Henry is wrong – Arsenal DO NOT need new signings……

Arsenal do not need to sign 10 world class players like the pundits say by Konstantin Mitov

Hello everyone! Take that! Thierry Henry came out bombing Arsenal about how we need a new spine. Excuse me? Thierry has been pretty critical of Arsenal in the media. Not what you’d expect from one of the all time Arsenal favourites for sure.

He said Arsenal need 4 world class signings to create a new spine. Now there’s a statement that’s not true. Arsenal actually have a pretty neat squad. One Liverpool, Spurs and all the other CL wannabe teams would love to have. On paper the squad we have is solid, well balanced and it leaves us with a strong bench.

You cannot argue that a solid keeper would be nice, a new DM to compliment Coquelin and replace Arteta and Flamini is also good. Another CB would also be lovely and we all want that top striker – but you have to agree that Henry went a bit too far.

Giroud will be never be the number 1 striker on the planet, but you cannot argue that he gives his best. And his numbers do not lie. He’s Arsenal’s joint top-scorer in the league with Sanchez, having played 2 months less. He gives us presence in the box and he’s a target for headers. His finishing has also improved over the years he’s been with us.

Adding players just for the sake of it is not always the answer. If we want to improve our strikers, we have to buy something better than Giroud. Do you see too many available? Apart from Aguero, Suarez and Lewandowski not too many clubs have the perfect striker.

Besides, our squad was the only team to make 8 consecutive wins. That happened when our players returned from injury. Injuries which come from the lack of rotation combined with bad fitness preparation. Football has become a lot more scientific than just 22 people kicking the ball around.

Tactical preparation is another aspect we are behind. Wenger still started the season trying to bomb forward against our opponents leading to some silly points dropped. When we reverted to the strengths of the players, we beat Man City away.

What statistics showed is that when we don’t dominate possession we more often than not win games. The Liverpool game was another example of just when the opponents thought they had the game under control, we explode with 3 goals.

Defending as a unit is also something we just discovered, after we let Stoke score 3 goals from nowhere against us. Defending free kicks is also something we discovered very recently and still we are very high on the list of teams conceding from free kicks.

Let’s not get started on playing players out of position. Ozil and Ramsey on the wings? Two of our slowest players going down the wing. And substitutions coming after the 70th minute of every game. I mean if we want to win a game at all costs, why do we leave only 20 minutes to do it?

Let’s be honest, those things are not solved by signings. I’ve been crying out for years to sign some quality, when we’ve obviously lacked players in certain positions. For the first time I actually feel that the problem is no longer the signings.

There’s one man responsible for this. Monsieur Wenger has Walcott and Rosicky who cannot get off the bench. He finally has no excuses. The money is there, the sponsorship is good, we have a great stadium, what else does he need? The platform is set. He needs to provide more than a top 4 finish.

Managers like Simeone and Klopp took average clubs to league titles, in divisions which have clubs like Bayern, Barca and Real. We are competing with top clubs in decline and we cannot do it. We need fresh ideas. Or the script written for the past 10 years will repeat itself yet again.

Konstantin Mitov

Tags Giroud Henry Wenger

56 Comments

  1. So what happens when we have a injuries to a few key players. To compete with the rest we DO need a few more quality signings. Not only do we need back up but also competition for our current best starting 11. Ospina doesn’t have descent enough competition, neither does Coq, and Giroud.

    1. True talk We have a decent Squad on paper both number wise and quality wise. But another injury ravage season then we are screwed.
      GK Ospina / Sir Scz / martinez

      RB Bellerini/ debuchy and jekinson
      LB Nacho / Gibbs
      CB Boss / Per / Gabrielle / Chambers.

      DM COQ / New Signing???????????
      B2b Rambo/ Jack
      AM Cazorla/ Ozil

      Rw The /OX and Wellington Silva
      LW Sanchez/ Welbeck

      Striker Giroud / New Signing

      I think the addition of Morgan Schiniderlin or Kongdobia for DM.
      then we could add Lacazette or Luciano Vietto for striker. 2 additions is morethan enough. that si 2 players per position. lets not be greedy. I will personally go for

      Morgan Schiniderlin £22 million
      Alexandre Lacazette £20 million.

