Arsene Wenger is more than happy with the squad at his disposal right now and thinks it is more important to keep the players together and carry this brilliant end-of-season run into the next campaign.
When asked if he expected to need reinforcements during the transfer window, Le Prof revealed: “We have a big squad – the basis is there. We do not need to buy a number of players,”
“If we can get top, world-class players we will look at it, but we have a very strong squad already in number and we want to stay together and start well next season.
“I feel that we have made progress. Chelsea is a worthy winner this year because they have been the most consistent team of all.
“Let’s finish well, then prepare well for next season and give them a good fight.”
The Gunners are now unbeaten in their last ten Premier League games, and Wenger was very pleased with the facile win against Hull last night to maintain their pressure in the fight for second place: “We have found a better balance between going forward and defending in the second half of the season.
“I am very happy with the performance because we had a fluent game, we were pacey and we created many chances. Quite the amazing thing is that two of the goals we scored were deflections and the clear-cut chances we had, we didn’t score.
“But overall you could see there was a good dynamic in the team and our overall game was very good.”
Obviously we all want Wenger to bring in another marquee signing this summer, but is he right to say that we already have a squad cpable of winning the title?
The House of Rahman is looking forward to a new manager and some quality signings
yes i bet u an the rest of the man city fans are looking forward.
tell me how are things at the etihad?
OT- Compared Sanchez’s and Hazards stats for the season:
Hazard: P 42 G 19 A 10
Sanchez: P 38 G 23 A 9
Hazard takes penalties and this is Sanchez’s first season, a couple world class signings like Sanchez by Wenger in the Summer and we will be champions next season.
Correction, Sanchez has 24 goals this season…
Sanchez has at least 10 assists maybe 11
I would like to plead with the great House of Rahman to give Arsene just the next season. In the main time, let me use this opportunity to thank the House of Rahman for feeding me and my family on a daily basis. We are very grateful.
all hail the House of Rahman. Blessed and fruitful may it be for thou has bestowed upon us great footballing knowledge, news and opinion.
Chelsea used a total of 22 players in the PL this season, the lowest in the league. I think that speaks volumes. Given how 2015 has gone with injuries thus far, I think we can expect great things with the current squad as is. I’m expecting a relatively low-key summer transfer window in terms of incoming players. A marquee signing such as Reus (if Theo leaves), a backup striker i.e. Dybala/Lacazette, a Schneiderlin/Wanyama, and possibly a cheeky £10,000,001 bid for Cech.
@Wazzzimbo
so your definition of low key is Reus, Lacazette, Schneiderlin, and Cech..
Id happily take that…
Nah, low-key would be 1 or 2 of them. I’m not expecting Reus or Lacazette haha.
I am not sure if the fans and the manager able to critically analyses the squad, you may have a player who can score goals but that doesn’t means he is able to carry the team when he is needed to do so. Morinho had Tores, Ba and Eto who altogether had a good goal distribution last year but they all appeared incapable of scoring goals when the entire under perform with few chances presented to them and Morinho without any hesitation said we will not win the league this year because we don’t have a proper striker and allowed Ba, Eto and Torres to leave at the end of the season. He went for Costa, the match against arsenal was very difficult for them and Costa was simply anonymous during the entire game but the only chance he was presented with was enough for chelsea to collect all the three points and that is what a proper striker can do. This is why i think we need a striker next season, the likes of Higuain, Laccavet and Reus so if you tell me no need of buying ST i will simply remember your idea to buy Demba Ba from chelsea while Morinho saw him as a surplus of requirement to his squad.
We don’t need major changes. For me we need a class gk and cech would be the best option for us I just think loris is not that good( aguero on Sunday proved that).
