May
31
2007
How can Arsenal improve this summer?
As part of our 2006/2007 Premiership season-end review, here’s a look at how Arsenal’s season went. Read up, then offer your own advice on how Arsenal can improve this summer.
- Pre-season expectations: To challenge for the Premiership, or at least for second place. Arsenal planned to play their second-string in the domestic cups and focus on the Prem and the Champions League, with high hopes of repeating their European successes of last season.
- Season evaluation: Despite the 2nd round exit to PSV in the Champions League, Arsenal did better than last season in the Premiership and performed well in both domestic cups. Considering the injuries to Henry and van Persie, and perhaps even without those setbacks, this was a marginal improvement (albeit nothing like the fans expected).
- The Big Negative: Inability to execute Wenger’s gameplan. I had said several times during the season that Arsenal biggest battle was in the dressing room, with themselves, because they had to be mentally strong - and this batch is some way off that. Arsene Wenger is inflexible in terms of strategy but even then you’d think that with better execution Arsenal would have gone much farther this season.
- The Big Positive: In Denilson and Diaby Arsenal have backups - if not replacements - for Fabregas, and the young Spaniard will need a lighter workload next season.
- Summer Priority: Bring in a quality winger.
Arsenal need tinkering and time - not an overhaul. They are going in the right direction, even if the strategy Arsene Wenger uses may not be always effective.
Now it’s your turn: How do you think Arsenal can improve this summer?
Also see:
- The complete list for the Premiership 2006/2007 season reviews.
- Do you have what it takes to be a football manager?
- Soccerlens Premiership 2006/2007 Review
- How can Watford improve this summer?
- How can Reading improve this summer?
- How can Sheffield United improve this summer?
- How can Blackburn improve this summer?
If Arsenal keep all their young guns untill they all mature into experienced professionals, they will dominate football and do it in a attractive, stylish manner. The trouble is, if they dont improve drastically in the next few seasons those youngsters will more than likley upsticks. Wenger is a amazing manager, its just a shame he would rather buy for the future rather than the present. How wonderful it would be as a Gooner to hear that Arsenal have signed Kaka or Adriano or Ronaldinho rather than the ‘next’ Kaka, Adriano or Ronnie. Well known, experienced players would not only lift the fans but lift the team. Henry has already made it clear he wants big name stars lined up behind him in the tunnel. If this doesnt happen we risk losing him to a team who will bring in the big guns, and as a Gooner i dont wish that to happen. Henry is one of the reasons most players sign for Arsenal. Its time Wenger and the board showed that they are serious about the league and not just being the Harlem globetrotters of football or turning the club into the English Clairefontaine.
I agree on the winger. I also think that perhaps we need a veteran, Man Mountain of a center back to partner Kolo and/or Gallas. Perhaps Djourou or Senderos can be that in time… but I think we need a veteran in the back to add aerial prowess and stability. Unfortunately I can’t think of any at the moment who really fit the bill… it’s a shame Sol had to go all mental on us. I wonder if he’d consider coming back for a final year!
We need to let go of Ljungberg; Aliadiere.
Hire an experienced defence coach, so that the defending of the team - individually & collectively - substantially improves, especially from set pieces, throw-ins, and when facing shots from in & around the penalty area.
Move Kolo Toure to the right back position, permanently. Buy a 6ft plus, commanding, pacy, ball-playing central defender to form a partnership with Gallas.
Keep Eboue as a back up right back and auxilary right midfielder. Buy a pacy, goal creating & scoring left midfielder.
Consider buying an additional forward. Substantially increase the rate at which chances created are converted into actual goals - hard work on the training ground is the answer here.
Work on making much better use of our free kicks & corners…they are wasted at present.
Learn how to win ugly, when necessary. Play a 4-5-1 formation away from home. Be more aggressive, like the
old Arsenal.
I agree with the comments above but to me the one thing that we need the most is a proper striker who is lethal in front of goal. We need a player who will finish off the countless amount of chances we create. Think back to games like CSKA Moscow at The Emirates last season where we created something like 29 chances. Surely an out and out goalscorer would of had a field day! It’s so frustrating to watch the amount of chances we throw away. Come on Arsene splash the cash on a player who is world class now,not in 5 years time! With a decent number 9 up front surely those extra goals would mean extra points and put us back where we belong at the top of the premiership
No disrespect, but people have short memories. it was only a few years ago where the Wenger complaint was that he did not give youngters an opportunity
Yes, Iagree we need a natural left sided winger but also can play up front if needed I was thinking of someone like Ryan Babel or Robinho. We know Babel can leave Ajax for 6 million and I feel Wenger would be very foolish if he did not take this offer. With 2 natural scoring strikers in Van Persie and Henry and goals coming from Adebayor and hopefully Bendtner another consistent striker would go well who has quality finishing and takes chances. I think a bit of a raid on Ajax would go well by bringing in Klass Van Huntelaar. The defence is fine with players like Johann Djorou and Armand Traore coming through so the only other problem is in goal. Lehmann is too hot headed and we should not have given him a new deal. We have the new pole Lukasz Fabianski will hopefully be No. 1 material asap and Manuel Almunia will never be able to be a first team keeper for Arsenal so another cover but good keeper would be great. Kingson the Ghana keeper would go down well
Ins: Ryan Babel, Klass Van Huntelaar and Kingson
Outs: Jens Lehmann, Manuel Almunia, Jeremie Aliadiere and Matthieu Flamini
GK-
i hope that fabianski can maybe displace lehmann as he could be a long term prospect for arsenal.
DF-
the first 4 shud b from rite to left,
? - toure - gallas - ?
arsenal need to train up some good wing backs eboue is good but not consistent and clichy after seeing him play live is not all hes cracked up to be…a good left back like taylor, baines or shorey wud b gr8
MF-
rite to left
hleb - fabregas - gilberto - rosicky
only thing we need is an experienced player who can cover rosicky and hleb as they are both very injury prone, diaby and denilson provide semi-good back up otherwise
FW-
van persie- henry
provided henry stays, he will be gr8 nxt season afta missing so much of the last one, van persie is quality once he gets swinging but adebayor occiasionally wud not hurt provided he plays well. one young striker like theo walcott shud b given a run up front instead of on the wing. he plays there for england and scores, so why does wenger put him o the wing other than the reason he’s fast, he’s scard to tackle! if henry leaves and eto’o comes like reported i still say the same line up but with eto’o in for henry.
I would say again that i really agree with the above posts as we need a good player now like instead of younster’s reliablity alone we should be more reilable on the experienced player for betterment of the team only no disrespect to youngsters as they have shown in caerling cup what they can achieve but we need a bit of experience to compete in EPL or CL as we have seen this year we finished more than 20 points behind united and we have to show that we are one of the serious contenders of the premiershipp…cummon mr. Wenger do something to make this club one of the best in the world again(although it is now as well :D)
Why does Eboue get so much stick? He is a great right-back, and someone I hope is in our team for years to come! People say he is weak mentally… but I think he just needs to channel it, nothing wrong with being dirty… something I sometimes wish Clichy had more of. When he matures, he will be one of, if not THE best right back in the world. Toure is great coming forward, but I think Eboue is a better right back… and when Gallas and Toure work out how to play together, I think they will be pretty solid. Because of our attacking full-backs, we need someone as pacey as Toure. I think it will be difficult to find someone who can cover as well as Toure does. His only weakness is his heading I think, which could surely be improved by working with someone such as Keown. I don’t think there is alot wrong. I think we should get a top quality striker if we can, but I think Rosicky will be alot better this year, and bring some more goals from midfield, and I think Van Persie is the one to finish off our attacking moves with his sweet left peg! I think Djourou is perfect as back-up to Toure and Gallas. We arent going to get anyone better who is happy to wait his turn…Adebayor can cover for Henry and Van Persie while continuing to develop into what I believe will be a fine player. Everyone is going on about how we need to sign a top name player… but I think when you look around the team, I cant see how we can really improve it, apart from in squad depth, and a top class player isn’t going to be happy sitting on the bench for the big games, thats why the youth policy makes sense…Say we buy a Torres or a Eto, while I think they are great players… and Eto in particular would do really well for us… do you think Adebayor or Van Persie would be happy to sit on the bench regularly for us? I don’t. Its all about balancing…something which I dont think Chelsea have done this year…where the big players have been guaranteed game time, and if they dont get it, they sulk. Trust Arsene, he knows what he is doing…
surprisingly most of these comment make a lot of sense unlike most of the tripe i see on arsenal forums.
there are some things we know for sure:
1- Wenger is not going to sign or sell more than 2 or 3
2- We will be surprised by a transfer this summer. when everything goes quiet at arsenal it is because behind the scenes there is wheeling and dealing going on, and we all know how much arsene likes to pull a big name out of his magic hat. (rosicky last season- no one expected that)
3- He is not going to suddenly change his policy and bring in 3 big players over 27 despite what TH has to say about it.
