Loic Remy

[Raziel]

FFS. Wake up you lot. If we were to only pick players who had us as their first choice then our team would consist of just Andros Townsend, Harry Kane and Tom Carroll right now. Newsflash - ANY foreign player would rather play for Arsenal if the offer was given, unless there's exceptional circumstances like with Vertonghen where they tell him they'll play him in midfield. There is no loyalty in football, especially not from foreign players to an adopted club in an adopted league.

That doesn't mean that a player can't show commitment and passion when wearing our shirt and deliver top quality performances. Berbatov in 2007 and Modric in 2011 both quite publically wanted to leave, but still spent the following seasons being one of the best players in the country. Our 5th highest goalscorer of all time was a boyhood Arsenal fan who came to us from West Ham. There is a statue of a man outside the Emirates Stadium who admitted he was a Spurs fan as a kid.

In some cases, the player rejected by a team could be extra determined to make a point that they were wrong to do so. Always good to have a player with a bone to pick with our rivals isn't it?

Who you rather work for is irrelevant, as is if Spurs are a 2nd option to the Scum. He has been playing for QPR & Barcodes, not ****ing Barca & Real, he is not in a place to say you are second best and will sit and wait for me.

I have had interviews where I was clear to the company they potentially would be another offer on the table, but also aware that whoever made the first offer will put a limit on it, i.e. you have x number of days to respond ...

 

[Finney Is Back]

Who you rather work for is irrelevant, as is if Spurs are a 2nd option to the Scum. He has been playing for QPR & Barcodes, not ****ing Barca & Real, he is not in a place to say you are second best and will sit and wait for me.

I have had interviews where I was clear to the company they potentially would be another offer on the table, but also aware that whoever made the first offer will put a limit on it, i.e. you have x number of days to respond ...

He is absolutely in a place where he is able to say that. He is a very good centre forward who has already proven himself in the PL and is available for a knock down price. Those two facts will give him a number of suitors.

I would be very happy with us getting Remy - especially if the cost is only £9 million. We could perhaps sell Soldado for somwhere not too far south of twice that amount. We then have a better striker who is younger and can play either through the middle or as a wide forward, we'll also have a decent amount of money left over to put towards a new left back. Solves two (perhaps even three) problems in one go.

I like the look of a front three of Remy, Adebayor and Lamela as it would seem to have a bit of everything about it. I love the way that our back up centre forward option doesn't have to be sitting on the bench but can instead play as the left wing forward.

I thought that Remy was absolutely fantastic for Saudi Sportswashing Machine against us at WHL last season. Showed great movement, linked up play well, was a real goal threat and also worked his nuts off closing down our centre halves and Walker at right back. If we have to wait and see whether Arsenal (or any other CL clubs) fail to come in for him before we sign him then so be it. If anyone thinks that all players don't wait for offers from all possible transfer destinations before making up their mind then they need to think again.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Agree - he's an ideal forward for bottom half teams who hit long balls over the top/break quickly.

But he's not much use with a defence set in front of him like top teams have to play against. He doesn't have the movement, guile or intelligence.

I think that's unfair. Just because a player is fast it doesn't mean that they can only play on the break against a team pressed high against them. I would argue that a player with pace (especially explosive pace) can also utilise that in smaller, tighter spaces. If we assume that Pochettino will set us up in a similar way to Southampton, wanting us to win the ball high up the pitch then having a player like Remy with explosive pace could allow us to really exploit winning the ball high up by getting the ball to him quickly after we have won it before the opposition have regrouped.

 

[harr1984]

I think that's unfair. Just because a player is fast it doesn't mean that they can only play on the break against a team pressed high against them. I would argue that a player with pace (especially explosive pace) can also utilise that in smaller, tighter spaces. If we assume that Pochettino will set us up in a similar way to Southampton, wanting us to win the ball high up the pitch then having a player like Remy with explosive pace could allow us to really exploit winning the ball high up by getting the ball to him quickly after we have won it before the opposition have regrouped.

If memory serves me rightly Henry didnt do too badly at getting in behind the big teams....

 

[jimmyb]

He is absolutely in a place where he is able to say that. He is a very good centre forward who has already proven himself in the PL and is available for a knock down price. Those two facts will give him a number of suitors.

I would be very happy with us getting Remy - especially if the cost is only £9 million. We could perhaps sell Soldado for somwhere not too far south of twice that amount. We then have a better striker who is younger and can play either through the middle or as a wide forward, we'll also have a decent amount of money left over to put towards a new left back. Solves two (perhaps even three) problems in one go.

