With this current Arsenal team set to finish in 6th place, the worst Premier League finish in the reign of Arsene Wenger, you could say that the new manager of the Gunners, whoever it turns out to be, has a massive job on his hands.
Despite the squad being full of big name players such as Mesut Ozil, Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan, we still have not earned a single EPL point away from home in this calendar year, so huge improvements are needed, but that does not necessarily mean that this squad needs to be ripped apart and wholesale changes to it made.
Petr Cech is still a decent age for a keeper and Ospina has proved time and again to be an able deputy. Koscielny may be out for a while due to injury but with Chambers, Holding and now Mavropanos looking good prospects I do not think our defensive options are lacking.
In midfield we have real talent. Xhaka, Elneny and even Wilshire provide a good base while Ozil, Iwobi and Mkhitaryan have attacking class to burn. And there are very good young Gunners coming through. Welbeck may not be a world class striker but he is looking sharper and in form can be a real asset, while Aubameyang and Lacazette can be awesome.
Of course the new manager will want to make a few big signings but I really do not think that he needs too much transfer action to get us challenging for the title straight away. The really important thing is to get this misfiring and inconsistent squad of players to perform at their top level.
Do that and I truly believe that Arsenal can be in the mix for the title next season. Do you share this belief Gooners, or do you think we are set for a long time on the fringes?
Sam P.
Yes if we want an instant result, unless Arsenal change their football by hiring Ranieri or Simeone
The big spending could be covered by selling/ replacing the expensive flops in the club
Wenger expects next manager to protect “values” and not win trophies like himself.Not Merci Wenger but f**k off Wenger!
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Well if you go 10 to 15 years back in the era of Sir Alex then you don’t need to spend big…. 1999 treble winning team of United had majority home grown players… Even in our invincibles we were having many bargain buys… The whole Money minded football and non football money came into picture when Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea for 600 Millions…. There after we saw Money competiting against home grown Quality Players… Later on it became trend in English Football when Liverpool was purchased by Gillette… And now City… Sir Alex was the only man who did really fought against this Money Business and even won many trophies against this Money Spending sides…. Can one believe when Man Utd Sold Ronaldo to Real Madrid and bought his Replacement as Antonio Valencia… And still Sir Alex won the championship… But now it’s evident after emergence of City in English Football that if you want to win Trophies then you have to spend… You can simply buy your titles by splashing cash… Mancini did it with City… Manuel Pellegrini did the same with City… Conte did it with Chelsea… Jose Did it with Chelsea… And overrated so called Great Pep was already doing with Barca and Bayern and now doing it with City….. The real taste and fighting has certainly gone from Football after introduction of this non sporting Money from outside sources… There is only one Mantra that throw a cash and buy Premier League Title… Just look last 7-8 years Champions except Leicester… Leicester was out of this world story and which can happen only in many decades…. But apart from that if you look at Champions then they all are Money throwing teams….
If Arsenal is a great club, they will win the Premier League again without big budget, like Leicester City
Rich clubs like Man City and Chelsea can only attract new supporters by using money. Once the sheikh and the tycoon leave, the plastic fans would also leave
Antonio Valencia is an underrated player that always works hard. Too bad Arsenal missed the chance to sign him
Leicester is different story and I doubt that would happen again in in recent time…. And why would Shaikh leve city when they can buy Premier League Title every year…
And Valencia might be underrated but Valencia cannot become Ronaldo’s replacement ever in any world….
That’s why AW is a legend among managers coz he always had a very small transfer budget but kept us in the champions league. It’s a shame that he was let down by his players which has led to him getting the sack. He never believed in buying titles and kept making money for the club and kroenke.
Admin, while I agree with the general premise that Arsenal has no need for wholesale scrapping of the squad, and in any case the funds won’t be made available by Kroenke, is this article tongue in cheek?
Arsenal’s forward line, except for the addition of a winger, is strong. Holding, Chambers and Mavropanos are good prospects, but Arsenal need at least one experienced CB, a LB to replace Monreal, a RB to compete with Bellerin, and a top class goal keeper to compete with Cech. As far as the midfield is concerned, a commanding DM has been urgently required since Gilberto Silva left, as well as a CM deep lying play maker to replace Cazola is essential.
