The Arsenal and Wales midfield star Aaron Ramsey sounds as if he really believes, like many Arsenal fans and football experts, that this could be the year for the Gunners. But there is one major problem that the current squad need to sort out in order to progress from two back to back FA cup trophy wins to the really big challenges of the Premier League and Champions League.
The 24-year old has been with Arsenal for seven years now and he is buzzing about the fact that this squad of players is the most talented and balanced that we have had in all that time. As revealed in an Evening Standard report, however, Ramsey knows that our level of consistency over the next 10 months has got to improve.
Finishing as we did in the second half of last season is all very well and has got us all believing that Arsenal can go all the way, but not if we start like we did last time and put ourselves in a sticky situation. Similarly, the previous season when Ramsey was scoring goals for fun, was not followed up after the New Year.
He said, “In the last few years we’ve always had half a season where we’ve been the most consistent team – it would be great if we could do that back-to-back in one season.
“I think it’s the best team we’ve had in a long while – probably the best team I’ve been involved in – and this club can get better. We’re in a very strong position to challenge for the Premier League and Champions League.”
The question is how? Is it just a matter of the medical team making sure that we do not have a full treatment room or is it like some in the football media have suggested, that Arsenal cannot handle the pressure over the marathon that is the Premier League?
We can definitely achieve something with two more signings, I personally think we need a DM way more than a striker. We have lots of players who can score goals, but only one enforcer in le coq.
If we can’t get Benzema, I think we should really consider Pedro instead. He’s fast, can dribble past opponents, excellent off the ball, a good finisher and ambidextrous just like Cazorla.
And give chance to Walcott as our new centre forward.
and if a striker looks out of question, i would go for someone who could play the left wing excellently…….got too many options on the right side
I’ve always had the idea that injuries to our key players (where we have had incompetent backup) has been the major issue. This is because when said player gets injured, there is a massive gulf in class between that individual and his replacement. In 2013/14 – when Aaron got fatigued/injured around December we started to drop as a team because he was so pivotal in that midfield, his backup being Arteta (a decent player who gets his fair share of flack, but is not top tier if we’re being honest) wasn’t able to step up to the plate and deliver both performance wise and in the goals department. Last season we kicked off really badly (despite finishing 2013/14 so positively) due to injuries with Kos, Walcott, and Giroud at different points in the season. Debuchy/Monreal (as CB’s), Ozil (as a winger whilst Theo was out), and Welbeck could do a job for a game or two, but not much more than that and our performances as a team suffered.
Chelsea were lucky in the sense that Matic, Fabregas, and Terry barely missed a game (if any), because we saw that an injury to Costa late on in the season caused a hiccup of two (although they did fairly well with Remy/Drogba). This is City’s biggest issue too, they need Aguero, Silva, Toure, Kompany and Hart to stay fit if they want to sustain any consistency and go for the title. We still need a DM and ST, staying fit in the present doesn’t change that, you can only ride luck for so long.
Spot on.
If we don’t get a proper DM replacement (or companion, depending on the opponent) and a top striker or versatile and ‘effective’ forward we will flounder again with Flamini, Arteta and Wellbeck.
We have the money, but it ‘seems’ (as the window is not closed yet) that Wenger does not think he can improve on these players.
now is the time to raise the bar, to truly compete. If he doesn’t he may live to regret it as I suspect he won’t be rewarded for coming 2nd, 3rd or 4th the next time it comes around to talk contracts.
While you where correct in the main, you are wrong to say Arteta was Ramsey’s back up. Arteta started all matches when he was fit that season, so how could he have been Ramsey’s back up.
Rues?
As arteta got a contract extension,I think we are not after a DM.
Either rues or minimum a player like Pedro will do the job.
But surely Wenger will sign a WC player, number 9 is yet to fill so m but optimistic.
Finger cross !!!
I understand how some player’s names are difficult – I have to google “Szczesny” nearly every time. But what is it with “Reus” that is so difficult?? If I see “Rues” one more time….lol
Not having a go at you Shuvo!
right now we have 6 central midfielders in; carzola, coquelin, jack, ramsey, arteta and ozil. I dont think adding a 7th one will be a good idea. all of the above mentioned players (except ozil) are perfectly capable of covering for coquelin should he get injured. after all, before he arrived we used to play for seasons without a proper DM and as ramsey is saying; the reason why we never challenged for the tittle was that we only showed winning consistency in only one half of every season, not necessarily because we didnt have a “proper” DM.
As for the addiitonal striker, i dont think we need that either…unless its suarez, lewandowski, aguero, cavani, messi, ronaldo, other than that we are ok with what we have. the last thing we would want is to gamble and buy someone who is yet to adapt to the epl and to our tactics. we not sure even sure if they’ll do any better than what we currently have.