I like the look of a front three of Remy, Adebayor and Lamela as it would seem to have a bit of everything about it. I love the way that our back up centre forward option doesn't have to be sitting on the bench but can instead play as the left wing forward.

I thought that Remy was absolutely fantastic for Saudi Sportswashing Machine against us at WHL last season. Showed great movement, linked up play well, was a real goal threat and also worked his nuts off closing down our centre halves and Walker at right back. If we have to wait and see whether Arsenal (or any other CL clubs) fail to come in for him before we sign him then so be it. If anyone thinks that all players don't wait for offers from all possible transfer destinations before making up their mind then they need to think again.

Soldado is comfortably the superior player. He just had a very poor season - partly his own fault and poor form; partly acclimatising to a new country / league; partly the woeful mismanagement of the team; partly the inability of his team mates to create chances.

Whether he will regain form and whether Pochettino will find a role for him as first choice is another matter.

And if we were to go for another striker or wide forward to replace Soldado, we can do better than Remy. I would be underwhelmed if we signed him.

So no...............I don't think Remy is in a position to tell us to wait. For starters, I find it hard to believe that Arsenal are at all interested in him. They already have Walcott and Podolski among others. He is absolutely NOT what they need.

 

[SpursNorway]

Soldado is comfortably the superior player. He just had a very poor season - partly his own fault and poor form; partly acclimatising to a new country / league; partly the woeful mismanagement of the team; partly the inability of his team mates to create chances.

Whether he will regain form and whether Pochettino will find a role for him as first choice is another matter.

And if we were to go for another striker or wide forward to replace Soldado, we can do better than Remy. I would be underwhelmed if we signed him.

So no...............I don't think Remy is in a position to tell us to wait. For starters, I find it hard to believe that Arsenal are at all interested in him. They already have Walcott and Podolski among others. He is absolutely NOT what they need.

And partly because he and his wife lost a child before birth around Christmas.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Soldado is comfortably the superior player. He just had a very poor season - partly his own fault and poor form; partly acclimatising to a new country / league; partly the woeful mismanagement of the team; partly the inability of his team mates to create chances.

Or is he a player who looked superior in Spain but is unsuited to English football. I see Soldado and I can't help think of Fernando Morientes at Liverpool.... a seeminly fantastic striker who just never got going in England. personally I would happily lose Soldado if it meant we got Remy and £7 million.

 

[jimmyb]

Or is he a player who looked superior in Spain but is unsuited to English football. I see Soldado and I can't help think of Fernando Morientes at Liverpool.... a seeminly fantastic striker who just never got going in England. personally I would happily lose Soldado if it meant we got Remy and £7 million.

That would be a terrible exchange, IMO.

Far, far too early to decide that Soldado can't cut it in England and that it would therefore be worth taking a massive £10 million hit when selling him. We need to give him another season at least to see whether he can become the player for us that we hoped he would - a season in which he is already acclimatised and in which he will have a properly organised team, with attacking intent, around him.

It would only make sense to sell Soldado if Pochettino is adamant that he won't be used and / or if we are offered close to what we paid for him.

 

[Gutter Boy]

If memory serves me rightly Henry didnt do too badly at getting in behind the big teams....

Henry had a footballing brain though. Not something you could accuse Remy of.

 

[Jordinho]

Henry had a footballing brain though. Not something you could accuse Remy of.

 

[glorygloryeze]

Henry had a footballing brain though. Not something you could accuse Remy of.

Why do you say Remy has not got a footballing brain?
Firstly, weren't you one of those that were previously advocating that we could buy him and play him as an inside-forward in a front 3, perhaps instead on Lennon?
Secondly, when it comes to having a footballing brain, how would he compare to, say, Adebayor, Kane or Lukaku?

 

[Finney Is Back]

That would be a terrible exchange, IMO.

Far, far too early to decide that Soldado can't cut it in England and that it would therefore be worth taking a massive £10 million hit when selling him. We need to give him another season at least to see whether he can become the player for us that we hoped he would - a season in which he is already acclimatised and in which he will have a properly organised team, with attacking intent, around him.

It would only make sense to sell Soldado if Pochettino is adamant that he won't be used and / or if we are offered close to what we paid for him.

