injury prone
Pure sheit

Not anther fagbregas article

comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
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... Cesc vision is second to none and so it would have made it amazing difficult for high line press against us. Thats what Cesc has given Chelsea. Fluidity in transition from defense to attack even under pressure.
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Yup, you're right J, Cesc IS special and not getting him was an unbelievably bad decision by Wenger

"We were in that position last year because Chelsea, Man City and Man Utd were all in transition. I suggested in the summer of 2013 that we had a free run that season and we blew it because we did not sign a better striker than Giroud. Wenger missed out Higuain and then did not have plan after missing out on Suarez. That was our chance missed.

We had actually stopped scoring freely before Theo came back from injury. Theo added an impetus but we were in trouble before he got injured again. We were unable to counter attack because Giroud's lack of pace. Southampton and Everton had out played us at the Emirates and it was only a matter of time that teams realized that putting 2 or 3 players between our slow defense and Arteta meant we had no out ball. The slow spine is still the problem. Cesc would have solved that easily. I am not saying that Cesc would have solved all our issues. Mert, Arteta, Giroud. The slow spine still needed to be replaced. Cesc vision is second to none and so it would have made it amazing difficult for high line press against us. Thats what Cesc has given Chelsea. Fluidity in transition from defense to attack even under pressure."

I agree that a big part of the reason we were able to pull so far ahead was because of the underwhelming performances of our rivals - which is part of the reason how Liverpool were almost able to win the title despite a pretty dire first half to the season.
But I still firmly believe that it's the lack of balance in the side that has cost us in recent years. Fabregas would obviously help, but I don't think we should have spent such a large portion of our budget on him when, as you say, there were so many other areas in need of strengthening.

I agree on the Walcott issue, and it's why I think the Sanchez signing was so crucial, and why I strongly believe Welbeck will be a success. Having someone like Fabregas would obviously help greatly, but Ozil, Cazorla, and even Ramsey and Wilshere, all have the ability to punish a team playing a high-line, providing we have runners in-behind.
Perhaps no-one does it quite as well as Fabregas from a deep-lying position - and as I say, if we had the money and all other positions had been sorted, I wouldn't have minded signing Fabregas - but I think there are much more pressing issues (CB and DM) that need to be rectified first, before we look at applying the finishing touches to our attacking set-up.

comment by stepanos (U6576)
posted 1 day, 16 hours ago
Stu, I have to disagree over Fabregas. We badly badly need someone that can bring in goals, regardless of their position. Unlike most of our team, Fabregas can score goals - he also provides an avalanche of assists. Apart from Ramsey (last season) and Walcott, ditto, we don't really have anybody that can bang in goals.
So, personally, I didn't see Fabregas as a luxury player, but an essential one.
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I see what you're saying Stepanos, but whilst the maxim states the scoring goals wins games, I've long been a believer that winning games scores goals (stole that quote from the 'Inverting the Pyramid' book, in case anyone's wondering); if we get the balance of the team right, the goals will come.
Note that both Ozil and Cazorla both have impressive goalscoring records in the past that are comparable to Fabregas'. They've both been lacklustre in this regard in the past few seasons, but I think that's largely because of the imbalances in the system: making our play congested, giving us no out-ball, and ultimately making us easier to defend against.

I firmly believe that in a system with width and directness to stretch the opposition, Ozil and/or Cazorla would have more space and freedom, which would help to improve their goalscoring contributions.

On top of that, I think Sanchez, Welbeck, and Walcott all easily have the potential to each hit double figures.

there were so many other areas in need of strengthening
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But you see there isn't necessary a trade-off. Why couldn't we sell some players who have not been as effective as before or needed to be replaced.

This is an underlying problem I think Wenger fails to see. Wenger has squarely pinned our under performance of the past to instability of having to sell a top player a season. This is true to an extent but unfortunately I think he has made himself believe this is the only reason whilst hiding a deeper lying flaw that usually Dein compensated for. Wenger is not ruthless, nor has the capability to recognise who is under performing because he is too close to the dressing room. He is in constant surprise to whats going on. That goes back to to Reyes and his dalliance with Real Madrid, Bendtner behaviour to more recent events such as the Giroud sleeping with underwear models when the team should be under curfew to even Mertesacker's issues as he described recently. Wenger has made himself believe it will be alright as long as he keeps the team together. So players like Giroud can underperform to thier hearts content. Arteta can be on a broken leg and Mert can be as slow as an oil tanker and Wenger will not see it.

Wenger should have sold and increased his own budget if he needed to buy the players he needed if money was an issue.

comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
posted 19 hours, 26 minutes ago
there were so many other areas in need of strengthening
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But you see there isn't necessary a trade-off. Why couldn't we sell some players who have not been as effective as before or needed to be replaced.

This is an underlying problem I think Wenger fails to see. Wenger has squarely pinned our under performance of the past to instability of having to sell a top player a season. This is true to an extent but unfortunately I think he has made himself believe this is the only reason whilst hiding a deeper lying flaw that usually Dein compensated for. Wenger is not ruthless, nor has the capability to recognise who is under performing because he is too close to the dressing room. He is in constant surprise to whats going on. That goes back to to Reyes and his dalliance with Real Madrid, Bendtner behaviour to more recent events such as the Giroud sleeping with underwear models when the team should be under curfew to even Mertesacker's issues as he described recently. Wenger has made himself believe it will be alright as long as he keeps the team together. So players like Giroud can underperform to thier hearts content. Arteta can be on a broken leg and Mert can be as slow as an oil tanker and Wenger will not see it.

Wenger should have sold and increased his own budget if he needed to buy the players he needed if money was an issue.
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In which case, I agree. As I said before, I wasn't sure who we were actually able to sell (Podolski is nearing 30 and earns massive wages, for example). If feasible, I honestly wouldn't have minded seeing Podolski, Mertesacker, Giroud, Arteta, and Cazorla (even though I rate the latter very, very highly....I just don't think he suits the wide position) if it meant we had the funds to strengthen other areas of the squad.