4- THE BEAST HAS GONE - HALLELUJAH
Every ARsenal fan wants to see ribery arrive ASAP, we know wenger is keen on him, we know it will satisfy thierry, we know it will give us more options on the wing and we know he wants to play for us.
SO apart from Quasimodo, who else?
I would love to see a centre back come in, it is an area wenger hasnt talked about but last season senderos did not look like AFC material and 3 centre backs is just not enough.
gilberto is NOT a centre back.
there are rumours about Zapater, i say get someone in there. to the people talking about replacing Clichy and eboue these are 2 of the best wing backs in the Prem, at the end of the season Clichy was our best player by a mile and eboue just needs to improve his positioning and get over his sulkiness.
at the end of the day, all we have to do is TRUST IN WENGER….
ARSENE KNOWS
I don’t doubt Van Huntelaar is a great player, but whats the point… if we are going to keep Van Persie, Henry, Bentner, Adebayor.. not to mention Walcott…Van Persie and Henry are our first choice strikers… I can’t see Van Huntelaar being happy sitting on the bench…same goes for Babel…I don’t think he is good enough for first team, he isn’t really “world class” and we can’t afford to have someone in there to progress, we have enough already… we need players who can contribute now… I think Rosicky and Hleb will come good this season…
ashley h are u silly about the left back.
What the hell is wrong with Clichy. He is absolute class. Maybe he can improve defensively and when he gets in the top third of the pitch i.e his crossing but otherwise is definitely one of the best in the world.
Do you know what we need???
A new Robert Pires. Hopefully Rosicky can fill his boots next season as he has the ability. I think he’s class.
We def need a winger also. Someone like Ribery or Babbel from Ajax.
Wenger please bloody sign an established, experienced and world class player.
Later
1) Replace Eboue at right back. We’ve conceded a lot of goals this season when Eboue has been caught upfield/out of position. He’s quick, and good going forward, but defensively he’s a bit suspect. Toure is too good at centre-half to waste at right back, so we need to bring someone in.
2) A right winger. Hleb and Ljungberg don’t cut the mustard any more. Both Adebayor and Bendtner are good in the air, so we must get more crosses into the box. More goals from midfield would be nice, too. Van Persie on the left maybe?
3) Make Djourou the number 3 centre-back, ahead of Senderos. Phillipe tries hard, but he’s gone backwards this year.
4) Scrap the zonal defending. Although we improved our scoring ratio from free kicks and corners last year, we couldn’t defend set pieces for toffee.
5) Attitude. Arsenal are fine at getting themselves up for the big games, but seem to struggle against the likes of West Ham and Sheffield United. If the players put as much effort and commitment into playing Newcastle and Fulham as we do against Manchester United, then we’d be challenging for second place.
6) Somebody tell Arsene that defensive midfielders like Diaby and Denilson are NOT suited to play out wide as attacking wingers.
Yeah, we need a Pires(he was my favourite) and yes Rosicky can be that next season. Its good that the beast went and Hleb better watch out. He started out well last season, but was pathetic towards the end, too many mistakes. We should get a tough defender like Robbie Savage, he’s mature, may accept the one year deal and has the balls, the present team is too soft. Miss Viera and Lauren………
I think we need to strengthen our midfield bring in two experience midfielder who can compete with steven gerrard, michael ballack, frank lampard, cristiano ronaldho etc my good choice would be Juan Riquelme, Frank ribery, Ryan from ajax Babbel & nigel reo-coker or Deco out of these five is good enough for me. Also need to sort out the defence bring one or two experience english defenders of a replacement of sol campbell and ashley cole my example would be anton ferdinand & Micah Richards and one experience striker to partner henry after bergkamp i would say to re sign nicolas anelka again as that would be the perfect partnership for the club and for the league if that doesn’t happen then bring in stars like Trezeguet, torres or Klaas Jan Huntelaar of ajax any of the three is good enough and trust me without any of these players i’ve listed there’s no guaranteed of winning the title next season or then again the champions league. So please take my comments very seriously.
I think we need to strengthen our midfield bring in two experience midfielder who can compete with steven gerrard, michael ballack, frank lampard, cristiano ronaldho etc my good choice would be Juan Riquelme, Frank ribery, Ryan Babbel from ajax, nigel reo-coker or Deco out of these five is good enough for me. Also need to sort out the defence bring one or two experience english defenders of a replacement of sol campbell and ashley cole my example would be anton ferdinand & Micah Richards and one experience striker to partner henry after bergkamp i would say to re sign nicolas anelka again as that would be the perfect partnership for the club and for the league if that doesn’t happen then bring in stars like Trezeguet, torres or Klaas Jan Huntelaar of ajax any of the three is good enough and trust me without any of these players i’ve listed there’s no guaranteed of winning the title next season or then again the champions league. Wenger now is the time to get serious if you want to win the title or the champions league next season so please take my comments very seriously.
[…] I was fortunate enough to stumble upon an article by Ahmed Bilal from SoccerLens titled “How can Arsenal improve this summer?“. I was impressed with the the way that Ahmed provided a realistic and concise review of […]
Top article Ahmed. I’ve referenced in my daily blog.
Keep up the good work!
I live in Australia, yet still get up at after midnight every weekend to watch Arsenal, so exciting is their play. They have been my team for years now, and I have never been more excited about the future prospects. From the back. Lehmann is an excellent keeper, and I would keep him dispite his hot-headedness. And we also have (and I don’t know how to spell it) Woljeck Schezney coming through. In the backline, apart from Gallas, the oldest centre back is Toure, at 25. Glichy is, in my opion, the best left back in the premiership, with his pace, runs and crosses. And Eboue on the right is outstanding (mostly).In the midfield, the centre is well stocked, with Fabregas, Gilberto, Diaby and Denilson, and while people are complaing about out wide, I think all we are lacking is a spare winger, as Rosicky and Walcott are excellent out there, but Hleb is woeful. Although I might be biased, Kewell looks fit and ready and I think would be an excellent acquisition as he adds experience as well as being a left footer. And up front, there is Henry, Van Persie, Adebayor and Aliadiere (who I rate) as well as Bendtner coming along. The future is looking quite bright for Arsenal, the Premiership and Champions League is only a few years away.
lose senderos! He’s toilet!!!What a gonk! Also we need to get a big ‘vieira’ like midfielder so we won’t get smashed in midfield, another good centre back and possibly get a quality striker.
Think having a direct right winger would be quite important as mentioned, Ribery is the oly one I can think of for now, although apparently Wenger planned to play Rosicky as a right Midfielder in which case someone like Malouda (Not Kewell, sorry) could come in. I also think Reo Coker would be a great signing. Ray Parlour did a magnificent job for us in our double winning season in helping to shore up our midfield against the tougher teams, and I think that as long as hes willing to spend some tine on the bench, Reo Coker could do the same thing. Aside from that I have alot of faith in the team. In the run up to the two weeks from hell ewhere we got knocked out of the cups we were playing the best (by which I mean winningest, not just prettiest) football in the league.
Some of the comments on here arn’t relistic but some comments are exaclty what i’m thinking. e.g Waldinho
Think we need a winger like Ribery and Babel which has been said. Need to get rid of Hleb as he’s to inconsitent. Not a winger at all. Comes inside to much.
A strong Centre back like Terry. Need to get rid of Senderos. He’s woeful. A centre back who would be relistic is Curtis Davies. West Brom haven’t been promted and he should be on the move.
A striker who can finish but that won’t be top of Wengers list of pioritys. I would like Owen. Wengers a fan of Andy Johnson. There virtually the same player. Same sytle of play. 9m for him would be good.
Goalkeeping area is good to. Signign of Fabianski provides back up and long term replacement for Lehmann.
We’re going in the right direction though. Arsenal supporters shouldn’t expect a big summer though.
