Some of you may have got the wrong impression after my post this morning. All I was saying was that Arsene is never going to give the game away to the media and expecting him to do so is rather naive, that was it. In saying this I was not trying to defend his transfer strategy and the fact that we are only a day away from the league opener at Newcastle with our squad looking very short indeed. The numbers have been announced and we have the following players:
GKs: Szczesny, Almunia, Fabianski, Mannone
Full backs: Sagna, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Traore.
Centre Backs: Vermaelen, Koscielny, Djourou, Squillaci.
Wingers: Walcott, Gervinho, Miyaichi, Arshavin.
Midfielders: Wilshere, Ramsey, Song, Frimpong, Chamberlain, Rosicky, Diaby.
Forwards: Chamakh, RVP.
Full backs: Sagna, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Traore.
Centre Backs: Vermaelen, Koscielny, Djourou, Squillaci.
Wingers: Walcott, Gervinho, Miyaichi, Arshavin.
Midfielders: Wilshere, Ramsey, Song, Frimpong, Chamberlain, Rosicky, Diaby.
Forwards: Chamakh, RVP.
In this I am assuming that Bendtner, Vela, Nasri and Cesc are on their way out of the club. Obviously there is a bit of flexibility with Chamberlain being more of a winger, Arshavin and Walcott being able to play centrally if needs be etc. It is clear that as things stand we are woefully short in terms of both numbers of quality players and in the level of experience throughout the squad.
There are just so many positions in which we are taking a big gamble and in which we could become terribly unstuck. Relying on Gibbs to stay fit is a biggie, whilst putting so much pressure on the young Jack Wilshere is tough on the young man, despite his amazing talent. Several other players are rather injury prone, in this I include Vermaelen, Djourou, Walcott, Diaby and RVP. There are just so many disasters waiting to happen if things are left as they stand.
Some of you may be surprised to hear this but I think that if Arsene does not strengthen the squad significantly now then I think he will be out of a job by this time next year. By 'significantly' I mean bring in one quality commanding central defender, replace both Cesc and Nasri with two quality midfielders, and bring in another quality forward.
There is no room for excuses now, they simply will not cut it, a significant chunk of cash will be there after the sales of Nasri and Cesc and the penny pinching must stop, Arsene has to go out there and bring in some reinforcements. He just about has time to do this before the end of the transfer window. If he does not then I have to say that if excellent results do not follow in the Champions League and Premier League then Arsene will deserve to lose his job.
7 comments:
The refrain -- one quality center back, two midfielders and a first class striker -- has been chanted for half a decade now. maybe it was always so, though the two seasons Arsenal could have won silevrware the reasons for failure were far more complex. Point is: its not a very penerating statement, by itself.
As for the squad you list, I'm not sure its any worse than the squad last year. Vermalen and Jenkinson replace Clichy and Eboue -- is that really a downward flow? As for midfield, Ramsey is at full strength, Jack is a year older, wiser, stronger, and more experienced. And Gervinho by himself provides more scoring punch than Nasri and a huge assist potential akin to Fabregas. And we now have other young wingers than Theo to come in an burn the rubber in the last 20 minutes of a tight game. And last year's best player is not leaving.
Also, it is not reasonable to think Wenger won't add strength to this side -- that means better than Nasri, better than Eboue, better than Bendtner, because if not better, why not keep the latter two?
The point is that if we had strengthened in the past few years it may well have given us that little bit extra we needed to finish off the league title push.
I agree that we're not far off last year but if repeat last year's league capitulation then that simply isn't good enough.
We must learn these lessons.
1979gooner
God, I hope that our best Centreback isn't shifted to the left!
Sorry, but I am not thinking with our current squad - that we are capable of finishing top four - I would say 6th or 7th with the current players and not editions.
We had a dismal run of form last season and it has continued through pre-season. Ok - it is only pre-season, but for me, it is still a good indicator of how the team is progressing and by the evidence that I have seen - it hasn't. We have gone backwards yet again.
The only good signing that will help us immediately is Gervinho. The other two - there is not much of a chance. Jenkinson looks solid, but he will take some adjusting to the Premiership, so I would suspect that this year will be a year of transition and learning his trade.
We need two midfielders or shift Arshavin to the centre and buy another experienced winger.
I am not that bothered about the Centerbacks. People moan about it, but really our first 3 CB's are good enough. Kos and Djourou learned alot last year and Vermaelen is an excellent centreback. Yes, I would like cover at left back, but really, I would prefer it at right back. I don't think that Jenkinson is ready.
I don't want to sound like a broken record but my major complaint is that yet again, Arsenal are approaching the middle of August without our transfer business wrapped up. Our back line was a weakness last season and we are now CLichy down, Jenkinson in, which is no improvement at all. Plus it looks like that Eboue is also gone, which may not be a bad thing, but is yet another example of AW sticking with a player for far too long, well past the time every fan could see he was a muppet.
And why have we not done our defensive transfers? Because we fuck around chasing five targets at the same time looking for a good deal, rather than deciding which is the best player and bringing them in.
The fact that we have fucked clubs around like Fulham over 500k for Schwarzer. I mean come on. Then we do the same to Everton with Jagielka, Bolton with Cahill and we end up chasing Birmingham for Dann.
It is a complete shambles and has been for some years. There is absolutely no excuse for us to be in this situation.
Ted
Spot on.
I have to say that Arsene needs to be told that he should have no say in the money and that the club can go out and get who he wants.
I suspect the penny pinching comes largely from AW.
1979gooner
Come on guys, lets back our club!!!
Sczeny is doing well but I think we need someone better. I would be tempted to go for Gordon from Sunderland. He’s a top keeper.
We defintely need a central defender and Cahill is the obvious in my mind. I don’t understand talk about Dann from Birmingham??
We obviously need a couple of midfielders with Fab and Nasri gone/going.
With Nasri going to City, I don’t understand why we don’t push them for players. We have enough money in the bank!!!! I would happily take Milner, Shaun-Wright and Onuha of their hands! But Tevez … NO! He would just want to leave after 3 months!
It can't really have success, I feel so.
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