After Arsenal put five past the Portuguese champions Benfica and three past Man City this weekend, including a stunner from Olivier Giroud, Arsene Wenger will have a much easier job convincing the Arsenal fans that he knows what he is doing in the striker department. In an interview on Arsenal.com, the Frenchman talked about the two young Gunners that got the goals against Benfica and revealed exactly why Arsenal do not need another forward.
His declaration not long ago that he was not looking to sign a striker, after completing the transfer of Alexis Sanchez, had some Arsenal fans worried, because apart from Yaya Sanogo, there did not seem to be much cover for Olivier Giroud at centre forward and that cost the Gunners dearly last season.
But now that the young French striker has found his scoring boots in stunning style, with four against Benfica, those concerns do not seem as critical, and with the boss also stating that Joel Campbell would definitely not be going out on loan, our front line starts to look pretty good.
Wenger said of Sanogo, “Sanogo was injured for basically two years before he came to us. If you look at his goal scoring record before he got injured, it is quite frightening.
“For a while when he came back last season, he could not score. You could see when he scored the first goal, suddenly they came raining. I especially liked the third goal he scored, it was really the goal of a striker of quality.
“He has a big future here, or course, he is 21. He has something of Adebayor. He is strong, a strong body, similar strengths [to Adebayor], but as well technical skill.”
And he continued, “Campbell has done very well. I like the way he plays, he’s good on the ball, creative and collectively as well he has a good balance between individual skill and collective attitude – that’s not easy to find.”
The manager has also spoken about Sanchez and revealed that he will have no hesitation in playing the Chilean down the middle as well as on either flank, so with Walcott and Podolski also possible options, is Wenger right to say that Arsenal do not need another striker?
(This is a guest article from TheArsenalBlog.com)
SSN’s Jim White says Arsenal will make one more big signing before the deadline
French media says we will go for cavani if di maria joins PSG we need a striker if we have to win the title
Cavani, Reus, Di Maria etc etc… We don’t need any of them, we need a DM/CB. Some of you fans are ungrateful. Wenger makes a few great signing but it’s never enough. We came very close last season and we now have Cambell, Sanchez, Walcott hopefully for a fullish season. We did not have these last season so please guys just stop mentioning strikers names damit.
So wanting the best in our squad makes us ungrateful?? AW has only purchased 1 attacker this summer, so why not add Cavani?? I don’t think AW will get a Dmid this window. Naming MA8 captain pretty much confirms that. We could use another CB I agree. But if wenger would rather buy Cavani then both a Dmid and CB, I’m all for it. I think this defense can hold up until January 🙂
Naming Arteta the captain doesn’t translate to Wenger not signing a DM this season, TV5 was our captain last season when it was clear already he wasn’t first choice. A captain is the squad captain not just the captain of the first 11, they are expected to lead both on and off the pitch.
I think Wenger is ready to show the World that not being in the worlds football trophy winning party these past few years is not at all due to his inability as a coach but the clubs’ inability due to the financial constraint of having to service their debt.
I also think Wenger is playing mind games with Real Madrid and Sporting Lisbon making them feel we don’t need Khedira and Carvalho that badly and therefore forcing them to lower their demands. I believe he will get one of those two players.
TV was named captain when he was still a starter for us and then got demoted. I don’t see AW giving the band to someone he wasn’t planning on starting.
I hope you’re right about mind games but I really think AW prepared to go into the season w MA8 as starting Dmid and MF20 and CC21 as backup dmids until January.
If he can pick up Cavani or Rues now. And wait for January to get khedira. Why not??
Hoping and keeping my fingers crossed you’ve hit the nail on the head there
because cavani’s shit…
i disagree with you on reus…even if we hv ronaldo bale messi neymar i wud still want arsenal to sign him….he is just too good to ignore
I think we have enough options attacking wise with Walcott,Sanchez,giroud,podolski,Campbell n sanago..all of whom can play as striker..what I would b happy for is if Wenger could surprise us with a 45m capture of pogba..
A big name striker is a possibility because
1)Gazidis at the time of Sanchez signing has stated that there will be one more big signing.
2)Signing of Chambers and making Arteta as captain means it wont be a Cdm.