We should not forget, we beat man u twice, liverpool thrice and drew with the chelsea twice, which is the best record among the top4 for the matches among themselves. What we lacked was consistency(which man u had in abundance). Honestly, i think we’re almost there guys.
PS: I heards gamst pederson is up for grabs, he would fit in nicely. RVP wont be the only one taking freekicks, what do you think?
It’s funny how noone mentioned that the Arse needs more English players, or atleast English-style players…
i think arsene is doing a good job although we might not think so at the moment. i think his policy about developing the youth players is excellent. although we might not be in the running for winning the premiership at this point of time, we will surely be doing so in a couple of years time.
as of now i think that we ahve a lot of exceptional talent in our team. the only thing lacking is a bit of experience in the defence. i feel that wengers priority in this tarnsfer period should be to find a commanding centre back who could provide back-up for gallas and toure. he should let go of senderos and bring in a player like ALEX of psv.
i also think that ljungberg is at the twilight of his career is should move on. RIBERY for me is a perfect replacement for him. wenger should also try to get TORRES as he has got emmense maturity about him and his goal scoring record and prowess is for everyone to see
outs:SENDEROS,LJUNGBERG,ALIADIERE
ins:ALEX,RIBERY,TORRES
Out: Senderos, Ljunberg, Aliadiere, Baptista, Reyes.
In: Ribery, Curtis Davies, Torres.
————————-Lehmann—————————-
Eboue———-Toure—————-Gallas————Clichy
—–Ribery——-Fabregas——-Rocisky——–RVP———
—————-Torres————–Henry——————-
Subs:
1) Fabenski
2) Davies
3) Gilberto
4) Denilson
5) Helb
6) Walcott
Not to mention the likes of Djourou, Diaby, Bendtner… am i forgetting someone?
Well i don’t see we needing many players this summer. it is all about getting the CORRECT players in and out.
Reyes: Stays in Spain with whatever club takes him.
Baptista: Goes back to real madrid(he simply is not Arsenal class)
Senderos: He tries hard but is not fast enough to keep pace with the forwards of today’s times.
Ljunberg: has lost pace and must move on to a less challenging job and also could retire to help the team with his experience.
Aliadiere: Again, not of the Arsenal class, like Baptista.
We have a squad capable of winning each compition we play in. it is all about things clicking at the right time. Henry, RVP, Ribery, Torres, Fabregas, Rocisky… can u ask for more goals from any other midfield put together if u see their strength and might.(Subject to the fact that we get these 3 names i mentioned) we will be lifting the championship this coming season. I HAVE NO DOUBT WHATSOEVER.
In Arsne We Trust.
Reading some of the above comments, i have thought of something else that is frustrating. Curtis Davies, Micah Richards, Nigel Reo-Coker, Ribery and many others in the past have openley admitted they want to join Arsenal over any other club. Yet we do nothing… Wenger has admired Davies since he played for Luton, but he still has’nt made a move. Richards and Reo-Coker have both said this season they want to play for us as they are both gooners themeselves. Reo-coker is now transfer listed and turned down a move to Spurs (yuk) because he hopes Arsenal make a offer. So wh ydoes Wenger (our Lord God) sit about???
Plus i agree with the negative feelings towards Hleb and Senderos. Combined, they probaly lost us 10 points this season.
NEXT SEASON
FABIANSKI
EBOUE
TOURE
GALLAS
CLICHY
HLEB
FABREGAS
GILBERTO
ROSICKY
HENRY
VAN PERSIE
SUBS: LEHMANN SENDEROS DIABY WALCOTT ADEBAOYR LJUNGBERG RIBERY
Wenger should make a move for Reo Cocker. Another point which we all forgot, Will a takeover by Stanley Croenke benefit the Gunners? Our purchases have been limited due to the lack of funds because of the new stadium. There is an oppurtunity to get even more funds,should there be one more illiterate(footballwise) tycoon in EPL and that too as a Gunner?
There are a lot of players that i think we should buy but i doubt we will get any of the ones i want
Defenders - Micah Richards and/or Kompany
Midfielders - Ribery/Queresma/Zapatar/Malouda/Babel/Navas(swap for reyes)
Strickers - Torres/Adriano/Renato/Eto’o
People have mentioned about missing sol,vieira,A.HOLE&Bergkamp BUT the main player in my opinion is Robert Pires, remember how many goals he used to create and score. His understanding with TH14 was amazing, and the left side of arsenal was the fastest and most gifted in the premier league. We need to find another Pires from somewhere. Morten gamst pederson is a good option but NOT world class, Frank Ribery is TOO over-rated (i dnt think arsenal fans have seen him play).Ribery is a decent player but he doesnt score many goals. Ryan Babel has pace and skills to burn but he also doesnt score many. The only guy i can think of to buy is Malouda he scores creates and has pace. Although i appreciate the skills of HLEB, he isnt a winger and i would sign Ribery for the right wing(I know i said Ribery was over-rated but if we sign malouda for the left wing, he’d give us the stability that pires once offered and it would allow ribry to settle in and give us pace both on the left and right of the midfield).
I have notice that gooners are saying “we’ll be great in a couple of years” but i dnt wanna live in the future i wanna live in the here and now. We need to buy players we are simply not good enough. I agree with Henry, but if he ultimately leaves arsenal,then, i would be dissapointed but not fiercely bcos arsenal will move on and i also believe it could be a blessing in disguise,maybe it will allow arsenal to get some money together and spend big on a player such as fernando torres.
I know im asking a lot from arsenal but we as gooners deserve reward for our continued patience
Correct wunshun, its time we performed and won something. Its true that the team is young and promising, the simple fact that Wenger and the optimistic gooners seem to miss is that the team is superb right now. We commit too many mistakes and waste too many chances. If we avoid all of those, we will be winning trophies. Just pray that it happens…………………..
Arsenal have a BIG problems this season, by next year fredrik ljunberg will be exiting the emirites, therefore the only wingers arsenal will have are hleb and rosiscky but they are not natural wide men! so there’s problem 1. problem 2; adebayor is not a goal scorer and van persie is a winger just like van basten said, so arsenal also need a dominant goalscoring striker to play along side thierry henry. also they need a left back, gallas can play left, but his best position is right and centre, gael clichy is not strong enough to playas left back, so they need an air to ashley cole. this is wot i thing should happen next season. craig bellamy will soon exit anfeild if liverpool sign a striker, so he is up for grabs, pedro mendes wants first team football at portsmouth and it looks like he isnt so arsenal should sign him. and for left back i think arsenal should get experienced left back Bixente Lizarazu for a season or 2.
IN
craig bellemy-liverpool-7mil
pedro mendes-portsmouth-5mil
Bixente Lizarazu-bayern munich-6mil
OUT
gael clichy
djourou
flamini
walcott
STARTING LINE UP
FABRISKI
EBOUE-SENDEROS-TOURE-LIZARAZU
MENDES-ROSISKY-HLEB-PERSIE
HENRY-BELLAMY
SUBS
LEHMANN
GALLAS
DIABY
ADEBAYOR
SILVA
No way, clichy and walcott are going nowhere. Cole was a stable player who was useful offensilvely, otherwise he was nothing spectacular. Clichy is(this is my suspicion only) a defensive midfielder who was asked to play defense by wenger and he is bloody good. Walcott can become a winger or a fully blooded forward so he too stays. Bellamy wont pair well with Henry, both of them are fast and tend to hold the ball a bit too long, one of them is enough. Adebayor has to improve his finishing and i think he has done that well albeit in Henry’s absence. The sad thing is that he looks too comfortable in henry’s absence. Hleb better improve next season, the same goes for Senderos. There’s one new boy, one Danish teenager Nicklas Bendtner. You would do well to go check his plays on youtube(same old story, sorry EPL officials), he is huge and good finishing. Dont worry fellow gooners, all thats missing is a little consistency, just pray that it comes next year…………
zubair mohamed- u need ur head checked out mate(no disrespect) what the hell do we need mendes and bellamy for?
name me something that mendes adds that arsenal dnt have, it cant be goals bcos he only scored 2 and doesnt exactly set the game alight with his pace, so why would you replace Cesc with mendes. Bellamy wouldnt make the bench for arsenal in real life he scored 9 goals all season for Liverpool 3 LESS than van persie managed to score before he got injured 5 MONTHS before the season ended. I think someone may have failed to tell you also that Bixente Lizarazu- RETIRED in 2006.