Cech and a world class winger is what we need, and yes we can win the league with giroud
I hear every pundit saying we need a spine in or team GK CB CM ST, I disagree i think we have kos as or main centreback who is as good as any in the league, we have coq who has been a revelation this season and has helped the balance of the team hugely although he has not played many games all he can do is improve, I do feel if cech is available buy him the man has years of experience. As for a striker i really like giroud and always have admired what he has done for the team so unless there is a top world class striker available i.e suarez rues(ehich is very doubtfull) iwouldn just buy for the sake of buying. We have improved alot since january so if we keep the team together with a couple of top quality afditions we could be the team to fear next year COYG
I still feel we need another DM, I would prefer Kondobia
Good comment. Whilst everyone is in a hurry to replace Giroud I think people sometimes have to look at the situation in a broader context. Many appear to be ignoring Alexis in all this and seem reluctant to take on board that he is a second striker working in tandem with OG. As a unit they have 42 goals and 12 assists – bearing in mind one is in his first season and the other was out for 3 months with a broken foot that is not too shabby. If you put a different type of CF in the line-up – a classic poacher, or someone who relies on crosses, or direct off the shoulder of the last defender type then I am pretty sure that a) the net effect will be less goals from Alexis and b) a formation/system tweak required to accommodate more direct play.
However I would not be adverse to a similar type of CF to Giroud coming in as back-up/competition etc because put simply we have no-one remotely comparable in our squad. Assuming AW wants to continue with a similar system, has anyone on here got any ideas for a similar style CF to OG who would represent an upgrade? A focal point CF, aerially strong, good technique, clever with the assists, proper team player with say a goal every other game in him.
I agree that we don’t need to change much, but we can and must strengthen in key positions.
We could strengthen the GK if Cech is really available and would be allowed to move across London.
I would like another versatile defender, I am no longer convinced that we can rely on Mertesacker. This would have to be more of a squad player, than first 11 quality. I believe Kos/Gabriel will prove to be an excellent partnership.
The key position is DM, I would love to see Kondgobia/Schneidelin replacing Flamini/Arteta
I think that would be enough to challenge, but if we add a winger and a striker then I think we’ve got a great chance. But I really don’t want to be greedy, I know Wenger will only sign 2 maybe 3, I just hope he gets the right players in the right positions.
I guess AW is not taking into the account the “Arsenal injury” factor…also the start of next season and its the league, CL, Capital Cup, FA Cup and International games for the players…we will need quality players to rotate squad…cannot replace Coq with Flamini (just example) and still expect to win the league.
worried about sanchez in the copa america this summer- chile are decent an will no doubt get into latter stages of the tournament, so he had world cup last year, full season in pl plus copa america then back to new season. what rest?
we wont have him in early season
yeah and wat about Paulista and Ospina, hope they also don’t go too far either.
But a goalkeeper can do without rest…He dosent work , does he tire during games? Plus we can do without Gabriel and he is not guaranteed for selection anyway
Aahhh so before the season even ends it appears that L Fraud is already swerving away from any expenditure, as per his unofficial remit at the club.
we’ve seen its all before and yet again Gunners fans expect a disappointing transfer window this summer. Despite the excellent end to our season its still NOT a team that has won the EL and if as expected all our rivals buy re enforcements then it still wont be next season.
Same old Arsene same old Gazidis and same old Kroenke. WE MEED A CDM, a goal scoring animal and possibly another CB,
Makes me sick just reading this rubbish and yet on the back of one good half a season all the AKB’s will be well happy with this!!!!!
I think it is all transfer tactics. Don’t let them know you are desperate. Of course Arsenal will buy 2-4 players. We can integrate them slowly into our first team.
Don’t be silly – what do you expect a manager to stand there and say? To give the watching world a de-brief on who they want and who they plan to sell/buy? Happy you are not our poker faced negotiator.He said the same last year and spent nearly £100M. Save the anger for after the event.
No I don’t expect him to say anything if his tactics are to put rivals off the scent then they are old and don’t work we all know that wenger never gives anything away so why say anything at all ?
I suppose he is too polite – surprising really after 19 years of listening to journos asking shite questions.
Aahhh so before the season even ends it appears that L Fraud is already swerving away from any expenditure, as per his unofficial remit at the club.
we’ve seen its all before and yet again Gunners fans expect a disappointing transfer window this summer. Despite the excellent end to our season its still NOT a team that has won the EL and if as expected all our rivals buy re enforcements then it still wont be next season.
Same old Arsene same old Gazidis and same old Kroenke. WE NEED A CDM, a goal scoring animal and possibly another CB,
Makes me sick just reading this rubbish and yet on the back of one good half a season all the AKB’s will be well happy with this!!!!!
So before the season end and more importantly the FA Cup final, should the manager go out and say something stupid to disrupt the harmony and confidence of the current squad?
