It Will Be Criminal If Wenger Fails to Complete the Job. By Galen
For the past 3 years Arsene Wenger has been building and shaping a title winning team. For the first time the Arsenal fans and the players have all started to feel like we are close to something magical. But just like in the last few years we never get the job completely done, both on the pitch and with transfers.
Loads of articles have been written over the last few weeks saying that our squad is good to go and we need no further changes. That is why I am asking all you Gooners out there if the second half of last season change our transfer plans?
In the last few weeks players with ambition like Cazorla have come out and said Arsenal need another striker if we want to win. Arsenal fans have asked for a DM in the last 6 years and the club has failed to deliver in that department. What happened to our transfer plans? I will look at a couple of possibilities.
Theo Walcott. Theo Walcott could be the reason why we have not (and may not) sign any other striker this summer. In all fairness to Theo he has shown that he can play there. I have one question for all those that want Theo be our striker. If a player can score 20 goals from playing as a winger, why would you want to play him as a striker? If Sanchez and Theo can give us 45 goals from the wings then that is perfect. We can then get another striker to do the job in the middle. My logic is that if we play Theo as striker, are we going to have another winger that will score 20 goals a season? So basically that means we could lose 20 goals from the wings by playing Theo as striker, as the English international has proven that he can still score the goals from playing on the right flank.
Mikel Arteta and Flamini. Coquelin was voted by fans as one of our top 3 players of the season. Has Coquelin changed the plans of the Gaffer? Suddenly there is news of Arteta extending his contract by one year and rumours that Flamini is staying at Arsenal this season. Has Mr Wenger seen Coquelin as the player we ultimately need? This is what Arsene had to say “The world has changed,” Wenger said.
“The appreciation today of the quality of a player is just down with the money you spend.
“If we had bought Coquelin at Christmas for £40m, everyone would say ‘what a signing’. I am sorry he didn’t cost any money, he is still a good player.
“What is a player worth today? Nobody knows really. I just wanted to say that if we had bought (Coquelin), nobody would complain that he was a good player.
Have the performances of Theo and Francis changed the plans of Arsenal football club? I would first of all like to remind everyone that Coquelin is yet to play one complete season in the Premier league. All our players that return from injuries like Ozil, Walcott, Wilshere, Giroud, etc, all had a great end to the season. But it could also be argued that they were very fresh when they returned. Ozil played 22 league games, Jack played 14 league games, Giroud play 27 league games, and Walcott played 14 league games. My point is that these players were not tired in the second half of the season. While the performance of Sanchez was dropping, the performances of Ozil, Giroud, Jack and Theo were great because they were fresh – physically and mentally. Will the performace of these players be the same if they played all season? Look at Fabregas, Hazard and Costa, etc. They all dropped off from March/April onwards, and that was because of tiredness.
Arsenal football club was never in the running for Kondogbia, Imbulla and Schneiderlin. The Saints have confirmed that only United made a bid for Morgan Schiniderlin. With regards to the strikers we were never in for Mario Mandzukic, Jackson Martinez, Paulo Dybala, Luciano Vietto, and Bocca, etc
I wrote an article saying that we are too much of an emotional club and we are not ruthless enough. We are still asking ourselves what will happen to Arteta and Flamini if we buy a DM? If we buy a striker what will happen to Giroud, Welbeck and Walcott? I know Arteta and Flamini had given their best to Arsenal but sometimes we have got to move on. Even Steven Gerrard has moved on from Liverpool and Lampard has moved on from Chelsea. Heck even Cech is now at Arsenal. Top football clubs don’t ask emotional questions. Barcelona are European Champions and they have gone out and splashed the cash on Vidal and Turan. That is because they want to win and get better.. Coquelin and Walcott should never alter the plans of a great football club like Arsenal.
I will conclude by saying that if Wenger does not get us a DM and a striker, it will be absolutely criminal. Why can’t everyone see how close we are? Why are fans writing articles saying our squad is looking great. What greatness? I want to remind everyone that we finisedh 12 points behind Chelsea and we also finished behind the worst Man City team of the last 5 years. If pundits are saying Man City are rubbish, what does that make us? I hope Arsene, Ivan and the fans don’t get carried away by the great end to the season. We need to move on…..
By Galen Sona
Arsenal Predicted XI
Cech
Bellerin Koscielny Gabriel Monreal
Schneiderlin Cazorla Ozil
Ramsey Benzema Sanchez
the team is in a good shape to push for the title…..i didn’t say ‘great’…but the truth is, we need to be in a great shape to be real contenders. Chelsea got into a great shape with those crucial squad additions last season and it paid off….for AFC to be in a great shape, we need to make those 2 additions to our currently good squad…..a CDM and a ST. hopefully with the Muzzi buzz going around, if true, we could be on course to a great season. this is the happiest i’ve been recently in a summer transfer window, looking forward to the new season. COYG!!