Another thing- i ddnt realise that arsenal had a goalkeeper named “FABRISKI”.
Zubair Mohamed congratulations you have written the worst comments i’ve ever read. Everything in it made NO SENSE at all. there was no explanations to anything.
wun shun he plays the CM of a past decade
We need a replacement, experienced Keeper for a few seasons while Fabianski takes his time on the bench and in Carling and FA Cup to learn the Premier League and his Arsenal game.
Lehmann is not good enough. We need to sign, or maybe even loan, someone very good and experienced while Fabianski trains up.
I don’t think missing wingers is as big a problem as everybody things. The beauty of Eboue and Clichy (who most of you seem keen to eliminate from the starting XI) is that they have perfect winger abilities. That’s how Arsenal operates.
And with the wing backs on overlap, it’s essential that we keep Gilberto in the starting line up also (another point most people miss out on).
I think Senderos should get more game time. He has the perfect build of a CB who can help us defend from the air and from set pieces. Though you wouldn’t want to get rid of Toure or Gallas. Maybe mix it up every week.
I think VPersie should play left wing, so that Rosicky can hold his regular spot in the centre.
Henry
VP, Rosicky, Gilberto, Fabregas, Hleb
Clichy, Gallas, Toure, Eboue
GK??
This is a very attacking formation, despite only 1 striker. lots of forward-moving players.
The other options would be to have VP up front and rosicky left. maybe for home games.
We succeeded where man u failed, that is playing with one striker only, so the one striker is a decent move. The problem is that has to be Henry, Rvp is one footed, Adebayor will need at least 30 min to become good. Anyway if Fabiansky is as good as the polish newpapers proclaim, he wont need any time to aclimatize(hope thats a word) himself………….
Iqnadirshah: Man utd did not fail , 4-2-3-1, Roma, 7-1…I think you’ll find that we worked well with 1 striker. And everyone seems to be forgetting that henry is very likely to leave this season, as you all have him in your starting team. If he leaves who would arsenal buy? like really? not torres(liverpool or manutd would be better choices), not villa(not enough money), probably not huntelaar(wouldn’t suit your style), so who else is good?
We still beat man u twice, but thats not the issue. Henry’s not going anywhere, didnt you read the news? Even if he goes, i dont think we need to buy a striker, we have enough already. We need a good midfielder to complement cesc and a tough defender, thats all.
Arsene has enough obscure pre-pubescent stars of the future from small West African towns. He needs to buy a few world class stars to stand a chance of competing with the Mancs and Chelsea.
In any case, he’s going to leave after a couple of months of the season with the Arse not doing well (by their standards) to be shortly followed out the door by Thierry and pals.
PS - But I like Zubair Mohammed’s suggestions - anything that will make Arsenal worse including a retired full back is good for me.
Haha shut up, Arsenal finished fourth, get over it:)! If he goes you don’t need a striker? and why’s that? Van Persie is good, Adebayor is alright, Bendtner could be good but not this season, so what happens if the first two strikers get injured? then you won’t be able to finish your chances,which is what happened this season. And whats the point in reading the news, we can never be sure if Henry is telling the truth like…he could just be trying to keep the Arsenal fans happy until the moment that he does leave, either way he hasn’t said that he does or doesn’t want to leave.
Yeah thats why we had Man u’s arse(twice), and those pre ‘pubescent boys’ put 6 goals in anfield’s arse. They showed inconsistency which is a problem with inexperience. If we survived the loss of Viera, Bergamp and Pires we’ll survive Henry leaving, although like you rightly pointed out, it may not be in one year, it’ll take some time. We dont have the money to buy such stars, but its okay, we will wait. Once again, check the latest news……………..
Liverpool would give away those 6 goals if they finished ahead of Arsenal.
Just a thought
Maybe thats true in United’s case. Please understand that I agree that we sucked this season, and right now you guys are on top. I’m not arguing with that. And Liverfools finished on par with us on points, but ahead on goal difference. But give us some time, meaning next season. And would you have Arsenal score six in old trafford even if its only a carling cup match? Dont you wish that you could have beaten us at least in your home ground? Be honest……
What arsenal should do is sell henry,he acts too big its like he is the only player,let go of van persie too those injuries of his,we should let adebayor play and also theo
Not RVP, he cant be given out, why because he’s bloody good. And please he carried the burden of being the sole striker and practically got us through the fa cup semis and quarters back in 2005. He was injured but he’ll be back. As for Henry, i agree, he’s pissing me off with his non-commital comments. Either open up and say that “I’m leaving,thanx for your support all these years” or shut up and commit yourself to the club. But honestly, we’ll survive without him, its has already happened many times. In football, the game is won in the midfield(and thats why fabregas and pires were great) not anywhere else…….
darren bent?
I think Henry is pretty vital to at least this season.. and i think he’ll stay..
isn’t everybody forgetting that he penned a 4 year contract last season? so technically he can’t leave, can he? i don’t think Wenger would let him leave unless there was going to be a LOT of money coming in… enough money for us to buy Villa or Messi or someone.
I think we need Henry, and a CB. but who for CB? King??
Some of the comments I have read here are ludicrous… Is it any coincidence that since Arsenal have lost players like Campbell, Cole, Vieira, Pires, Bergkamp etc. they have struggled? Arsenal have got some great young players but what they need is experience and to buy experienced players you have to splash out cash on reputable players which considering the problems Arsenal have at the top doesn’t seem likely. Being a gooner I can see another disappointing season ahead unless we can bring in some experienced hungry players…
A fact that all gooners have to face is that as long as Wenger’s ‘one year contract for players over 30′ last, we will be losing senior players on a regular basis, at least one every two years. Yes we lost big players, but were those players ‘big’ before coming here? Henry itslf is a good example. Considered a complete flop at Juventus, he has become one of the best. This is a phase of transition, face it. How quickly we will recover is the question. Personally I think we are good enough as long as some consistency comes…………………….
This news is just on on the ‘eurosport.co.uk’ site, Dutchman Ryan Babel is keen to be trained by Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, meaning he wants to join them. Will it happen? Hopefully yes……….
After writing my coment a week or two ago, ribery has signed for Bayern Munich(even though he wanted CL football next season), In a way it is a blessing in disguise, did we need a money hungry good-but-not-great winger in our team?
Secondly, I hope malouda DOESNT sign for Arsenal in the summer, I’ve done some research and he has absolutely NO PACE at all. Ideally i’d like Arsene to sign some big name players BUT i’d be happy to see Arsenal go and play Fulham in the first game without ANY new players at all. nREMEMBER: Big Names dont guarantee success (Shevchenko, Ballack& A.HOLE all come to mind)
ignadirshah are you telling me that you didn’t know who Thierry Henry was before coming to Arsenal, he was a bloody World Cup winner!!! Ok, he was a flop at Juve and wenger did transform him from a good player into a world class player. Wan shun, I agree with you big names do not guarantee success but for Arsenal to become consistent they need a stronger backbone to the team, players who have experience to grind out a victory against teams like Bolton and Blackburn away. An important point i mentioned was that we need experienced HUNGRY players, e.g. Fernando Torres. He is still young and captain of A. Madrid not having one a thing, he will be hungry for trophies. On the other hand he could turn out to be another Reyes (scared of some rain!) To be honest in football you never know, who would have thought United would win the league last season and Liverpool would get to the CL final? My instict is that Arsenal need a couple of experienced players, very few injuries, a good start to the season and a bit of luck. Then they could go all the way!
why don’t gunners try to improve by SELLING HENRY. I know this is sound lil bit ridiculous but if they manage to get 25-28mil, why don’t they do it? Until when gunners will rely on Henry? Sooner or later, Henry will gone. Look at Utd. They sell RvN…buying carrick. What did they get? EPL champions. My suggestions is sell Henry, buy a hitman (Baptista)? Change formation perhaps 4-3-3, Adebayor/vPersie playing deep to support midfield. Rosicky I expect no trouble playing a midfield role where he play for dortmund and czech.
Adebayor Baptista van Persie
Fabregas Gilberto Rosicky
Eboue Gallas Toure Hoyte
Fabianski
I agree with you dude, but on one point. Fewer injuries would definitely help us. Thats been our curse. Imagine RVP injures his metatarsal celebrating a goal against Man U! We need experience yes, but who among the current team lacks it? And that bloody Hleb better improve next season….