      That is 42 million. It shouldn’t be a problem. we spent that much on Ozil.

      Players out.
      Podolski Arteta Sanogo Diaby Flamini Ryo and campbell.

      1. Can people stop quoting a transfer fee like it is factual, just because they read it in some rag- not a big deal I guess, just irritates me

  2. You are pointing to change the management. I agree with you but lets wenger finsh his contract,
    Meanwhile if we Get Klop then we must not wait as he wants to leave this summer. If Klop is not available then we need to stick with Wenger.
    In terms of signing, we definable need few signing and Henry is right.
    1.In summer few world class GK are avaialble. Peter Chec, Hugo Loris(Van activate release clause which comes when spurs do not qualify CL) and also Cassillas.
    2. DM to complement Coqualan: Schliderine, Geff Kongbodia,, Gundagon, Victor Wyanna
    3. Striker: Lyon Striker Alexender lazzakti
    4. If we get a solid CB also then good

    We can sell lot of players like Poldoski, Rosisky, Arteta, Flammini
    Do not forger Chelsea will add, Manchester clubs will invest heavily
    To win the league we have to spend, to get top 4 no need
    Henry is right

    1. Couldn’t agree more mate.

      – Give me Peter Chec or Hugo Loris
      – Schliderine or Wanyama
      – Alexender lakazzeti and am a happy gunner.

      1. @007
        I love your list. I want same. But can someone please explain to me the reason why Ospina is not good enough? I really can’t understand what Chec and Lorris will bring that Ospina will never ever be able to do?

        I am not a goal keeping coach but I think in England people are obsessed with height. the keeper has to be as tall like and electric pole to be considered good. Ospina may be small in premier league standards but he has been a terrific keeper so far. And people forget he was out for 3 months at the start. he will only get better with his distribution and communication with time.
        Sczseney will give him competition. U won’t find a better number 2. All of a sudden Szsseney cannot just become shit overnight. Give the kid a chance to compete.

        1. @galen. Lloris is so good compared to our Ospina.. Ospina has not done anything wrong so far but I have not seen him pull off flexible save yet. Those shots that look like they are going in but from out of nowhere you see De Gea , Lloris, Cech pull of an instinctive world save.

          I really I am happy with Ospina but if Lloris or Cech are available I would want them competing in our squad.

          1. @ Goonster
            So you want to sign a new goalkeeper because you have not seen him doing a flexible save yet? Should he do a flexible save when there is not shot on goal that requires a flexible safe?
            I know we have paid off the stadium and become rich but people just want to buy everybody even things we don’t need.

            For example people want a CB. We have Boss Per Gabby and Chambers. We got Chambers for 16 million and some people want a new CB the Chambers become 5th CB?? tell me how many teams in Europe have 5 CB?????

            I think Arsenal fans are becoming greedy. Some people want isco?? Isco really? rambo was playing out wide just few days ago? And you want to add isco to that?

            Look there is a different between a need and a want. lets get what we need and not what we want. We act like kids in a a sweet shop wanting everything. lol

            1. there is no Champions league Klaus on LLoris contract. then it would have been activate ages ago. PSG want to make a £40 million bid for the keeper. Good luck with that for those wanting Lloris.

        2. The problem with SZNY is that he always has 2 blunders in him in each match. I have been saying this since last season. And I remember I said the same thing before we played southampton away and as predicted he messed up twice. Just watch the previous seasons of him in goal. He will pull off a Flexy but then has rush of blood. He is a bag of nerves, flaps at everything, for some reason he can’t shake off this thing where he come running out of his penalty area into no mans land time and time again causing us confusion at the back. It seems he can’t shake it off..

