Comments on: How can Arsenal improve this summer?

By: SpiralArchitect

SpiralArchitect — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 15:59:30 +0000

Great match against Derby. I don’t think i can say anything else except if we keep playing like this then the title should be in our hands by end of March.

By: MDH

MDH — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:14:49 +0000

Fair point about playing Man U or Liverpool tommorow literally. I just read Alonso and Agger could be out for the match in October which would be a massive boost. I think that Liverpools “progressive attacking football” is a bit of a myth to be honest. Alonso is the only good passer in the team and I fancy our chances if he stays injured and our backline is up to strength. I cant remember Gerrard ever having a good match against us. Man U havent been great this season, but will be pretty formidable once Rooney Scholes and Ronnie get back and firing, unfortunately this is likely to be near the time we play them.

Anyway with regards to Anelka, while I accept he may not be the best influence in the dressing room, I think its clear to see hes a perfect fit for how we play. Time and again this team has created space in the final third that would have been exploited far better by someone with the pace and instinct that we used to get with Henry and Pires at their best. Anelka is faster, a better mover, more direct and better finisher than anyone we have aside from Eduardo and gives us the option of someone who can hang on the shoulder, scare defenders and push the oppositions back line further back, as well as a direct route. I honestly think that with the space he would get hed be able to score at least 15 goals for us in the period. I know we have four strikers but VP is injury prone, Adebayor will be away during a critical period and Bendtner, while giving us a good option is unproven. Martins would also do a great job, but is less likely o leave Newcastle (Bolton could be relegation fodder be the transfer window). As for Owen, Im sure his goal poaching ability would be good, however his style of play and all round technical limitations wouldnt fit in with the teams style or Wengers ideals.

By: iqnadirshah

iqnadirshah — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 08:56:28 +0000

I think we may see Bendtner, Diarra and Hoyte in the game with Derby. The players may need a good rest. Having said that, I agree with the architect, no need for anelka.

By: SpiralArchitect

SpiralArchitect — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 04:05:39 +0000

To add, we definitely don’t need Anelka. I’ve said this before elsewhere about the likes of Owen/Martins coming into the club but i feel bringing an egomaniac like Anelka into the squad is gonna upset the momentum we’ve got going for ourselves. What’s wrong with the players we have at the moment? We just need RVP to start firing again. I know he can the job, he just needs to improve his confidence & try & do some solo runs down the side/middle. And we should give Bendtner a shot as well. We have enough attacking options at the moment.

By: SpiralArchitect

SpiralArchitect — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 03:56:31 +0000

MDH – i would be worried against ManU & Liverpool if they both played their first string against us coz they’re both concentrating on attacking football the same way as we do. They also have a better defensive line-up & a more stable goalkeeper than we do. The holes in our back line is getting plugged with midfielders & our goalie choice is always up in the air before every match.

So yeah i would be worried. But hopefully injuries & suspensions will affect those teams as much as they will be affecting us & in that respect i think we can adapt better than they can.

By: iqnadirshah

iqnadirshah — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:45:10 +0000

Yes Gooners thats a motto for us. Dont get carried away too much. But on the other hand who wouldnt? Especially after the Seville match?

By: MDH

MDH — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:05:54 +0000

Well its clear to see that we are doing far better than most expected. One thing I notice is that for all the comments made on strikers and wingers, the defensive aspect will be pivotal. As dodgy as weve looked at times this season we were far weaker last year, when mistakes must have cost us around 12 points. Sagna has looked good and is a massive improvement on what we had before and Clichy has been brilliant. Once Gallas stays fit were looking at a very strong back four. Spiral do you really think were going to do that badly against Liverpool or Man U? Im not getting too carried away but if we were to play both of them tommorow Id be pretty confident.

Still Im not going to get too carried away, our defense needs to grow, Cesc needs to play most of our games and I think we’ll need to get Anelka in January to win the League.

By: SpiralArchitect

SpiralArchitect — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:14:03 +0000

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 chances to score goals & our defense has been showing too many lapses in judgement. Can i just say that Sagna is amazing? His speed, skill & intelligence are awesome to watch! You just know he can make a huge impact on the premiership & in Europe this season.

Eduardo has exceeded my expectations of him & i’ve had to keep upgrading my assessment when he plays. He might just be our European talisman!

We made it to 3 games without Gallas as captain! To me that’s the most funniest statistic. In my dreams i see Wenger conjuring up this master plan to keep Gallas happy & the team functioning at the same time. Make Gallas captain, hope he gets injured, get him out of the way & let the team play together really well. Brilliant! Cynicism aside i hope this good run of form continues when he gest back into the team.

Finally, i just love the huddle at the end of each game! Its so uplifting to watch & i almost got teary eyed after the derby on the weekend after the way we came back from 1-0 down. Sniff!

Come on ye Gunners!!!

By: uncle gunner

uncle gunner — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:18:10 +0000

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

By: gollygooner

gollygooner — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:36:04 +0000

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.