Inexperienced players (not good enough to win Prem or CL):
Fabianski
Almunia
Eboue
Clichy
Hoyte
Senderos
Djourou
Diaby
Denilson
Hleb
Walcott
Adebayor
They all have potential but are inexperienced at the top level. The squad needs strengthening. As far as Thierry goes, he is a great player but if his mind is not set on Arsenal sell him. From the latest press news, not sure if it’s just rumours (usually is) but Wenger has been in discussions with Barcelona, maybe we could get Eto’o in exchange.
Denilson is going to be super next season. He already showed shades of it last time. As for senderos, his encounters with drogba certainly tainted his reliability, but he has been playing for at least 3 years now. Couldnt be too bad, could he? I just pray that our goal keeping woes are over and Fabiansky’s presence would inspire mr.madasslehmann to be more careful(nothing against him, sometimes he deserves to be kicked). I’m just praying Wenger makes a move for ryan babel.
I think we really need Henry.. everybody is saying “we need experience we need a backbone”. who better than henry? and you’re all leaving Gilberto out of your teams.. he’s probably the next best person to have in that squad.
and Diaby will make the cut as an experienced PL player this season. he was so solid last season in the carling cup etc. he became a leader i think. he’s good enough to start in most PL sides.
i don’t rate Eto’o.. henry more essential..
Eto’o is past his prime, not henry. And yes, i see (like most gooners) another Viera in Diaby, he’ll be good. And Gilberto should be the captain. The point is if henry wants to leave, let him. He will be missed, but we will survive without him……………..
The reason people leave gilberto out of their team is because he isn’t good enough to be playing for a team who would be challenging for the premiership….Senderos has been playing for the last 3 years? LAst season he hardly played at all(except when people got injured) and the two seasons before that he only played because you had no other decent centre back, Senderos isn’t that good. And Tog: Selling Henry and buying baptista?!?!?! Did you see how bad baptista is, and you won’t get that much for Henry i don’t think. wun shun: Malouda obviously has a lot of pace, you mustn’t have been researching the right player…By the way, how is eto’o past his best? He scored something like 12 goals in 16 games this season, and he’s younger than henry
Well .. Arsene Wenger needs .. more experienced players .. if he really wants to get some title nxt season !!
How many sitters did Eto miss in the penultimate match of the la liga? And he was playing so idiotically. He was good, but has gone backward since.
All we need is another striker that scores goals (2 if Henry goes!), a solid centre back, and a winger that can play both sides. Other than that we’ll be fine with last years squad.
If you think about last season what was the only thing wrong with the way we played???
Goals!!
I don’t understand why people are slating the whole squad when the main reson was we were missing Van Persie and Henry. Baptista and Adebayor weren’t good enough, Van Persie will kick ass this season with or without Henry! We just need a couple of quality strikers to keep him on his toes!
When players like Henry know they will play every week regardless of how well they play, they loose consistency.
We have wingers in Hleb, Rosicky and Walcott.But yes if we have one more, rosicky could play more forward. But do we really need one more CB to partner Toure if Gallas stays and keeps his mouth shut?
When ive been watching arsenal last season Hleb & Rosicky seem to play more central. We need a freddie or an overmars type winger someone who beats the full back and get the ball into the box instead of passing around on the edge of the area. Of course we’ll need a striker that can nod a few headers in aswell!
Agree definitely need Centre Back!
Think an orthodox winger could make a huge difference and should be the priority. A scrapper in midfield could do well, although I think Diaby will come good, and a goal poacher would be nice aswell, although I cant see how we need a new centre back when two of the leagues best play fo us.
Just who’s the winger you have in mind?
The reasons we need a centre back are:
1. What do we do when Gallas or Toure get injured?
2. African Nations?
Not sure who for a winger Ronaldo would be nice!
Malouda? I do think for all Hlebs technical skill he makes us too narrow. If we have a more direct outlet I think teams will find it much harder to defend against us, a bit like a plan B.
Ive never really seen malouda play, theres a lot of talk about him. But if i’m being honest with Chelsea and Liverpool after him we won’t have a chance! (unless this big money american comes in!)
Chelsea and Liverpool have huge squads and except a select few, no one else can be sure of playing at all and that may help our cause to get Malouda. I cant wait to see the new boy Brendtner play, the fellow is tall and he’ll show adebayor how to play pysically. Gamst Pederson may be a good option for a winger but i dont think Rovers will let him go(nor will Wenger get him)…………..
I agree with the squad size thing. Money talks though!
And bendtner did seem to do well on loan, still don’t know if he can be relied on in the prem yet. No offence to the lad but if he’s one of our main stikers at the start of the season then we won’t win a thing and might even struggle with a champions league spot.
I really do hope the malouda thing comes off, but i’m not so confident. I think the uncertainty around the club needs to get sorted quick if we are to sign any worthwhile players!
One thing I cant stand is the former gunners(read viera, pires) saying how henry should take his chance and move.
Whats their problem anyway? Its obvious that they regret leaving, especially Pires who initially said that he wants to play under Wenger again, then changed saying that he may go back to Metz, then finally said that he may stick with Villareal……………
How does Viera regret leaving? He won the Italian league with Inter and Juventus in 2 seasons, he wouldn’t have won anything if he stayed with arsenal…. And the only reason Pires would miss Arsenal is because he misses his mates etc., he would never have been a first team regular, never mind their star player, like he is at Villareal, with Forlan, so I don’t agree with any of what you just said iqnadirshah. Arsenal will probably buy one more good player, like they did last year with rosicky, and again have to settle for being the worst out of the top 4, especially after Henry leaves, Tottenham would have a squad equal to Arsenal’s.
The title with Juve was taken back, he has only the scudetto with Inter. And yes Arsenal have nothing right now. But both have commented on every happening at Arsenal since their departure. This is my view, maybe wrong. But who should be kicked out? Rosicky was okay because his style of play was similar to the gunners’(short passes,swift runs). And who should be bought? I can think of Pederson(from rovers) and maybe a CB.And Henry leaving is not a catastrophe. Cesc joins well with adebayor and the team shot 6 goals twice(vs liverpool and blackburn) and won many games without him………..
So what if you scored 6 goals, Arsenal are definitely the best to watch, and when they score two or three you can always sount on them to start taking teams apart, but henry was missing when youneeded vital goals, like he did against Man U, Adebayor doesn’t score regularly, well I’m not sure about him yet, we’ll see how good he really is next season, I think V.P scores alot, but so far i do;t think hes had a 15+ season yet…has he? So no matter what arsenal fans say, losing henry would be a big loss. ‘Who should be kicked out?’ No-one really needs to be kicked out, ljungberg maybe…as he seems to have just gone completely rubbsh, and maybe senderos, who is prone to make mistakes, can be good sometimes though. Na i don’t know if pedersen would be good for arsenal, Arsenal play a certain way, and only certain players can play that way, Pedersen would cross it too much, and slow down Arsenals passing, plus you have no-one to header it…But i don’t know who yuo will buy…Ribery was your best option, I’m sure Arsene will find someone, probably another winger, or maybe walcott and rosicky will just be your first team wingers?
I know, the silence from Emirates is making everyone uneasy. No matter how good henry is, if he does not want to play, he shouldnt. He still hasnt given a concrete statement about staying, so my guess is he wants out. If he stays well and good, but we played a good 10 matches without him. The results may not have been there, but it should improve. About new players, I have no clue, but as they say, “Wenger knows……”
look, if I was in charge, I would not let Henry go for ANY amount. well.. maybe a lot.. but I think he’s essential.
I think Bendtner will need a year playing Carling Cup and such to get fully ready for the big step up to the Premier League.
I really wish someone from Arsenal would come out and say something about Henry.. it’s making me nervous.
anyway, Walcott has shown awesome potential on the wing. i’d be using him very regularly.. maybe not starting at first, but bringing him on for a good half hour in games we’re winning.
we spend 8 million quid on him and have hardly used him
African Nations will be no problem:
Almunia
Hoyte Djourou Gallas Clichy
Rosicky Gilberto Fabregas Hleb
RVP Walcott/Bentner/?
Winger - SWP would really make good sense
Henry replacement - Lita for me: goals vs Man Utd, Chelsea and power, pace and good finishing
And if Fabregas leaves/gets injured, Arsenal need a quality CM, apart from Denilson, such as Kevin Nolan or Mark Noble.