I would agree with you if not for the fact that he didn't look to be getting any better as the season went on. If we give Soldado another year and we get similar performances out of him as the season just gone then he will be worth pretty much nothing. I don't look at it as taking a £10 million hit. I look at it as getting something back before we have to take a £26 million hit. Remy on the other hand has done pretty well in England and can play up top or from the left.

Don't let the fee we paid for Soldado cloud your mind mate. If we'd paid £2.6 million for him then I reckon most people would be ovejoyed if we could managage a Soldado - Remy straight swap. We might've paid a lot more money for him than that, but we have to question whether he'll ever be worth it. Sometimes it's better to cut your losses and sell while there is still some value in the player (i.e. Darren Bent) than to keep the player to avoid showing a transfer fee loss and eventually having to just release them on a free after paying their large wages for years (i.e. David Bentley).

 

[Finney Is Back]

Henry had a footballing brain though. Not something you could accuse Remy of.

I thought Remy's performance against us at WHL last season indicated that he had a very good football brain. His movement off the ball got him into some excellent goalscoring positions. Unless perhaps it is just that getting into good positions and exposing an AVB team is ridiculously easy?

 

[Yiddo]

I'm sorry but this whole "not having a football brain" is nonsense. You do not become a professional footballer if you don't have some kind of "footballing brain"

 

[Gutter Boy]

Why do you say Remy has not got a footballing brain?
Firstly, weren't you one of those that were previously advocating that we could buy him and play him as an inside-forward in a front 3, perhaps instead on Lennon?
Secondly, when it comes to having a footballing brain, how would he compare to, say, Adebayor, Kane or Lukaku?

Every time I see him I just find he is very 'head down' - he lacks awareness of those around him.

I think I wanted Remy in summer 2011. It looked like we were after Giuseppe Rossi as a main CF and with vdV as our other forward, I thought Remy would be a good complement for those two as the third prong. As it turned out we got Ade as CF (a far far better player than Remy) and Bale grew into the more direct part of the trio.

Now our needs are a bit different. We've got direct wide forwards (Lamela, Townsend), we've got two decent senior CFs. What our attack is really lacking is a more creative spark from the left - a Konoplyanka, Griezmann or Bernard.

I also think Remy is best for a plucky underdog team who needs to counter (which we were more under Redknapp, though slowly grew away from it). Poch plays high possession football and now our big need is to break down teams who park the bus. Remy just isn't that sort of player at all - he thrives against high lines, not in teams that play them.

So basically that's why I wanted Remy 3 years ago and not now.

 

[Kingdawson]

Remy would be an excellent purchase.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Every time I see him I just find he is very 'head down' - he lacks awareness of those around him.

I think I wanted Remy in summer 2011. It looked like we were after Giuseppe Rossi as a main CF and with vdV as our other forward, I thought Remy would be a good complement for those two as the third prong. As it turned out we got Ade as CF (a far far better player than Remy) and Bale grew into the more direct part of the trio.

Now our needs are a bit different. We've got direct wide forwards (Lamela, Townsend), we've got two decent senior CFs. What our attack is really lacking is a more creative spark from the left - a Konoplyanka, Griezmann or Bernard.

I also think Remy is best for a plucky underdog team who needs to counter (which we were more under Redknapp, though slowly grew away from it). Poch plays high possession football and now our big need is to break down teams who park the bus. Remy just isn't that sort of player at all - he thrives against high lines, not in teams that play them.

So basically that's why I wanted Remy 3 years ago and not now.

Interesting thoughts but I disagree massively. Remy's play for Saudi Sportswashing Machine against Spurs at WHL last season was the polar opposite of a 'head down' performance that lacked awareness. He took up excellent positions both when Saudi Sportswashing Machine were in and out of posession, switching between dropping off a little short into the space that existed between our defence and midfield and also taking up positions right on the shoulder of our central defenders. He also often pulled right out wide to hug the touchline when Walker pushed forward, thus forcing us to either have to spread our centre halves extremely wide or leave him unmarked. On the occasions when the centre half came out to get tighter to him he then looked to make a horizontal run inside to ensure that stayed onside and invite the ball in between the two centre halves so that he could run on to the pass and be through on goal. It was very intelligent stuff and not too dissimilar to the type of work that Theirry Henry would do when at Arsenal, not only that but it was the complete opposite of what I saw from Soldado pretty much all season - where he failed to pose any questions for the opposing team in terms of having to think about and alter their defensive shape.