3)Wenger wont spend big on a defender even if its Hummels.
4)Wingers like reus wont happen as we have Campbell in addition to the wingers we already have..
5)Wenger’s statement that this will be a big year for Jack is a clear indication that we will be changing to the new 4 1 2 3 formation with Ozil and cazorla fighting for Lw..So there wont be anymore creative players coming..
Which means Cavani is a real possibilty…(Hope so….)
i assume that u r on 1st name basis with wenger nd u knw in and out what is happening at arsenal..
if Wenger signs Cavani, then arsenal will win the epl even without a DM. he will score more than thirty goals with the creativity he will have behind him
“Liverpool have made a £39m offer for Edinson Cavani, PSG are reluctant to sell but Cavani wants to leave (L’Equipe)”
Haha PSG will reject. We are preparing 51 m for Cavani. Liverpool are gonna lose again.
we are preparing and they hv already made the offer (as per media)…there lies the difference..
Arsenal preparing a 51m bid for Cavani? Lol.
If we can spend 42 m on Ozil and 35 m on Sanchez why cant he spend 51m on Cavani?
I just cant see it sorry.
Hope he proves me wrong though.
And the fact that Cavani is not worth £51m is why i think we wont pay it, not that we cant afford to.
Cavani has scored more than 120 goals in the last 4 season. He may have struggled playing for Uruguay but his record at club level is as good as
Suarez.
Silly thing to say unless you really do NOT understand basic finances.
Ozil and Sanchez ARE worth what we paid, and more.
Cavani is a very good player, but, £51million, that is a joke.
i think u r still living in era where wenger wont pay transfer fees
Something of adebayor….I don’t need to hear anymore…. Back to the Gallic bs I’m afraid
he was good. but then the mentality of players let them down rather than their skill… I put adebayor in that category..
the only good thing about adebayor was that we sold him for a shit load of money to a club that didnt know better at the time..his record since leaving us is all you need to know about his skill level…another average french speaking striker associated with arsenal…how the f*** many more do we need to test before realising the days of henry are long gone….we need to move on
Don’t you know a put down when you hear it “similar strengths to Adebayor but as well technical skill.”
You not get Wenger’s wit then?
“With a move for the Argentine rapidly gathering momentum after fresh claims of Wenger’s interest emerged.” ~ Express
I guess these Cavani rumours are as true as Cavani being Argentine.
Cavani + Sanchez + Ozil + Walcott = EPL + UCL
I will be pissed off if we sign Cavani rather than attending to urgent positions. What’s the point of having the best strike force in the world if there’s no one good enough behind them to stop us leaking goals?!! Cavani cost £50M+. Price of Nastasic+Carvalho £50M ish. No logic in wasting money on Cavani to me. If Wenger actually grew some balls like other top managers he’d say bye bye to Arteta and sign a quality DM and would buy a world class CB and bench Mertersacker, as it is, he won’t.
Nastasic is injury prone and terrible defender. I would be happy to see Carvalho though but we
have enough midfilders. I think we need a CB. Chambers will be our CDM. I also don’t have confidence in Sanogo and Giroud. If Cavani is available we should go for him.
Even though people may say Cavani is overrated but he has been a consistent goalscorer for the
last 4 seasons. He scored 30 goals plus for seasons at Napoli and he scored 25 goals last season playing behind Ibra.
I want us to get benedikt howedes. Starter for Germany and he can play all across the defense, i think that our current forwards are good enough to bang a lot of goals for us, we Have Sanchez, walcott (we still Have to find out who will stay at RW and who moves to ST or LW if walcott or Sanchez ) Ramsey is not a forward but he surely will score 20, cazorla, giroud , podolski, Chamberlain and campbell. At this moment i feel very proud of our current offensive choices.
Out Giroud + Poldi + Wilshere =
5 + 20 + 25 = 50M = Cavani
i doubt wenger ll sell giroud nd wilshere for cavani..
haha Giroud only fetching 5mil??
I am guessing one more: a young versatile CB to also be back-up for the DM. I would like to see another striker, if there is room in the squad. Probably a last minute grab from someone who is desperate to sell. Maybe someone like Vargas.