Would be great to see more englishmen playing beautiful Arsenal football.
Anelka man, Anelka would be the perfect replacement(if we actually needed one). As for Englishmen in Arsenal, the good ones are really expensive, though Sidwell and Harper would have fitted in well and so would have Pennant, but everyone wanted to play regular football, so they left.
englishmen aren’t good enough at football for arsenal
what about sol campell and cashley hole? walcott?
I find it unlikely to see Arsene Wenger buying in any players that is worth higher than 15m…Most likely he’s juz gonna unearth more talents for next season…but if that happens i can’t see Arsenal in the Top Four next season without their most profilic goalscorer…
If they can get Tevez…it might be possible he is a good replacement for Henry…Tevez is capable of 15 goals a season at least…
Maybe another winger is needed for Arsenal…Ljungberg perhaps is leaving and Hleb and Rosicky are not really wingers…though they fit into Arsenal’s style of play…
Both Owen and Martins are available for less than 15 m…….
I don’t know about Owen. With all the controversy he’s stirred up in the past year (probably not all his fault, but anyway…) do Arsenal really want to bank on someone like that with all his injury problems? Martins seems like a good prospect on the surface but he’s got a reputation for having a ‘quirky’ personality & his severe injury problems in the past worry me. I don’t deny his talent but can we afford all that other baggage he might bring to the team? Right now we work well as a unit without Henry, just without the finishing. Surely there must be some other strikers out there? Huntelaar? Babel?
And Conor, Viera left because he wanted a CL trophy, same reason Henry left. I don’t think he cares beans about winning the scudetto. Him and Henry are similar. Both have won 1 WC, EPL a few times + FA Cup a few times & Euro 2000. (He was captain of the Unbeaten Side of 03-04! What else can top that?) They only lack a major European Club medal & that is why they left. Viera probably regrets leaving because Juventus got beaten by Arsenal (with him in the team) on THEIR way to the CL final. Ironical isn’t it? Looking at the CL final in 2006 he was probably kicking himself saying ‘if they had me, we would have won!’
As for Pires, maybe Wenger had lost confidence in him, i dunno, but i agree with you in that one. Most definitely misses his teammates & the fans who loved him almost as much as they did Henry.
Yeah he probably did leave to win the champions league, but if he had stayed at arsenal he would have won nothing, in italy he won the italian league twice, which I know isn’t as important as the Champions League, but it was his own bad choice not to go to barcelona, they wanted him, and they have the best squad in Europe, but still the fact is, staying at Arsenal proved to be a good move,and he won’t be regretting it.
Tevez or Anelka would be a good buy. As for who Wenger is looking at, we can only guess, but he usually pulls out a good one.
And he has pulled out a totally unexpected name, a brazilian born(hope that means he’s good) croatian, Eduardo Da Silva. Check out his goals on youtube, they’re good, but how he plays against class opposition remains to be seen. Anyway goodbye to all the rumours linking martins, tevez and owen………..
From what i read he’s out looking to strengthen the defensive aspect of the team, now that he’s got da silva. It is kind of worrying that he might not be looking for any more offensive players. I was practically salivating at the possibility of Tevez on our side! Anyway, there is still 2 whole months to go before the end of the transfer window. Keep our fingers crossed!
And Eduardo is a good one indeed, he should suit Arsenal’s style and he can score, plus you’se now have someone who can header the ball, and since he’s scored 7 goals in 10 games in international matches(I think) it seems like he is good enough. Sagna will probably be your only other signing(excluding another one of Arsene’s young stars)
next season does not look too bad. we have bought a good goalscorer in de silva and although he wont score 34 in the prem league is a top player(in arsene we trust). And hopefully this season a few more goals will come from midfield and a few of the youngsters will step up.(remember diaby and denilson walking all over Lampard and makelele in the carling cup?).Also, in Bendtner we have two strikers that are good in the air, in van Persie a good passer and scorer and in de silva what seems to be a natural goalscorer. If Chelsea, manc u etc are interested in herenveen’s alves (he earnt rave reviews last year,ps kezman had over a goal a game in holland ) then people should not question our new striker.
I was shocked(the exact thought was who the **** is this), but i guess Wenger’s been watching him ever since he scored the first goal at emirates. He’s a cool finisher and should mix well with the gunner’s play. The other possible new player “bakri” is also good. And drogba insists that it will be a two horse race next year also as arsenal’s lost henry, we’ll see you miserable f**kface, we’ll see…..
It seems that the (occasional) watching of the comedy named NHL (Croatian league) has paid off a tiny little bit. Therefore, I’m certain that I know much more than about Eduardo than 99% of Arsenal fans, and I hate Arsenal. That’s something, right? Anyway, I live in Split, Croatia, and whether I like it or not, I’m constantly fed that bullshit they call a league. So, I can tell you a thing or two about Eduardo from first hand. He’s good, he’s really good, he’s an out-and-out striker, but also moves a lot, and doesn’t just wait for the ball in the box, just what your Frenchman likes. He’s left-footed, has good technique, he’s not too selfish, and has a quick pair of feet, but he has a big flaw, and that is, as in many Brazilians, softness. He’s weak and not too stable on his feet, and that’s a big weakness in the EPL. There is also the issue of stamina; the tempo of the English game may prove too tough for him, at least in the beginning. So, he’s a good signing for the Arse, but he could have problems. It will be tough for him, a different galaxy compared to the cornfields of Croatian league, but I do believe he’s good enough. We’ll see, I only hope Arsenal goes down badly. Oh, yeah, come to Croatia this summer! Cheers.
I agree he sounds like a good player, hopefully if bendtner is going to come good we can rely on his strength and use him as a target man, this is what we’ve been missing all along an ariel threat in the box. Maybe Eduardo will just play off the others and do more of a Van Nistelrooy type role, and hopefully we’ll start winning a few more penalties too!
Winger is definitely next on list though. if not malouda, Robben and Wrighty are looking for a way out of chelsea!
We have a new rightback/leftback/midfielder(?) now, Bakry Sagna. He looks like a good player. Where exactly Wemger will play him needs to be seen though……….
I think spending about 1/2 a season without henry taught our players how to rely more on a playmaker (Fabregas) than a striker because all goals (exept solos which arsenal rarely score unless its henry) start from the playmaker. strangly many people say that Arsenals goals are initiated by Lehmann his well placed rolls create the chances so he is a defensive playmaker.
Arsenal need a winger like Babel from Ajax or Joaquin from Valencia. Rosicky is not bad but we could actually use Hleb as cover. If you really think that Hleb is too close to the middle pay more attentionfor example if Arsenal play an average 4-4-2 of:
———————Lehmann/Almunia————————
————–Toure—————————Gallas————–
–Eboue————————————————-Clichy—
————-Fabregas———————-Gilbreto———–
–Hleb—————————————————–Rosicky
—————Van Persie——————Henry—————
During the last season, on an attack it resembled:
——————-Lehmann/Almunia————————–
————————————————————————-
————Toure—————————Gallas—————-
————————–Gilberto————————————
————————Fabregas————————————
—Eboue—-Hleb—————-Rosicky——–Clichy——
—————–Van Persie–Henry——————————-
Because Wenger tends to play attacking midfielders like Hleb and Rosicky ahead of the main playmaker to create oppertunities and play the full-backs as wide midfielders that give crosses for Adebayor to head in. The Beast spoiled our chances last season by using his blown up thighs to try and send the ball shooting into the net to create a spectacular looking goal but he ends up sending balls to Mars to create spectacular sounding groans. Dudu is a proven goalscorer and he doesnt tend to screw chances up like Baptista. Sagna and clichy are going to battle for that left-back spot but I can see Clichy being used more because he has EPL experiance. If Martins comes, Arsene would have made our day because his speed will allow Wenger to use him as a winger or striker which can improve Arsenals chances because Hleb gets complacent as you have seen. I think next season wenger will play a 4-5-1 like so:
————Fabianski/Lehmann/Almunia——————
————-Toure————————Gallas——————
–Eboue—————————————Clichy/Sanga—
————————–Gilberto(cp)——————————
————-Fabregas—————Rosicky——————–
–Joaquin——————————————–Vanpersie-
——————–Eduardo/Martins—————————–
Subs:
1. Fabianski/Lamann/Almunia
2. Clichy/Sangna
3. Hleb
4.Denilson/Diaby
5.Adebayor/Bendtner/Martins/Eduardo
On the subject of departures i think we should loose Ljungberg because the goals dried up and an exchange for Valeri Bojinov would give Arsenal another very good strikerand another centre-half would be good if we can replace the unhappy Gallas if he stays unhappy, i theink Per Mertesacker would be good or sergio Ramos if possible. Another hot prosect I would like to see would be Kerlon, he is amazing and defenders never get the ball of him without concedeing a free kick or penalty, (check on youtube). the loss of Fabregas would be a disaster unless Arsenal can somehow buy Samir Nasri from l’OM because he seems to be a very good playmaker. If Rosicky stays injured for the first half of next season Arsenal should try and get Rafael Van Der Vaart or Stewart Downing in his place during the January transfer window. Reyes is scum, if I see him at the Emirates in a red and white shirt next season I will commit suicide.