I agree…there’s a tremendous drop in quality on DM if coq were to be injured long term…yet there is not an obvious drop in quality if one of the big players in the striking department got injured….so while a competent new alternate DM is a must…a benzema/reus/pedro/llorente is welcome…..
my comments address to Wooton
Forget new players for a moment…consistency has always been our problem…Arsenal don’t know how to handle pressure and that’s y we come short at the end…hope this season it changes…a superstar signing could also do the trick, though it doesn’t guarantee us the consistency we need to win the title
With the squad we have, we will definitely challenge for the title and close the gap significantly from last year but only if the likes of wilshere and chamberlain improve. And that is assuming everyone stays injury free or with short term injuries.
However, we all know thats not going to happen -being injury free that is (am being realistic here) so if we want to win, we need a lewandowski, Muller sort of player
i dunno how y’all see it…….. But Iwobi, Adelaide, Akpom all putting up excellent performances this pre-season is a MINOR Disadvantage…..(Not withstanding, They are good good quality)……but I just hope they will nt becom like new signings…….cuz we definitely need those new signings…….Lets not be fooled…… It will be too much responsibility and pressure on these teenagers to Lead the line on Arsenal’s quest for the Trophy next season……..infact, THEY WILL BREAK….. They could all do with Top class mentors….. Good for the team spirit and people to Learn from……They will come good when their time is right………These aren’t prophetic words, but words of wisdom
Iwobi and Akpom could
sub v the smaller teams.
IMO Adelaide looks ready now.
He is amazing. He could start an EPL game
tomorrow and I would be fine with that.
He could be worth 30 mill by the end of the season.
Am I getting carried away here?
9 months with title
expectation is new
for most of this side.
But apart from Bellerin and Chambers
this a very experienced outfit now.
The problem of consistency and always having a fully fit side will mostly boil down to how well AW rotates the squad, and his use and timing of substitutions…
Some of our players are
just injury prone though.
Wellbeck Walcott
Ox Wilshere + Arteta
just can’t shake the injury curse.
Our never been scoring goals but conceding goals and not being consistent in our form. Am not really desperate to see a striker, its the DM, if we get Coq his backup hopefully the rest of the team will focus on their jobs together as a team. then you’ll have consistency, if we’re able to handle the pressure then the rest of the EPL teams are f**ked for good
OT, today I am going to watch young Gunners in Durban Tournament at Umlazi, can t wait to see Gideon Zalelam leading the team just like he did on Wednesday.
@Styles
I totally agree with your comment regarding consistency?
But let’s not forget that consistency is intricately linked to tactical choices.
Last season, our “dear” Wenger thought it would be “fun” to put Wishere as key “chef d’orchestre” of our creation… With Ozil on the wing…!!
We played 15 games that and won ONLY 5… Believe me when I say this is where we lost the league, if we were supposed to win it…
The most important point is Wenger needs to get it right, RIGHT NOW!
We have a line up that is perfect (as you can see Wilshere is no where near it) and a continuity of last season ending. A top DM and a world class striker would be a sublime addition, but I am not holding my breath for that.
By the way, signing Busquets (if rumours are true) will be a massive mistake. It is ok to play DM for Barcelona as they are all looking for the ball when lost, but it is a different story in the EPL. He won’t make it here, it is too tough!
Yeh coz buscuets is a pussy!
Have you seen him play?
Agree on consistency being important for all our squad but we need quality signings to improve so that in certain areas we are not consistently average or consistently lacking in depth when the injuries occur (as they will).
Jesus!! So fans want a DM who will be a back up for Le Coq and they are believing these rumors about Busquets.Thats daydreaming…sorry to say. Busquets signing marks the end of Le Coq career development at Arsenal.Don’t get me wrong,i would be over the moon if sign him.
So it’s one player in each position in our squad then. One first choice and an understudy…
That will make us a real force.
There was an article On The Spanish paper La Marca a day or so ago saying how Real Madrids bench was as good as their 1st team and how it would help them compete on all fronts..
We aren’t RM but we could aspire to greater things!
acc to media in germany Bayern,could sell lewa, are likely to want more than £35m & will replace him with winger kevin de bryne
It does make sense in a way that they got Lewandowski for free. So that’s + £35 million profit.
And buying de Bruyne from Wolfsburg would guarantee their title for next season as well.
I d love the see Lewandowski as a gunner.
Reports from Spain claim Nacho has agreed a new deal worth up top £75k PW, with Arsenal
Oh and Jon Toral has been loaned to Birmingham for 15/16 season.
Excellent news!!
STRIKER – CF,
Arsenal scout Brian McDermott was at the Soton game last night
To be consistent means snatching valuable results; grabbing a draw from a lose. Snatching a win in the closing minutes from a possible draw.
To do that we need a lewandowski kind of striker, someone who can score dead ball goals, someone who can score from nothing, someone who can take-on defenders single-handedly when we are canter-attacking.
We simply need an #Ultimate-Opportunist.
Torres was that kind of striker….his performances at A. Madrid and Liverfool was phenomenal
illaramandi,,,,,Arsene, just buy dat guy. he will b a nice back up.