I disagree completely with your opinion. I will rather have a lineup like this:
Sanchez Cavani Walcot
Ozil
Ramsey Wilshere / Chambers
Gibbs Miquel Chambers / Hayden Debuychy
Szczesny
Thats assuming Mert and Kos are bot injured at the same time.
This attacking line up will strike fear into ANY team they won’t be able to attack us making any star defender or defensive midfield redundant.
Cavani in and thats the end of business for Arsenal, i’ll be the happiest man alive
I’d like to see you spend £50M of your own money on Nastasic and Carvalho rather than expect someone else to spunk it up the wall for you. Terrible value for one average player and one who has potential but hasn’t blazed any trail just yet.
I don’t think Cavani is as overrated as many believe. He’d be an upgrade on Giroud for sure. But, I don’t think he’s what we need. The preseason matches showed that our left side is weak and we need a DM. This summer I think that a world class holding midfielder is most important. In a dream world I’d like to throw £45M at Juventus and get Pogba. He’d be incredible. While I think that our left side needs strengthening, Id wait until next summer and go all out for Reus.
Cavani is far from overrated, have you actually looked at his goal scoring record before being shunted to the wing? It was awe inspiring and in the most defensive minded bus parking league out there, Italy!
Wengers always said if a ‘top top top’ player becomes available he would always consider him, they don’t come more ‘top top top’ than the Uruguayan.
‘Upgrade on Giroud’ is one of the most understated things I have ever heard.
Cavani’s record: 33 – 33 – 38 – and 25 from the wing.
I agree. Hence why I said he isn’t overrated. My comment about him being an upgrade on Giroud is aimed at the huge number of people that seem to think Cavani offers little more than Giroud. He obviously does. But, he isn’t what we need at this moment in time. A DM/CB are more important. If we bought Cavani what would we do with Walcott or Sanchez when Theo comes back? Sanchez is our striker, he’s playing on the wing until Walcott returns. I’d take that £50M that Cavani is supposedly worth and go after Pogba, a player who is actually needed. Pogba is Viera part II. Just because Cavani might be available doesn’t mean we have to essentially waste £50M of our transfer kitty on a position that is well stocked by Sanchez and Giroud.
His goal scoring record is great. Only fools say he is overrated.
If I recall many on this site were saying exactly the same thing about higuain….so yes a decent player but not in a million years a 50 million quid man… Vargas and cavalho or Martinez would be money far better spent
Would rather Pogba or vidal
Wenger knows best. CDM & CB are our main priority. i won’t cry too much if we dont get another Forward player as iam happy with what we have at the moment. schneiderlin with EPL Experience could be a smart option. CARVALHO! still a preferred option.
I read Schneiderlin wanted to be a spud….I dont like him anymore.
oh yes, definitely, we have spuds thumbing down.
I am actually happy when this happens, you can clearly see that they are focused on us, what we do, how we play, they are actually a weird kind of gooner hahahaha
@Gigi2
He wants to play under his old manager Pochettino.
If Wenger still has (and I think he does) around 65 M to spend, hopefully we can see 2 players coming in.
I dont mind not having another striker since some of the games we lost were also on defense’s fault.
We got Campbell back, which is indeed like a new signing, and Alexis. Both can play there.
I d rather see one CB and one versatile CB/Holding MF
I re read my own psto, i know we have Chambers who is versatile, I meant maybe another one like him.
But I read the Manolas rumours are strong and getting stronger.
If that is the Price, we could even sign 2 more players.
Hope is true, in terms of quantity our defense looks thinner.
Lets get a CB/DM in Martinez or Carvalho around 25M-30M and then see what else we can do.
Maybe then we can look at selling Poldi for about 15M and see if we can get Reus or Cavani in for about 35M-40M.
At the end of the day, I think we can score goals with a healthy Theo and Sanchez in the squad. I just dont see us bossing the midfield without a good new DM.
I would be very surprised if we sign a CDM because we have plenty of CM who are fit like
Arteta, Ramsey, Wilshere, Flamini and Diaby also fit. Chambers can also play CDM according to
Wenger. I would be very surprised if Wenger doesn’t buy CB. Arteta is also our Captain.