I hope you like my analysis of how much Arsenal could improve next season.
Comment 100 is pretty spot on. I think everyone knows a striker and orthodox winger are still needed for us to challenge. I found it very frustrating seeing the ease with which Liverpool got Babel and Torres who would have been ideal.
Some Gooner,
Maybe hell will freeze over and Ramos would even think of leaving Spain where he plays for the champions to play for a team that will be competing to keep their top 4 status also it is a possibility but I doubt Martins will leave and you have Joaquin to move to Arsenal when only last season he joined Valencia. I don’t know what you’re smoking but please send me some
Oh sure liam, we’re supporting an average club, for now. Leave the analysis and the thoughts to us. Dont waste your magnificient brain by putting you comments here or smoking the stuff we gooners smoke. Leave all of that to us….
Comment 00 was pretty spot on, but one point is that we have walcott as a winger though not a traditional one. About the formation you proposed, i dont think gilbero should be where you put him. Replace gallas with gilberto, put cesc in gilberto’s place and put walcott or hleb in cesc’s place, how about that? Sorry i’m too lazy to draw that up……………
I never said Arsenal were average I think they are the 3rd best team in the league after United and Chelsea and I like them more than Chelsea that’s for sure. In fabregas you have the best young CM in the world but be realstic, this guy is talking about Sergio Ramos and Joaquin going to Arsenal when 1. They are way too expensive for Arsenal and 2. they each start for 2 of the top 3 Spanish teams which they wouldn’t leave to go anywhere especially not London.
I didn’t say that we must buy Ramos, Liam. I said that IF Gallas stays unhappy we should get him, I happen to know from what skysports said some time back that they are interested in Gallas and maybe we can propose a trade or something with them. Joaquin is NOT too expensive because although Arsenal aren’t moneybags, about 5m added to Ljungberg’s 5-6m will pay the price.
Rite ‘Some Gooner’ clearly Ramos wouldn’t come to Arsenal, especially not in the state they’re in now and after Madrid just winning the league, and Joaquin would cost about 20m minumum, he was Valencias best player at the end of the season, and they bought him for about 14m, so 10m would hardly be enough….Mertesacker could move to Arsenal if they wanted im, and Kerlon definitely won’t go to the 4th best team in England.
Excuse me Conor, but if Arsenal didn’t have so many main injuries we would have been second!! You also see quality players arriving at low placed clubs like Tevez to West Ham, and if Joaquin doesn’t work out, maybe Eboué might work as a winger because he seems more comfortablle when in an attaking position. Jesus Navas might make the cut if he gets over his homesickness and Odonkor won’t be too bad. Arsene always knows who to buy anyway. We might find some Palestinian winger at Arsenal soon (it might even be me, I’m a Palestinian winger!!).
Some Gooner, relax. there is this bunch of manu/chelsea/liverpool fans that like to spite on us gunners all the time(even spurs fans too). As of now they can do that because we have not performed well for two years. They predict we may not even finish fourth next season. Let them go ahead and do it. Keep the faith, we will soon start to deliver………..
O yeah second, I’m sure… Just like if chelsea didn’t have as many injuries they would have been first, so I guess you think we would’ve finished 3rd then? Odonkor is fast, but wouldn’t fit into Arsenal’s style of play and he’s nothing more than average. Tevez went to West Ham because his owner knew he would be guaranteed a first tam place, Tevez probably had never heard of West Ham before. Joaquin would get into lots of teams better than Arsenal, and its not as if you can pay the highest wages, so he just wouldn’t come to Arsenal.
‘You also see quality players arriving at low placed clubs’, thats almost admitting you aren’t a top team now…Jesus Navas is a possibilty in the future, but he may never leave Sevilla at all,a lot of players from Sevilla seem to get homesick-Reyes,Navas etc. Face it, Arsenal find it hard to attract high quality players these days…
Who needs them? Which high quality player did we buy(other than reyes, who did do some good the first 2 years). We bought sol campbell from spurs long back. Since then who has been the high profile signing? Rosicky maybe, surely not hleb or diaby or even eduardo?
Freddie is gone boys. Thats one more player leaving now our squad looks really new. Its a slightly scary thought.
I will miss Freddie. He was there even longer than Henry or Pires. But he’s passed his peak now & it was time for him to move on. You can expect West Ham to give us more problems this coming season again with him in the side but i think we’ll still manage.
We shouldn’t be looking at it terms of age but in terms of experience. Toure has been around for at least 4 years. So has Clichy, Flamini, Fabregas, Gilberto & Lehmann. If Gallas & Toure can click together & Lehmann can keep his nuttiness boxed up where no one can be embaressed by it, we’ll have a decent defensive line-up again.
Keep the Faith, O Ye Gooners! Our team deserves at least that much.
Oh I keep the faith man, always do. I agree on freddie being past his peak though, but he did show the occasional streak of brilliance, but his injuries have caught up with him. This should be a make or break for Diaby, and from how he was before his horrific injury, it shouldnt be a problem. Honestly cant wait to see how we play. The friendlies look good, they should replicate it against bigger teams though……….
Emirates Cup is over. Great that we won, but a lot of work still needs to be done. Reading over the whole comments section here (that’s right! Start to finish!), i’ve realised that i haven’t changed my opinion much.
One thing still pisses me off though. With all our possession & chances we could have scored at least 2 more goals in each game we played. I hope the demons of last season don’t come back to haunt us with all the missed chances we had. Injuries didn’t worry me so much as the incapability to convert chances regularly.
A few positives. Hleb, Eboue & Van Persie all looked good. Clichy was his usual self (by which i mean great) & defensively we didn’t fuck up too many times.
WE ARE STILL WAY TOO THIN IN THE SQUAD THOUGH!!
Throughout the matches i kept thinking “Oh God! Please not another injury! No more injuries please!” If this is the way i’m gonna feel the whole season i’m gonna die of a coronary by October. Basically i’m trying to say that we need a bit more defensive cover & one more attacking option. People seem to be thinking about another winger. Its a good idea coz then it will free up the likes of Van Persie, Adebayor & Bendtner to go rampaging into the opposition defence. I sincerely doubt that Wenger is gonna start Da Silva so soon as a winger/striker or anything of that matter in the Premiership. Maybe in the League cups.
I’m getting the feel for Wenger’s strategy this season now. I think he’s desperate to offload Reyes as soon as he can & use the money to get one more LB/CB & a quality winger with relatively good experience. There is no way in my mind that he will bring in Martins or Anelka coz he’s got great attacking options that are brimming with confidence, young, lean & hungry. Bringing either of those 2 egomaniacs in are going to upset the delicate balance he’s created.
Here’s where i’m gonna cry about the fact that we don’t have Malouda or Ribery. Either one of them would have been 10 times their asking price at Arsenal. Ok. Crying over now.
My greatest fear is the whole squad, young as they may be, are going to get overworked tremendously this new season. They need to be psychologically ‘invincible’ in order to begin to cope with the onslaught of other teams. This could be a make or break year for Arsenal. One more year without trophies is gonna be hard, but i can personally live with a semi-final CL berth &/or 2nd place on the Premiership table. I only hope our players can too if the worst happens.