        3. think heights the main problem,i heard Bob Wilson saying Ospinas good but too small on the radio a while ago

  3. I kind of agree, in that the current first team is sensational and we have plenty of options. But we do need to be able to rotate more to avoid those injuries. Personally I only think we need 1-2 more signings, a back-up/rotation CDM as Coquelin has been amazing this year. One that can play alongside him when things are getting sticky, and maybe a CF/ST, as I am yet to be fully conviced by Welbeck. I really want him to be Henry 2.0 but he isn’t there yet, he seems to be better in the support/wider role.

    1. @MDown
      To tally agree with U. with regards to welbeck i think he is a left winger. Even for england he plays that position very well. His transitioning to and Arsenal striker will need more time as his first touch and finishing leaves a lot to be desired. Thats why we need another striker to support giroud. Schiniderlin and lacazette and we are ready.

  4. King Henry is right… many Pundits have been saying the same thing for the past seasons….

    we have been lacking players in certain positions….

    if key players get injured we are done for….

    Gk, CB, DM, LW and Striker

    signings for these 5 positions are mandatory…..

    1. @Hafiz
      5 additions in one season is too much. U don’t want the team to peak in december. 2 yeras ago we started well because Ozil was the only notable addition. When you add morethan 3 players in one team the technical balance of the team is lost and it will need time for team chemistry to be sound. this is facts.
      Look at Liverpool 8 – 10 addtions. united about 6 TO 7 additions. thats why we all had a terrible start of the season with them. think about Spurs under Villa Boas.
      Chelsea made few but quality additions and they started like a house on fire.

      LETS NOT MAKE THESAME MISTAKE TWICE. NO 5 OR 6 ADDITIONS. GET 2 QUALITY PLAYERS AND START THE SEASON.

      1. @galen.. I think adding 5 players is no problem if you are not going to start them all at the same time. It’s only a problem if they are all first teamers.

        But in our case we already have a solid staring 11, the new signing would start off on the bench and introduced slowly by slowly like Gabriel is being integrated.

        It only a problem if you buy 5-7 new players and sticking them all into the starting 11, spuds, Liverpool and United for example..

        1. I think you forgot the part we added Bellerin, Chambers, Sanchez to the 1st team and Cazorla back in his position not to mention Jack back from injuries. One of the main reasons we were so crap at the start was because our midfielders never played together at the same time before and there was no DM. When did you ever see Rambo and Jack play together ? Whenever they did they were crap, now Coquelin is in the team they should be able to gel more quickly.

    2. Chelsea have 3 cb
      Terry high quality
      Cahil not better than our starters
      Zouma

      We have 4
      I would start kosc and per over cahil
      Gabriel is better than zouma
      And we have chmbers,monreal,debuchy who can all do a job

      1. lol.Cahill is far superior to Mertesacker,i like your loyalty but its dishonest,Per is a liability against pace

        1. Will we stop this Per is “liability against pace” mantra, almost seems obligatory to say it. Every pre-match analysis on TV homes in on Mert and the pundits start chatting the same shit every time – then it doesn’t happen. It really dumbs down the whole CB discussion. We keep getting told this and we keep winning and we keep not seeing proper evidence of this “problem”. Anyhow, Cahill is the worst player in Chelski’s back 5 – he is sort of hiding in plain sight – many Chelski fans don’t rate him much and would like to see a new younger talent in there.

  5. Henry is wrong. He wants us to sign 4 new starters (what he was talking about Chelsea doing). Honestly there isn’t going to be 4 players we can sign who are an improvement on what we have.

    Name that striker (who we can sign) who is actually better then Giroud? Higuain is the only “guaranteed” success and honestly even that is dubious. We’re not buying a Costa or Aguero and certainly not a Suarez or Van Persie. We’d be buying a possible one of those.

    No DM with better stats then Coquelin. The guy is great. Kondogbia or Schneiderlin would be great signings but are they better and going to displace Coq? Only possibly. So again we’re talking squad signings.

    CB is a position we COULD improve but we just signed 2 CBs in Gab and Chambers. Will Wenger sign another? VERY doubtful. I’d give both those players a chance to actually influence the team before we say they’re not good enough.