That is exactly the problem we have. There are too many mediocre solutions to our problem that have been tried and failed.
Arteta: slower and older than last year and last year he looked slow and old.
Flamini: Runs around with a lot of heart but has no positional ability and makes too many errors.
Diaby: He is already injured. Cant trust that he will play any amount of games.
Wilshire: Is not a DM.
Yes we have all these players but we had them last year too, when we got destroyed and I mean humiliated 4 times in a row.
It is insane to expect a different outcome with the same players.
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got” as the saying goes. Totally agree with you. Not one of the four you mentioned would even get into Chelsea, City teams.
Giroud, Sanogo and Podolski would also wont get in City and Chelsea team.
Nor would Rosicky, AOC, Wilshere, Gibbs, Szcezney, Campbell or Chambers – should we ditch them as well?
Plenty of City and Chelsea players wouldn’t get in to our team so whats your point? Is it only worth turning up to complete in PL if every one of our players would walk in to every other of the top teams? This is real life mate – doesn’t work like that.
Sounds a bollocks “saying” to me. Doesn’t make sense on any level. Ever heard of chaos theory? So if Man City stay with the same team and tactics they are guaranteed to win the PL again.
Spot on….einsteins definition of madness someone repeating same thing over and over again but expecting different outcome …. At this rate by Xmas the men in white will be coming to pick up the Frenchman
Would you countenance the idea that those 4 away defeats were not solely, or even primarily due to Arteta? What do you think the scores would have been if say a 22 year novice costing £37M and plying his trade in the Portuguese league was in the starting X1? These results were down to systematic failures; the poor team attitude, collective defensive failures, psychological weakness, tactical errors etc etc. Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Man United scored one goal between them against us at the Emirates with the same personnel. We kept the most clean sheets in the PL. I cannot compute how that can be the case if MA and MF are so desperately inept.
God bless you @Jonestown1
Spot on
Campbell has played over 60 games in the last two years and scored 12 goals. Don’t expect him to score a lot.
Well, He was not surrounded by Arsenal players in those 60 games.
No but equally he was playing weaker opposition for 3 years and last year for the champions and most successful club in that country.
What did you used to say about Ramsey?
Cavani for £51m would be a waste of money, don’t get me wrong he’s a top notch player and would improve our striking options hugely but when you bear in mind what the priorities are for our current squad he’s not the right guy for that money. With that money (plus maybe a little more depending on which players) we could get Martinez or Carvalho, and Laporte or Schar (or a different young centre back).
They would be the battlers that would win us trophies by performing in the big games. They would give our attack more freedom knowing that those behind are more reliable. Plus the world class defensive midfielder allows more pressure to be absorbed and with the pace in our team we will scare the life out of any defence.
I would happily miss out on Cavani if it meant we got Martinez.
How much money does Arsene still has, to spend I mean hahaha not in his savings account.
If he had £51m to throw at Cavani he ought to have more to throw at priority positions.
I think Wenger will sign Cavani and CB. I hope we sign CDM too but very unlikely.
How come Muller is back and already playing against Dortmund?
They needed to get their Germans back sooner as they make up the majority of their squad.
ok.
45 min for Muller and now Lahm replaces him for another 45. Hopefully we can see Our Gemans in action for 45 min too ?
Up front we have a choice of playing Giroud, Sanogo, Walcott, Sanchez, Campbell through the centre, that’s 5 choices, more if you include Podolski etc. At CB we have Mert and Kos. That’s two players for only two positions. Yes we have Chambers but he’s 19 for god’s sake, that still only gives us 3 players to cover 2 positions. It amazes me that people would prefer to sign a striker when we have 5/6 players already that can play there. If Wenger would sign a World Class CB to play instead of Mert then i’d be happy to risk Chambers at DM.
if cavani is on 300/w not sure we have no chance of getting him
sorry actually cavani wants 300/w & his agent was saying he just wants to play he isn’t motivated by money blah blah blah
Oh would you just stop with all you BS about Cavani blah blah blah and give a rest to you expertise?.. Wenger is not going to sign any more foward this season. We are getting one CB and at the max one CDM if a world class CDM is available. For F*ck’s sake stop irritating..
don’t read did I tell you
javi martinez injured in supercup against borussia
Hope the rumours about Koscielny being injured for the Palace and Besiktas game are not true…
We don’t need a striker, we have Giroud, Walcott, Sanogo, Sanchez, Podolski + Ramsey from midfield who scored in double figures last season (and was missing for a 1/3 of it!).