Pretty fair assesment mr architect. One another positive thing about the emirates cup was RVP scoring with his right foot. The team looks sharp and hungry, but yes even i feel that the lack of experience could hurt at one point. But from another perspective, there could not be an even more worse experince than last season. We lost matches even when we were the better team(during the era of the ‘invincibles’ we used to play bad and still win), and fourth place after beating liverpool and man u is not at all enough. So our team would definitely be hardened by that. Like every good team we need a leader to lead with both his heart and head, henry sadly couldnt be that. Toure or gilberto could be that. Plus there is a new positive vibe that seems to be coming out of the team. Things could yet work our way(starting with eduardo getting his work permit) and we could do something spectacular. Come on ye gunners……….
I do think that this next season COULD be worse than last season IF we are not careful. The problem with lowering expectations for our team, in order to take the pressure off of them (the young-uns), is that it doesn’t work if your team ACTUALLY meets them. So yeah, i’ll be happy without trophies this year (ok maybe i would like the measly Carling Cup or the FA Cup) if we actually IMPROVE from last season quite a bit.
To me that means finishing above Liverpool comfortably next season or even snapping at the heels of Chelsea & Man Utd. I would like us to beat a few established teams in the CL to reach the semi-final round AT LEAST. After that, i’m not epxecting much more.
As to us in a tie with Liverpool last season, i keep thinking back to the match b/w us & them at the end of March which we lost 4-1. We had beaten them convincingly twice earlier that year with pretty much the same team at the same venue & i know we missed a fair few chances in this last match. Thinking about it, if we had won that last match, we would have been comfortably in 3rd place & maybe there would be no more crap talk about the Spurs replacing us on the table.
I am hoping & praying that Gilberto comes back to full-fitness & form after his holiday coz i think the team responds to him really well as captain, although i’d like to see him a lot firmer with some team members in order to establish his authority. He was brilliant in the Copa America! Gave his team-mates inspiration as a captain & was a tireless workhorse. If Gallas ever captains Arsenal again, i’ll be really pissed off! The guy can’t inspire anyone in the team. Can you expect someone like Lehmann listening to Gallas after the shoving matches they had last season?
Also, i like the way Wenger is aiming high in order for a hope to hit just under it at the least! Has anyone else noticed that in his strategy? I’m betting that if we improve in any way next season he’s going to talk it up as a victory for his strategy. Wonder if that’s a good or bad thing.
I cant understand why wenger wants gallas to captain the team. In the absence of gilberto, it should be toure or even lehmann. Not that crybabay gallas. I’m honestly not commenting on where we’ll be next season as i have no idea how they’ll play with the bigger teams. Its a completely new team and a new style has come even if it looks like the same quick passes. There seems to be more happenings on the wings(main reason for that is eboue) and the defense looks more stable. Once a few matches are over, we could possibly predict.
I do think that Toure is more worthy of the captaincy but if you thnk about it Gallas is very opinionated and he’s not afraid to open his mouth. hopefully, he’ll put some fight into the players (Keown style). I think it could work!! Last season the players needed someone to absoloutly bollock them at times, and get them going when we where losing at places like Blackburn, and Man City. Also you can’t make Toure captain when we will lose him for half the season to the african Nations!
Arsenal can only be improved by them learning how to put the ball in the darn net. They dominate so much and never seem able to kill teams off…
I agree, I go to the away games when they anywhere north of birmingham. And i think its more in these games where we stuggle to score, its quite frustrating at times going to wigan, blackburn and bolton expecting a win then seeing Arsenal dominate the whole game only to get caught out by a back post header in the last 10 minutes. Then not only that, the fans youve been taking the piss out of all game are taking the piss out of you on the way back to the car!
Its about time Arsenal got their balls back, both infront of our goal and our opponents goal!
I agree. We have to put the ball in the back of the net. We should have had at least two more goals in each of the emirates cup matches………
people keep forgetin that this is arsenal not a relegation team, the way they see football arsenal will fail but they are all wrong. i just hope arsene will add experience in some position to the squad like center midfilder and a center back, maybe a winger. we have the young player that are good but the season is long we need experience in games that experience players are needed, like when we have to play ugly football to win. so and experience center midfielder and center defender. players like olivier dacourt, mattoe farrari,thiago motta,ricardo quaresma, it will have been great if we buy a top class striker to replace henry but i hope wenger is right in buying da silva only time will tell.
I don’t think they really do need to buy anyone. It’s more of a mental thing. I think it will come, hopefully sooner than later. It’s just a confidence thing, if this team can get the confidence to keep playing the way they are but just to start fighting, and shooting more. It seems like morale is high at the moment despite people leaving. This is what we need. A good start to the season, and i reckon this team will be flying!!
Good news eduardo’s received his work permit………..
“It’s more of a mental thing. I think it will come, hopefully sooner than later.”
I agree with this. We have the boys that could be. Maybe this is the year. I think that we should also see a huge year out of RVP this year. His injury last year was devastating combined with the loss of Henry. imagine how many of the 20 points we ended up down that we would have had with the two of them healthy.
“so and experience center midfielder and center defender”
Totally agree here as well. There is still time to make the great signing of this off season and I hope Wenger has a nice end of summer surprise for us.
Van Persie is definitely the man this season! and without wanting to put too much pressure on him I think he can not only be our best player, but he could quite possibly be the top goalscorer in the prem, and even player of the year next year! he’s already shown flashes of greatness in the freindlies, I hope he plays a full game against ajax on sat. I really have a good feeling about van persie this season!
How much do you think Quaresma would fetch nowadays? Do you think Arsenal has the funds for that sort of buy?
Arsenal has the funds, the only problem is whether they will buy. Even if such a move is happening, I dont think Arsene would give more than 6-8 mil for him(or is that too much?).
we need to bring in robinho,lassana diarra and luka modric to realy strenthen the squad. and by my opinion lehmann is past it so a world class keeper to bring in in january prefably buffon but one rummor i have herd is we might exchange gilberto+£7 mill for vicente duno if its true or not.adios amigos.
We dont need a new goalkeeper unless almunia or fabiansky gets injured. But yes, we could do with a midfielder………
just to answer to ignadirshah i think we do need a world class goal keeper. dident u see the cock ups lehmann made at fulham and blackburn,at fulham we was lucky to get 2 goals in 10mins, and at blackburn today he lost us 2 points as it sliped through his hands into the back of the gunners net
I agree, Jens cost us two vital points at Ewood park. He’s losing it, and needs a long break. I dont think he’ll be playing next week. Having said that, i thought we played quite well, nothing fantastic but when you play against a team thats hell bent on pushing and shoving the **** out of you, we did show some impressive stuff. The best player was undoutebly Sagna. Cant believe he’s adapted so quickly. Eduardo was good but messed up two long shots when he could have simply passed. We should have won and jens screwed it up royally……………..
I think Lehmann could actually be feeling the pressure from Fabianski. but its time to get Fabianski in for a few games. Lehmann will get back in but its just the usual thing from him he’s always been prone to silly mistakes. But i honestly think what happened on saturday could have happened to any Keeper.
Its the one against Fulham that is more worrying because he’s always made that mistake, but its a bit late to teach an old dog new tricks!!
Can’t believe Gallas is injured already! This is where we find out that sanderos still isn’t good enough and Djourou is out on loan.
We definitely need to buy a Quality, Reliable, Young, Non African Centre Back!
I dont think we need a winger now as much as i thought we did b4 the league started. I think Wenger has solved that with Eboue at right wing,(with hleb and walcott in support), which i think he is more natural to play. Gunna see alot more of his dangerous crosses from the right, jus hope we got da silva nodding em in. I do think we need another defender though. Heitinga, vanden borre, kompany, mertesacker are a few young strong centre backs.
ignadirshah-
i agree sangna has settled in well and was blinding at ewood and yes a good rest would do lehmann a world of good.if so maybe we will see how almunia or fabianski fare in the prosess
lee pownall-
yeh we do need a class non african centre back but all the transfer rumours ive seen around the net are about us going for mids and forwards but some of them are quite interesting try this site for interesting rumours http://www.football-rumours.com
Been looking over the comments from the last few months, & comparing it with the results we’ve been getting uptil now i think most people have made fair assessments based on whatever info was available at the time.
I want to see RVP score more in the Premiership. A player of his calibre should be feeding off of passes from Hleb & Fabregas & making some funky moves to put the ball in the back of the net. Defensively i think i would go so far as to say that we are well short of where we need to be. Anyone want to even imagine the catastrophic game we might have against full strength Liverpool or ManU sides? They only need a few cha