I would also be very surprised that Remy would be able to represent France if he were a 'head down' player, lacking awareness of those around him....

I also disagree that Redknapp's team was ever a plucky underdog team who needed to counter. My memories of watching us during Redknapp's tenure (especially when I was at WHL) was that we generally always took the game to the opposition and played an attacking form of football with two central attackers who were largely free from any defensive duties (Crouch and VDV / Adebayor and Defoe/Saha) two attacking wide midfielders (Bale and Lennon) and one of the two central midfielders also given license to attack (Modric). Even before Redknapp got some of these players to the club he generally played two up top along with 2 wide players and just about never looked to get everyone behind the ball and soak up pressure (other than in the CL games against Milan).

I also find it strange that you wanted Remy 3 years ago (before he was proven in the Premier League) but wouldn't want him now that he has proved himself in the premier league? 3 years ago there was a risk around him that he couldn't adapt (as is perhaps the case with Soldado) Whereas now we know that Remy adapting is not a problem. And all of this is before we consider the fact that Remy's price tag 3 years ago was around twice what he is going for now due to the clause he has in his QPR contract.

 

[Gutter Boy]

Interesting thoughts but I disagree massively. Remy's play for Saudi Sportswashing Machine against Spurs at WHL last season was the polar opposite of a 'head down' performance that lacked awareness. He took up excellent positions both when Saudi Sportswashing Machine were in and out of posession, switching between dropping off a little short into the space that existed between our defence and midfield and also taking up positions right on the shoulder of our central defenders. He also often pulled right out wide to hug the touchline when Walker pushed forward, thus forcing us to either have to spread our centre halves extremely wide or leave him unmarked. On the occasions when the centre half came out to get tighter to him he then looked to make a horizontal run inside to ensure that stayed onside and invite the ball in between the two centre halves so that he could run on to the pass and be through on goal. It was very intelligent stuff and not too dissimilar to the type of work that Theirry Henry would do when at Arsenal, not only that but it was the complete opposite of what I saw from Soldado pretty much all season - where he failed to pose any questions for the opposing team in terms of having to think about and alter their defensive shape.

I would also be very surprised that Remy would be able to represent France if he were a 'head down' player, lacking awareness of those around him....

I also disagree that Redknapp's team was ever a plucky underdog team who needed to counter. My memories of watching us during Redknapp's tenure (especially when I was at WHL) was that we generally always took the game to the opposition and played an attacking form of football with two central attackers who were largely free from any defensive duties (Crouch and VDV / Adebayor and Defoe/Saha) two attacking wide midfielders (Bale and Lennon) and one of the two central midfielders also given license to attack (Modric). Even before Redknapp got some of these players to the club he generally played two up top along with 2 wide players and just about never looked to get everyone behind the ball and soak up pressure (other than in the CL games against Milan).

I also find it strange that you wanted Remy 3 years ago (before he was proven in the Premier League) but wouldn't want him now that he has proved himself in the premier league? 3 years ago there was a risk around him that he couldn't adapt (as is perhaps the case with Soldado) Whereas now we know that Remy adapting is not a problem. And all of this is before we consider the fact that Remy's price tag 3 years ago was around twice what he is going for now due to the clause he has in his QPR contract.

All I remember from that Saudi Sportswashing Machine game tbh was how they parked the bus and Tim Krul had a blinder. I've no issue with him being a very capable on-the-break player. I just don't think he's much use with the ball at his feet and an organised defence in front of him.

It was more playing two quick orthodox wingers that made Redknapp's team counter attacking. Bringing in a proper #10 in vdV did start changing that, and obviously the move to possession-based was completed by AVB when he moved Bale inverted and went to 4-2-3-1. It's more about the area of the pitch where you play the game rather than the number of attacking players you have - pre-Rafa, Modric use to orchestrate from deep and Bale and Lennon ran on from deep too. Compare that to how we camped in opponents' halves under AVB (and also so towards the end of Redknapp's reign).

Although proven at the bottom half of the EPL, I actually think Remy is likely to be another Andy Carroll or Fellini type who can't make the step up, just because I don't think his style suits a possession side.

I'd rather just back Lamela and Townsend as direct RWFs and concentrate on bigger priority positions (LB, LWF, CB, CM).

 

[Yiddo]

I assume what with the Goons buying back Vela, they will not need Remy now?

 

[SpursNorway]

I'm not so sure they actually will buy Vela back...