I am confident Wenger will do what is necessary to win the EPL this year.Keep Calm and Support Arsenal!
Goog line up though I don’t know what Schneiderlin is doing in there..as far as I am informed, he is in the train station waiting to catch the next train to Manchester..Sub him for Coquelin and it is still a good line up..
Well written article,that’s exactly how I feel. Wenger doesn’t think we need a DM and striker. It is such a shame how our manager thinks small. Arteta and flamini are not arsenal material, they never were. We need a top DM to challenge and backup lecoq. That is completely obvious, and if we want to have any chance of winning the bpl we need a world class striker.someone who can net 30 goals for us.I hope Wenger realise how close we are to becoming a force. Theo is much better when he’s playing on the wing.we need a world class striker.that’s the bottom line
Striker is a must. For DM/Deep lying midfielder we have Coq,Arteta,Chambers and Cazorla. To this we can add Flamini if he stays (I hope not). Throw Wilshere in the mix and you will see that in this position is not mandatory to have another player. If Wenger will buy one then so be it.
What we need more than a DM is a striker. A real striker, ruthless and used to win a lot. I can think of only two such players right now. Lewandowski (hard to believe) and Muller (Also hard to believe). Anything lower that their quality is wasted money.
Only thing Ill say against this statement is that putting Wilshire in the DM role is downright dangerous, the boy already has glass nkles and this position is potentially the most aggressive on the field. I see what you are saying but I think mos fans are fed up with the austerity mentality that’s being shown, If we need a DM then buy one, if we need a striker BUY one this is the first time in en years we only need a small amount of players to be to really challenge, so Take the scrooge ha off AW ad get to it, its not your money after all its really the fans money as they are the ones that keep the clu where its at.
Well said.we fans deserve a DM and striker
We are still a few world class players away from major trophies. Without further signing, we are just a contender for 4th place, at most 3rd right now for the league….not to mention European trophy….
#FullSupport
I’m not a naysayer but fans have got carried away but the two recent FA Cup successes. We beat Hull and Villa one is now relegated and the other spent most of the season fighting relegation that is simple sign that cup competitions are won on consistency but leagues are.
In the league we have to play Man U,City,Chelsea,Pool,etc each twice and how do we fare then…3rd/4th.
So unless we improve on the Fa cup successes we might as well just plan to battle it out for Champions league places again.
We need a CB (aymen abdennour),the BFG doesn’t cut it in the big games, a DM(william carvalho),Le Coq could do with some support and a STR (Benzema / Higuain) because Giroud has proved he is not the man to spearhead us to the promise land.
In both years we’ve knocked out big teams to get to the final (Liverpool and United). We can only play who we get drawn. Don’t take away from what a great achievement it is to retain the FA cup.
It is no better than a mickey mouse league cup. It won’t give you a place in European Champions league even if you win the FA cup.
I don’t know if anyone else has seen, but Karim Benzema has started following an account called “wengerland” on Instagram. This coupled with Muzzi Ozcan saying we will be making the signing of the summer, im quite, dare I say it, confident of Benzema coming to The Emirates.
I sure hopevso,benzema is probably the best we could do right now. I rate him higher than higuain. But still to be honest it would be like a dream to get benzema. Keeping the faith and counting the days till this tense transfer window is closed.
I think Benzema is one of the only world class strikers in football. Aguero, Lewandowski, Suarez are the only others I would say are world class and arguably better. Benzema would fit us so well, I’ve said it for years. Like Lacazette, who I also think would fit us well, he can do everything we want (pacey, clinical, unselfish, intelligent). He’s also played with Ozil before which would help him settle.
Walcott Özil Alexis
Benzema
That’s a scary attack in anyone’s book.
Like that front four
Transfer plans? I’m not sure Wenger does transfer plans!
His policy is not based on deciding who he is going to get and just get them (like City and Chelsea). His approach is to see who is available at the right price, and who he thinks will improve the squad.
We all go on about our transfer kitty, but the fact remains that unless Wenger finds the right player at the right time at the right price he’ll buy nobody.
Goodness knows what will happen, gut feeling is we might get Pedro, I can’t see anything else happening, but I’d love to be proved wrong!!!
I believe Wenger said that first he looks to see if the player improves the squad and that money is not really an issue as long as the price is not insane (e.g. 125 mils for Ronaldo or 45 mils for Higuain).
I am wengers biggest backer on here but when he keeps going on about he only looks for players that will improve the team then that p!sses me off..It’s been 11 seasons since we last won any big trophies and he had been saying the same thing about there were no players available that could have improved the team. But the likes if City, Chelski, United have been finding them miraculously and winning CL or EPLs?.