We do have a good squad, 10 wins and 1 draw in 11 is title winning result. The good thing no one seem to notice and under estimate is that we will have no post season game and only very short trip to Asia in pre-season – no extra commercial income but instead all effort will be on preparing the squad to start the season well.
No whole changes required, top top quality addition in certain area, have a very good preseason and we should be ready to challenge for next season.
Call me optimistic but I believed the injury problem will get better next year, the signing of the new American physio must be the second best signing we made this season (behind Sanchez of course) – our players are getting back from injury faster (Giroud), fitter (Ozil), found root causes of recurrence problem (Ramsey) – and even Diaby managed to spend some good minutes on the pitch
What’s the big deal? He already bought on a lot of players this season. He is right, he only needs world class players now. The squad and first 11 are complete number wise so only a world class player would improve it.
Differant seasons same s**t.Tired of all this,we always hit form at the wrong time!!! I d’nt care what it takes we have to,(must)win it next season or else??#averyangrygunner#
@hafiz give it a rest brother.I hope u agree wit Wenger said on transfer and all sensible person will.
Notice he played Walcott up front for the last two appearances now. I think this must suggest something – did Walcott ask for reassurances in forward role, is Wenger placating him to get his signature, or does Wenger think he has developed to the level of striker.
On the article, i admit being worried when i first read. Then i heard him speak of how large our squad is and how he may need to cut it down a bit, that to me suggests some fine tuning. I believe for certain we will see another striker arrive, Giroud needs the competition and we need the insurance.
Holding role, im not to sure about, myself i think we need another but at the same time realise Arsenal now defending as a team is why Coq was able to show his capabilities. Past Arsenal teams did miss a good holding player but it wouldnt of mattered how good he was because of him being the only midfielder defending. That said i believe Arsene has faith that Arteta can come into this Arsenal set up and look just fine. Honestly in watching ourselves last night i believe he may not be wrong. Thats premiership however and the CL is a totally different matter.
ALIKO DANGOTE wants to buy Arsenal
@254gooner
That we don’t need…
First Time I’ve ever agreed with you.
@who wouldnt buy arsenal lol.
best stadium in the country, based in the capital , some of the best football in europe.
young exciting players- huge profile- who the hell would not buy arsenal lol
Last summer Wenger said
he would only buy 2 players.
Yet he bought Ospina Debuchi
Chambers Sanchez Wellbeck Gabriel
brought Campbell and Coqelin back and
gave Diaby another season.
And he also bought Bielic and Graciar.
11 additions.
Last summer he lied 😛 Not all those signings were from summer though.
In all honesty I think Wenger bought Sanchez and Debuchy to go straight into the team, Ospina was bought as cover and Welbeck was an addition because of injury woes off the bat. Chambers was bought for the future and that was our total summer signing. 5 signings was more then expected but they were the right signings to make at the time. Now he doesn’t have to make that many signings by a long shot!
Our team is better. Its improving. Old players are still there, new ones are improving. We have depth in every position. We can really compete for the title next year with this team.
BUT if the coach and owners are truly ambitious for NEXT season and not sometime in the far future and want to be the top team in England/Europe next season they would admit that some players are not yet world class. And BUY depth in striker, CDM, and gk. Welbeck/Arteta/Sczezny are not world class. With top top quality depth in those 3 positions we can expect to beat the best which should our ambition. Other teams have that sense of urgency to be the best, why not Arsenal?
So I heard someone wants to buy Arsenal…what’s your take?
What he said is true. I think the main thing is he doesn’t say he won’t buy players, but rather he only wants to add top quality and the squad as a whole is sorted. That is to say, he wants to improve on specifics instead of making wholesale changes. I have to agree with Wenger on that. We’re the only top PL team who do not buy a whole new team every other year or sack their manager like clockwork, so we have a club mentality instead of a mercenary one. Hopefully this translates into our form continuing next year.
What I remember about the invincibles was that “family” feel to the team. You had players always congratulating and helping one another, a real support running right through the team. Henry was a leader and a figurehead with everyone else seemingly brought under his arm. We may not quite have that at the moment but there is spirit, happiness and togetherness about the team that embodies a different kind of club to your uniteds and such. My hope is 1 or 2 signings for the first team will genuinely catapult us back into being very very good.
Sidenote: If Ozil, Rambo, Cazorla keep playing like they did last night then our midfield is going to be the strongest in the PL by far. That was an insane showing. With them playing like that we certainly only need a defensive minded DM and a defensive b2b is really not needed – we’ve already got FAR too much quality in that B2B role.