    GK – Ospina has done well. I don’t see him as phenomenal – I see him as another GK from that second tier. If we could get Lloris – great! He improves us. If we can get Cech or Casillas – great they improve the squad. But again it’s a limit to the improvement of the first team.

    Henry was hammering us as not having a good enough first team. I disagree. It’s our squad that needs to improve.

    1. I can see us making 4 or 5 signings and strengthen the team…..

      GK – Illoris

      CB – Varane

      DM – Kondabagia

      LW – Guzimann or Reus

      Striker – Lacazette

      These are 5 players that will improve the team….

      most or if not all speaks french and play with each other with the national team…..there will be no problem with coordination and teamwork

      1. hahahahahahahhaha. suddenly we have become real madrid. That list will require £150 million in the present market. U guys must be kidding.

        If you can only get Kongdobia and lacazette be happy and Run. Adding the others just make me laugh. Who even said they may want to come to arsenal? With all those crazy clubs ” @ United ” giving Goal keepers £200K a week. We are in trouble.

    2. Cavani is better than Giroud,and previous to this season Coquelin has been very injury prone,we need another top DM to give him competition an cover

  6. Lacazette

    Griezeman Ozil Sanchez

    Coq Kondabgia

    Monreal Varane Kos Debuchy

    Illoris

    Formidable!!!!

  7. Poor showing from Henry. We don’t need 4 signings. That would be too extreme anyway as that is too many major signings for one window.

    We could win the league with 2 signings – a striker and a defensive utility player that can play DM and CD.

    1. Higuain (sanogo, ryo and podolski out)
      Welbeck stays out wide (gnabry,akpom loaned)

      Fekir (Rosicky out, Joel loaned)

      Javi Martinez in (flamini out, jenkinson loan or sold)
      Chambers used as utility player or loaned
      Arteta and diaby becomes back ups

      St=Higuain,giroud …….(Sanchez,welbeck,Walcott)
      Lfwd= alexis,welbeck,w.silva……(fekir)
      Rfwd=theo,chambo…….(fekir,welbeck,w.silva,Rambo)
      Cam=ozil,fekir…….(Santi,wilshire,Rambo)
      Cm= Santi,Ramsey,wilshire(diaby,arteta)
      Dm=coqulan Javi Martinez …..(arteta,diaby)
      Rb= debuchy, bellerin….(chambers)
      Cb=kosc,per,Gabriel,chambers(Javi Martinez,monreal,debuchy)
      Lb gibbs, monreal
      Gk ospina,sZezney or new gk,Martinez

      23 man squad

    2. @vanpayslip,you think we can win the league next year with 2 signings?lol you must mean we could have won the league this season with 2 more signings.Because next year Chelsea will be even better,not to mention the new additions that Man U an city will add.Henrys right we need 4 top players and a clearout just to keep up with Chelsea.How would buying 2 players put us above a team who are already 10 points ahead of us an likely to improve massively next year?

  8. Are you stupid? We need a few signings.

    A CDM is my priority. I am sorry but for me Arteta, Flamini and Diaby should not be in the team anymore (maybe Arteta as 3rd choice). We need two good CDMs. We already have one. Kondogbia/MS would do just fine.

    A striker/forward? I know this is not a popular opinion right now(it used to be 3 months back). I want the twitter king Prince Poldi to not come back. Sanogo MUST go out on loan. Then we are left with only Welback as the backup striker. DW has also been good only in flashes. So we need two very good options for striker/forward too. We already have Giroud. Why not Reus? Wenger should raid Dortmund and get Reus.

    These two transfers will fill the remaining gaps of the team.

  9. Deep down we all see what Henry is saying and he is right. But it wouldn’t need to be as expensive as people think… I personally believe we could sell 15-20millions worth of players (Not Walcott or Wilshere).

    LLoris – 14million ( according to contract)
    Kondabagia – roughly 22million
    CB – 10million i see Wenger buying another young talent
    Striker – 35million

    I think we could afford something like that, obviously I don’t know the real values of players but it could be achieved!

    Also looking at the league we aren’t that far off competing with chelsea in goals scored and conceded!!!