We are so close this season, please don’t leave mess it up and leave hanging like last season and other seasons..
If you tell that to Wenger he will say we already signed one of the best gk in the world.what else do you fans want? Yeah right like if cech alone going to win us titles. Dream on Wenger if that’s what u think.we need a couple of more world class players to complete our squad and have any chance of winning the bpl.still I’m keeping the faith
Theres Plenty of players out there that are within the arsenal price range and will improve the squad I mean cmon FFS why quibble at 25 million for Morgan Schneiderlin at one stage Wenger and everyone else considered him to be the best thing since sliced bread ?
money will always be the major factor at AFC all the time the current board are pulling the strings despite what AW says that’s the very bare bones of it.
YES e Coq has proven that he CAN do the job, but has yet to prove he WILL do the job all season long and even then its a tall order to expect no suspensions or injuries to befall him, Arteta, Flaminni Chambers and Wilshire are all second rate in the DM position and Cazorla doe not shine there as he’s an attacking midfielder by nature so its the cheaper option YET AGAIN !!!!! iM NO hafiz Rhaman who parrots the “Spend spend spend” Mantra all day long but EVERYONE and thie dog knows what we need and what should be done so AW pull your finger out and get to it, stop thinking cheap and nasty and bring somereal glory back to the club you purport to love so much.
Totally agree, the emotional response is so strong in the fanbase at Arsenal we go from also-rans in our own league to 1 player from European domination.
Fans need to reel in the hyperbole because of a stretch of form. Plenty comment saying I dwell on the negatives etc, but those people fail to realise the only way you improve is by honestly identifying how and where you went wrong.
Answer me this: does a team that screwed up their CL group stage to finish 2nd, got embarrassed in the CL last 16, got sent packing in the Carling Cup at HOME, bottled 2nd place in the league with 4 games remaining, and finished 12 points behind the domestic champions have everything in place squadwise to compete on all fronts? I think the answer is clear and I echo the authors plea that we don’t rest on our laurels and watch similar patterns reemerge next season.
The DM debate marches on, whether you think we need someone better than Coquelin or not I think most would agree to feeling more secure playing United/Chelsea away with Schneiderlin vs Arteta/Flam in the evetn Coquelin was out. Same with the ST, many rightfully admire Giroud, but when we’re in need of a bit of magic to nick a tight game does anyone genuinely sit there with a modicum of expectation that Giroud will produce a moment of gold to take three points? He just doesn’t tick that box. The ST debate has note flexibility to it I will say, a Reus type addition while not being a straight ST….would add clear match-winning ability that this team sometimes lacks.
Good article Galen, agree with your assessment and hope we see the steps taken.
Screw up? Juventus finished 2nd and they reached the final. We screw up one game at home. There’s no guarantee that even finishing 1st in the group stage we will advance unless we focus for the whole game. I’d had taken a 1-2 or 1-0 defeat now that I know how we played away at monaco. Arsenal wanted to come back though in that game. Can’t really blame them for doing that.
I don’t see you having a negative vibe, more like a critic. That’s good in any discussion.
Screw up in the sense we aimed for 1st and failed at getting it despite it being well and truly in our hands. I don’t think we could’ve got a better draw than Monaco ultimately, but because we lucked out doesn’t negate the fact our initial ambitions weren’t met because we took a shotgun to our ankles. As it turned out we certainly couldn’t have done any worse by winning the group and facing someone different.
That’s the problem we have right now and need to address it once and for all.. The way you keep saying even if we had finished 1st in our group we still would not have been guaranteed to progress.
That’s the mentality we have now cacooned ourself into. We lack so much confidence in our team. Chelsea, United, Barcelona, Bayern, Madrid, PSG, Dortmund, At.Madrid etc all go into the group stages confident of finishing 1st. But we go into every group stage nervous, not sure, not confident at all about winning our group and making it past the last 16.
It’s so frustrating being knocked out at the last 16 stage be it we won the group or finished as runners up.
Need our players and manager to up the mental game.
It is called resource management and is a pivotal part in running a club nowadays.
Thanks bro. great summary between.
As it is the team has no chance of winning the Premier League. There could be up to 65 games this season and to expect Coquelin to play that many games is downright ignorant. That’s even before injuries come into play. We need another quality DM like William Carvalho to make a real challenge. Arteta and Flamini will not step the team up for a Premier League challenge. Wenger, we all know, is a serious faffer and in the main dithers before he buys, but he also gets “Transfer Paralysis” and buys a “panic” buy on deadline day. Problem is he always leaves us two top players short of a true challenge. I pray this season he puts his personal problems aside and buys the last two pieces of the jigsaw, two real quality players.
