We all know how important pace has become in modern football and Arsenal have had some super quick players in the past, such as the club record goalscorer Thierry Henry. But as the great French striker showed, you need more than just pace to be a top player or a top team.
When you add pace to technical ability, defensive solidity, creative vision and sharp finishing however, you have a team that can beat anyone and leaves opposing teams feeling the fear when they face you. So while Arsene Wenger has not been trying specifically to build a team full of fast runners, it is good to see a Metro report claiming that the Gunners could have the fastest back four in Europe.
Of course that would mean us playing with our new Brazilian transfer capture Gabriel at centre back instead of Per Mertesacker, but many of us think that will soon be happening on a regular basis anyway. Add Kieran Gibbs and Hector Bellerin as the full backs and you have a back four able to play a high line and cope with the quickest of attacks.
Now imagine that you have Coquelin or Schneiderlin in midfield with Ozil and the Oz and up front you have Welbeck, Alexis and Walcott. Arsenal would be more like an Olympic sprint team than a football team. But we would also have a lot of footballing quality in the side. How on earth would other clubs be able to cope with that?
Guys do you realize we scored THREE goals outside the box?! I couldn’t believe it.
kudos to AW:
* fixed our weakness of not scoring from set plays,
* now “does tactics”: high press against pool,
* gets players to shoot more , esp from outside box.
IMO: Coq one of the most important changes since Jan 1.
Good thing Wenger wasn’t fired half way through the season like many fans on here wanted. I really believe this is the best squad we have had since the Invincibles. We have a team of individuals willing to go the extra mile and work hard as a unit in attack and defense. Ozil has become far more relaxed and looks back to best like we saw at Madrid. When he joined, he was under immense pressure to be something special and I don’t think he is the type of athlete that enjoys the spotlight too much…so when Sanchez joined (who thrives under pressure) it indirectly helped Ozil and took the pressure off allowing him just to play his game and we can all see it. Giroud has settled in and right now next to Kane is the most dangerous CF in the BPL. Coquelin has been immense and I agree that he is probably one of the biggest reasons why we have hit such a consistent form. But for me, Sanchez has been the biggest asset…the guy is the perfect footballer, skill, technique, flair, speed, control, and HARD WORK…and this mentality has rubbed off on the whole squad. It is just a pity Chelsea are so far in front because I believe if we hit this form earlier on in the season, we would be top.
Hate to make a thumb up or down post but I’m very interested in opinions on this so thumbs up for Marco Reus thumbs down for Raheem Sterling
No contest. The only thing Sterling has on Reus is that he counts as homegrown.
But Michael Owen says that Sterling is better than Ozil!. “not even close” he claims.
And we all know that Michael Owen is never wron…….
Sorry, scratch that. Never mind.
After reading and hearing everything that guy has been saying I am genuinely worried about his sanity.
This summer will be very important . We some how need to pull Peter Checz from Chelski.
Morgan Schlideranine is a must. We also need to tie Theo as he offers different options all together. Ramsey needs to find his goal scoring touch and we are there.
Also we have to keep upgrading our team.
The current team is better that any team in Pl right now, but all of Chelsea, mancity and united will spend heavily in summer. Just to compensate that we need to buy, else we may lack gain.
My perfect summer:
In:
Hummels (£30-35m?), Reus (£50m?), Krychowiak (£10-15m?).
Total spend: £90-100m
Out: Diaby, Flamini, Sanogo, Podolski, Campbell, Ryo. Who knows, could raise £10-20m, maybe more if there’s other players out.
A spend of around £90-100m isn’t unreasonable. We spent around £80m last summer and still made an £11m profit.
That’s not realistic at all man come on. And last year we gained about £25-30m from player sales, plus we realeased like 15 players freeing up an insane amount of wages so it’s not like we just dropped £80m end of story.
i don’t know about you guys, but if we finish 2nd in the league and defend our FA Cup w two Cups in a row, that would be a successful campaign, no doubt!
To be honest, I like Sterling as much as Reus. If Reus is purchased by Madrid or Bayern, Barca, why not go for Sterling. Our English lads will be happy to see him in the club. = better team spirit!
I don’t want Sterling at Arsenal!
He’s being massively overrated by the media, Liverpool are talking about £40-£50 million for him, plus he wants a salary of £100k+ per week.
Just look at his record, what exactly has he achieved, the sum total of nothing. He’s gone to the press without his clubs consent, has time off because he’s tired and I think rather than making other players happy, him and his agent could be a disruptive force in the dressing room.
There are so many better, cheaper options than this one trick pony, Arsenal would be mad to buy him for the money be quoted.