    Team GP W D L GF GA GD PTS
    Chelsea 33 23 8 2 65 26 39 77
    Arsenal 33 20 7 6 63 32 31 67

  10. It’s funny how Spuds and Liverpool fans keep underrating The Coq, Ospina, Kossy, Monreal etc. Since we have been on this good run all I keep hearing from them is how The EPL has stagnated, been poor and gotten worse if a team like Arsenal are in second with the likes is Ospinia, Mertesacjer, Kossy, Monreal, Bellerin, The Coq in their stating 11.

    Sour grapes or they are just deluded thinking their players are way better than ours. Smh

  11. Im afraid we do need to improve and Henry is NOT wrong, Giroud is reasonable BUT not good enough to win the title and if he’s injured we’re f@cked, Le Coq is excellent but Flaminni and arteta are done so if Coq is injured again we’re done.
    Ozil is not working hard enough and Walcott and Wilshire are NOT good enough any more to get in the squad, so take these guys away and what do we have? a bare bones team with no striker, Wenger may or may not be utilising his squad properly but regardless of if your an AKB or an AOB the fact is he’s NOT going anywhere so deal with it!!!! we need a DM, another Centre back, and also a striker of world class calibre which as much as I like Giroud he just isn’t that

  12. We do need a DM we do need a CB we do need a good solid fast CF and could do with 2 players that are happy to end the career playing now and then just doing a job. We do need to get rid of 6 players. Sick notes need to go and sorry jack is not one of them

  13. 100% we need another DM and striker. Another DM is the biggest priority and then another striker if we can find one. The CB position is good. And GK is no bi deal to me. Chelski have Terry, Cahill and Zouma.. We have Mert, Kossy, Gabz. Apart from Terry I don’t think Cahill and Zouma are better defenders than Kossy and Gabriel.

    To me if Wenger goes into his usual arrogance, stubbornness etc by refusing to be advised on what we need then we will have the same problems we have had in the first half of the season. He refused to sign a CB and DM and it cost us so many points. Hope he goes out this time and signs what we need..

  14. it will be three outfield players max this summer i think wenger will always stick with scezschny because he is an arsenal man from a young age and wenger always stays loyal to these type of players, we just need to get a better goalkeeper coach in maybe seaman or lehmann to help sharpen him up, as for the other player it will be c/h, d/m and c/f additions not replacements we need to add not replace so we have top quality backup in reserve.
    lacazette looks a good bet but he will cost the earth(each goal scored past 30 will add extra £10 million to value) coming of the back of a great season he looks like he could be the next benzema from lyon.
    big money move for him me thinks could be reals big signing this summer. higuain could be the safe bet scores goals and experienced at the top level at his peak now could come for around the £25-£30 million mark if we negotiate strongly.
    could be a bargain if we could get him to score big next season. as for d/m wenegr will try and go french again as france is producing a major
    glut.
    greatd/m(kondogbia,gonalons,gilouvougi,Matuidi,schniderlin atm and they are all big strong players to boot just what we need means not waiting on diaby to come back. c/h will just be young back up or maybe utility man like howedes or schar coyg.

    1. But this is the point all the AOB;s try to argue is that it shouldn’t matter what the player costs the club that’s NOt our concern considering how much we pay for season tickets if lacazette costs that much and we do need a striker of his calibre then spend the money and get it done, for me personally its all the twatting around buying less than standard players and expecting them to do a world class job that grates me the most Sanogoals is NEVER going to be good enough, yet we persevered with him rather than buy the striker we needed lets not make that same mistake again as we’d be going back rather than capitalising on moving forward

  15. If Henry is wrong then you are saying that this squad can win the league and i’m sorry mate but it cant. We might not need a bucket load but a few signings in key positions is a must.