REUS CARVALLHO purchases = jobs done!!!
let’ give it some time. ffs y’all are soo impatient!! i feel that something is happening in the murky waters
We have a good team now and there arent many players out there who can bench our current players from the starting line up in the team.
It takes a 10 in Cech to bench a very good 8 in Ospina.
Only poz i think we are not good enough is the striker Role. Giroud is a 7- and we need at least a 8. Kinda shi*ty bec we have been used to have always strikers who easily where all 10s. If we can change that it would be good for us. We need a striker who is not that wastefull with his chances, coz one miss can make the diff between champion and no champion. We lost against Monacoo bec of some stupid mistakes and bec we are so wastefull with the chances we creat.
Higuain is a 8.
Reus is 10* with a star.
Carvahlo is a 7 who can turn into a 8
Cech 10-
Monrea l7+
Kos 9-
Merti 7
Bellerin 7
Coquelin 7+
Santi 8+
Ramsey 8
Ozi l9-
Sanchez 9+
Giroud 7-
Chambo 7+
Wilsher 8
Chambers 7-
Flamini 5+
Ospina 8-
Seza 7
Welbeck 7
Gibbs 7
Paulista 7
Gnabry 7
We are C team and need to improve a bit. The poz we cant develope and creat we need to go out and buy.
Just sign super Benz and lets win EPL, he is fast, agile, good dribble, great ball control, works hard + he isnt selfish. Wenger get it done!!!
Everyman woman and child knows what should be done here it’s a consensus that is rarely seen just amongst the faithful, but in this case is the opinion of virtually everyone who knows even the remotest scrap of knowledge about football and this is that Arsenals current squad need a new and “golden moment” striker and also a competent and experienced DM.
This is not to in any way denigrate the current players that we have but to bring out the better performances in some and add a different dimension to their games and also and equally importantly to cover for suspension and injury and a lack in form.
We are NOT as it stands well enough furnished to win the EPL and in this state we will again be also rans rather than the competitors we all know we can be but for these two or three additions.
Money here is the bottom line despite what Arsene Wenger says it really is the bare bones. In the grand scheme of things is 25 Million REALLY that much to spend on Morgan Schneiderlin?? Does wenger NOT think he would improve the squad?? Who amongst you can say that he won’t?? When he was odds on to come to us there were almost no dissenting voices amongst you, now I hear from some that he’s not good enough act. Well he is and he should be coming to us, the only reason he’s not is his price tag which Wenger and the board consider too much, this is laughable as they paid 16 million for Welback and he in my opinion is really not ever going to be anything more than a reasonable squad player. For nine million more Morgan Schneiderlin is available and is a proven talent in this position. It’s not even about what player in my view it’s about A player I would say “Don’t go with the cheap nasty options” but presently we are not looking at any options and I’ve trumpeted this ever since the final whistle on FA cup day that we need to buy the striker and the DM but alas I fear we won’t and that as someone else stated, CRIMINAL it’s almost as if the club wants to stay near the top but not get on the top AND IF THATS THE CASE YOU HAVE TO ASK YOURSELF WHY?
To answer the original question of whether the second half of the season changed Wenger’s transfer plans: if it did I’m afraid that this time there is no excuse for not analyzing what actually happened on the field, and nobody but our Arsene will be to blame. Champagne Charlie’s analysis hits the nail on the head. We didn’t have enough to win when it really mattered.
We need strong backup for LeCoq, an additional midfielder of the Vieira calibre that takes no prisoners, and a world-class striker. I’m not even going to try to mention who I think these players are, but they are all available if AW would be prepared to let the chequebook talk. Of course he will only buy players that will strengthen the squad – it would be stupid to do otherwise, but that favourite saying of his should not mean that the squad does not need strengthening, unless, of course, he will be happy with 3rd or 4th place again.
SAS,
Benzema or Reus……$25-35M
Carvalho or MS……$25-30M
Arsenal would challenge on all title fronts with any or all of these players any YES Arsene they are within the freaking budget
This article is actually correct in its overall sentiment. Great teams win doubles, or even trebles (or sometimes, every competition they enter in a season). And the Champions League needs to be one of those trophies to attribute greatness to a team in the modern era.
Of course, we’re a long way off that. Depends on the ambition of the club. It should be incremental. We need to build a Premier League winning side like….now. It’d need at least another 3 summers of quality signings alongside our developing talent pool, until we could look at being real Champions League contenders. Plus solving the injury issues.
So if the second half of the season changed the transfer plans of the club, then surely the goal was always to finish a solid 3rd, which is sad and a tad offputting. And we should probably get less excited over Metro articles.