We also have a team who have no hope of winning either the Premier League or C.L. Much as I despise Jose he had completed his transfer business before the end of last season. Listening to Wenger about his thoughts for next season was like Groundhog Day. Here we go again, we will win next season, if not then the one after. If we don’t change now then neither will the outcome be any different. We need a new Keeper a beast in midfield and a new CB. We have the best CB playing alongside the worst. We will never win EPL or CL as long as He is favoured by Wenger.
Most European clubs bar the big 3 have little or no chance of winning the UCL anytime soon – I would recalibrate your expectations on that one.
So are you saying sell Ospina, Coquelin, Gabriel and Chambers a few months after they arrive? Or demote them and spend some big money bringing in some fan favs? Granted they are not big names but are you 100% certain after a few months that they are holding us back and will never be good enough?
Your keeper feeling is unfounded. Ospina is by no means the top draw keeper we’d love but no top draw keeper is available. I love this talk of Cech – the cech who was very good and then became very average last year, was replaced by Courtouis and is now a bench warmer. There’s no mileage in buying Cech.
Beast in midfield – Coquelin has been biggest beast in the PL since his step up. What more could you ask? I would like one but there is no guarantee you could get one to displace Coquelin.
CB – I agree we need a diff CB. But that’s why we bought Gabriel. That’s why we bought Chambers. Why would we buy ANOTHER CB? Wenger will begin to play Gab more. If he doesn’t, we will probably suffer for it. BUT as we have the third best PL defence and spent half the season being awful in defence, I think this speaks bounds of how awful they are as a unit i.e. they aren’t.
Also the CL is 1 club from Europe’s elite winning it. Let’s win a PL title and start challenging consistently for that before we start talking how we should win the CL. It’s not exactly “groundhog day” to go from “you might not get fourth” to “if they play like this next season they’ll win the PL”. Not groundhog day in that sense at all.
in ref to the gooners who want jack sold, i have a differing opinion. for starters its no secret that jack over dribbles and u can add falling over and that downgrades his game bigtym. i get frustrated too but i also see a technical player yet to mature and when he does with all his potential attributes i can assure he will be a force. maybe he is not fit for a starring role now but i give him a max of 1 yr and i believe after nxt season he is going to take all you gooners your breaths away
No we need at least these 2 signings a young dynamic LB Gaya (have lost faith in gibbs) and a DM as kondo/schnider/carvahalo/or gourcouf can be converted to arteta-type DM with better skills on ball. If wenger is in right mind he should get a “top-top” striker nd dat wud confirm our PL title at leat if not the champion league too…
i wud like him to release flamini and arteta (can be kept as u-19 coach though permanently)/rosiscky but i knw wenger wud keep the last 2. diaby has been so unlucky if fit he wud hav been a world class player. My heart still wants him 2 play but mind tell let him go… as for mert i have 0 confi in him i think we shud start training caulum better 2 replace him!!!
lets consider if we buy Rues , Scheldrine, and a CB(young) then look at our squad
……………Ospina…………….
Bellerin…Gabrial…Boss…Monreal
……Coq……….Ramsay………..
…………..ozil……………..
reus………………….Sanchez
…………Giroud…………….
Sub: Scez,Debuche, mert, Scheldrine, Cazorla, whilshre,welback
Reserves: Walcott, Ox, Arteta Diaby, Martinez, New CB, Chembers,Gibbs, Mozart(last year)
Thats too strong i guess and perfectly balanced with just two players
Sell the rest dont need them anyway
If our fans had been behind us at the beginning of the season we would have done better but they knocked the confidence out of the squad, manager, board and the atmosphere at the Emirates for home games. It cost us badly as did the injuries. We have done better than Chelsea in 2015 and just need to keep that up. A negative comment here got a tick when I was marking it down by the way. Just what we don’t need. We and Chelsea have improved, all the other top teams have fallen back. I would like to see us play Barca and Real to see how good we are now.
Wegner can have a fairy tale ending. He will strengthen at the right positions. I think Henry was right about the number of signings. Striker (Reus), DM (Bender), CB (Hummels), GK (Cech). Competition only makes you stronger and we’ve seen this with the Gooners recent spell. COYG!