  16. I support Henry on this we need world class additions this summer to win the league.. If we buy players with the view of winning the UCL for the 1st time in our existence I believe all other trophies will fall in line for us. The squad we have now can challenge for the FA cup n Capital one n Get to 2nd on the table but with 3 to 4 world class additions to solidify our ucl campaign we will have a great squad that can dominate and boost the effort of our current squad for 2nd to 1st. Arsenal is the most beautiful club in England n should have ucl n EPL from next season. Get Verrati, Varane, Cavani/Martinez and see if we will not kill all big four rivals that’s how u win d league. Aim for stars fall on the moon either ways u r above earth

  17. I support Henry on this we need world class additions this summer to win the league.. If we buy players with the view of winning the UCL for the 1st time in our existence I believe all other trophies will fall in line for us. The squad we have now can challenge for the FA cup n Capital one n Get to 2nd on the table but with 3 to 4 world class additions to solidify our ucl campaign we will have a great squad that can dominate and boost the effort of our current squad for 2nd to 1st. Arsenal is the most beautiful club in England n should have Ucl n EPL from next season. Get Verrati, Varane, Cavani/Martinez and see if we will not kill all big four rivals that’s how u win d league. Aim for stars fall on the moon either ways u r above earth. It’s time to dream bi g and aim higher. We can do it.

  18. so , what the author of this fine article is saying , in other words , is , that he , the author , knows more about the game , and , the way it is played, than our greatest player ever !. hhhhhhmmmmmnnnn,forgive me for not agreeing with you sir , but your arguement does not even get off the ground .if , perhaps , it was an ordinary pundit who may have come up with the thought that arsenal need four world class players , then , yes, i would agree with you . but thierry has his finger on the arsenal pulse , and has done since he first arrived at highbury .in fact , it is my opinion , that , arsenal should be using thierrys knowledge of the game , and , his passion for the arsenal , in some way , alongside that of the present manager, to ensure success for us . i would love to see both thierry and arsene work in tandem together for the good of the club . lets say the current manager and a future manager together , each learning from the other.even arsene can still learn i feel , and who better for thierry to study under than wenger himself . i would consider this a win win for arsenal and ,it would almost guarantee us success for the next twenty years both on and off the pitch . please arsenal board knidly engage thierry henry now , now is the time to use him and his love of arsenal and of the game . the man is a total genius , and i for one think we are missing a major trick here.

    1. World class players don’t necessarily make good pundit and not every player is cut out to manage.

      Just because it is Henry doesn’t make it true and doesn’t mean we have to agree with him.

      1. Normally i would agree with you about pundits,but not when they are talking objectively about their own club,Henry is correct 1000%

  19. GK: Cech or Casillas
    CB: Schar
    DM: Schneidelin or Kondogbia
    CF: Higuain, Dyabala, Lacazette

    LW: most important Reus

    1. Casillas? Are you crazy? He is not better than Ospina and he wont come to Arsenal to be number 2. We better sticky to Szceny .

  20. The King sucks as a football pundit. awful..
    And to think there were speculations of him replacing Wenger.. God hope not..

  21. I agree with this writer. Our priority should be to remove dead wood first and free up our wage bill. Our team has been so strong and well balanced I don’t know why we are not closer to Chelsea. Lets go back to the Chelsea game, we created so little chances and the game was crying out for width and pace on the wings and it never happened until the 70th minute! We can have all the players but its no point having them if we are not using them to change the game! Even my dog knows that Ozil disappears in big games but Wenger will play him until forever. Sanchez was poor all game but Wenger kept him hoping for a miracle…hoping is not a strategy! Wilshere, Rosicky, Carzola or Gnabry are known to have attributes of better penetration and mobility in these kind of games but hey its Wenger!

  22. Question is what would mourinho do if he was given the arsenal job?

    1st thing he would do is replace giroud, then he would replace Walcott/welbeck. Those two are certain. He would get in another heavy weight DM because he likes the option of playing two DMs. He would get rid of mertersacker but I think he would blood chambers and have him as the third CB then get another CB.

    He would then trim the squad and at the same time get a bit of profit to finance his buys, he would sell Walcott, wilshere and carzola.

    As for ospina. I have no reason to think he would get rid.

    I get the feeling from what I have gathered from his quotes about the arsenal squad that he thinks there is a lot of untapped quality.

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