We could do with a defender and possibly a CDM.
We need a striker. Giroud is slow and weak, Sanogo is still not ready, Podolski cant play CF.
Sanchez is more of a support striker or winger just like Podolski.
We need striker, and it seems to be overlooked by everyone
So everyone except you and Rock88 have overlooked it? Do you ever have any self-doubt and wonder why that might be? Perhaps, a long shot I know, but one possible explanation is that others disagree. Or maybe some agree with the idea but recognise the practicalities and difficulties in buying a £50M striker. No guarantees either – Torres anyone??
Dortmund have 4 fantastic CB. Why don’t we target one of them?
We need a CB and CDM more than Cavani and we have needed a strong CDM for a few years now,otherwise while our offence will be very strong we will leak goals again.
WENGER IS AT IT AGAIN he thinks he knows best . But not buying a STRIKER it will come back and bite him on the bum. ARSENAL need a top class striker just go and spend the money if you want to win the Premiership, otherwise it a top four spot again. Come on Mr WENGER get your cheque book out.
What does a Top Classs Striker even mean any more? Any how i think theres only about 4 in the world at the moment
Arsenal doesn’t need another striker, Not even a the so-called DM. What Arsenal need urgently is CB. Please read the an article by DESI per the link below and you will understand my point. http://desigunner.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/reading-the-game-part-i-defending-is-significantly-easier-than-attacking/
Bringing in more than 3-4 players can mess up the moral of the team. Its a lot more easy playing with your pal than a stranger. That is the soul ingrediant for any successful team. Look at how many domestic bust-ups chelsea and Man City have had over the past 3 years. Real Madrid have been tamed for the last 5 years because Barca have had a healthy spine in Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Pique and Puyol. And the two years dortmund were on top was because they were like brothers fighting the bully of germany. All I’m saying arsenal fans is be careful what you wish for.. You could see your team crash and burn.
Don’t get me wrong.. It would be great to have the likes of reus etc playing at the club but what does that say to giroud, campbell, walcott and sanogo. And even after seeing ramsey most of you still don’t believe in your squad.
You just want players who can carry the club on there backs.
You have put it perfectly. Players with such huge price tags often come with big ego’s, which is very harmful when it comes to team spirit… I’m not a big fan of buying players like a child in a candy shop (take not spurs)… Spurs fans were drooling when they made all of those signings, and look what happened! We should buy players on a “need” basis, not a “want” basis… At the moment in my opinion, we only “need” a versatile defender (i’e, Howedes) who can play CB and DM.
RUES and Cavarlho!!!
If we get Cavani, I won’t mind at all because he is an upgrade to what we currently have (Giroud). The only reason I don’t think we will land him is because of his crazy salary demands.
If we do make another signing, I think a DM should be priority. Flamini and Arteta are not really up to the task tbh. They are both good in their own way (Flamini – all heart and not afraid to get stuck in, but lacks composure and technicality) where as Arteta is very technical and composed, but can be bullied by bigger teams because of his small stature. We need a player who can prevent the Sturridges, Sterlings, Hazards etc from running riot at our back four, someone who can break up play and provide enough cover in that DM area. Javi Martinez or Lars Bender would be sure bets.
Its vissible to the blind and even audible to the deaf that our dear team needs a defensive player more than the attacking one…..and I have a strong believe that wenger is looking at rbringing in one or two of such players
That’s a rubbish article.AW didn’t say anything about not signing strikers during the post-Benfica interview, his remark came much earlier, during the world cup I think.
Is there any consensus about whether Olivier’s “stunning” goal was deflected or not?
We know he can do that kind of thing and he was maybe unlucky not to score that screamer against Everton that hit the bar. But I’m not so bothered about wondergoals, I just want him and Yaya to be clinical with the bread and butter stuff.
I’m happy he finally scored against a big club but the match was won and I still don’t feel confident of him to score the important goals that change matches.