That’s 6 players minimum (7 if a winger is included. It will be interesting to see the assessment of the new manager and Kroenke’s response. It’s been a long time since Arsenal has gone into the market for 7 players, but that appears to be the minimum required to compete for the Champions League places and above given how many points Arsenal are now adrift.
That is making the assumption that the new manager can get the best out of the existing players, coach defense and varying tactics, remove the fragility (physical and mental) and instill a winning mentality.
It’s definitely tongue and cheek Ozziegunner when you see class and burn next to Iwobi’s name! Might I add Chambers is a good squad player nothing more and mavropanos is a 20 year old boy and with the likelihood of Arteta being our new manager then we’re back to square one or maybe square zero but as Gazidis said we do things with integrity and class but maybe that was tongue and cheek too who knows?
John, my 6-7 players was a “wish list; however like you I would expect a manager such as Allegri to improve Arsenal’s league position from the current 6th even with the present squad.
Heaven help Arsenal if Mikel Arteta is selected as the new manager. He has too much baggage with the current squad and lacks the experience and credibility to enforce the discipline (as set out by David below) required.
Agreed Ozziegunner ?
How many players does Arsenal is a hypothetical question. Some people may argue that the whole squad should be disbanded while the realistic ones feel only a few changes are needed. I feel we need a proven CB, DM, RB and perhaps a winger. The problem might have been more to do with coaching tactics and man management than the quality of the players. Many lazy players were being handled with kid gloves instead of being benched. There are players like Ozil who had come to believe they are indispensable and thus could play anyhow. A new manager will change all that and make the team work hard and reprimand the lazy ones or even put them on the bench since he will have no soft spot for any player. We could be pleasantly surprised by how well our team performs next season. Even Xhaka whom some people denigrate could prove a very good player if he is managed well. The new manager only needs to inculcate the fighting spirit and collective effort into his players and we shall see a different team next season. The team needs to play as a single unit all the time; attack as a unit and defend as a unit. There should be no relenting on the pitch and this team will overwhelm teams.
How many players does Arsenal need is a hypothetical question.
You have to build the spine first then you can branch out GK CB CM then add as you need
I think we need atleast 4 but five will be amazing and become title winners
Goal keeper : jan oblak ( atletico madrid, his age : 25 yrs )
Centerback : Kalidou Koulibaly. ( napoly, his age : 26)
Central midf : Fred ( shakhtar donetski; Age 24 )
Lw/ Rw /Atm : Riyad mehrez ( leiceter city ; Age 26)
If arsenal sign those 4 players with good manager we will get good season
Plz watch those 4 players on Youtube.
New GK is not needed as we have Cech and Martinez to compete, plus Macey as the understudy
Koulibaly brought Napoli high in this season, so he could be a good replacement for Mustafi and Koscielny
Fred looks amazing on YouTube, but Xhaka also looked dazzling. If he was dominant when his team faced AS Roma in the Champions League, he would be a good replacement for Wilshere and Ramsey
Mahrez’s style is too similar to Ozil’s and Mkhitaryan’s. Better get a younger explosive winger with high stamina, work rate and strength like Adama Traore, Gelson Martins or Leon Bailey
We had the OX but AW chose to play him RWB. Mtcheew
Mahrez style is nothing like Ozil’s or Mkhitaryan’s. More realistically he is like Zaha, who is much better – and tougher. I always thought of Mahrez as a bit of a ‘softie’ so was a bit shocked (and very thankful) that Wenger didn’t buy him.
Wenger have blue print of winning team tactic in 442 with using speedy demon players.
The rise of fabregas has change wenger mind, he kick out viera and using fabregas as playmaker ala xavi. He traying to shape arsenal from direct pass and counter attack to tiki taka barcelona with fab as a core.
It seem good at first but it became disaster later, even after we losing fabregas, wenger still using tiki taka (pass to the front, to side and to back again). And for more crazy, he even eliminatd the role of dm. By force a good cm in xhaka to be dlp. And ozil became a wideman wannabe.
Ozil became a hideman wannabe when he’s not down with the flu he completely disappears in games he’s magic – The Wizard of Ozil ?
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We definitely need a GK & a couple of defenders
Sue, the DM and CM (deep lying play maker) to replace Santi Cazola are essential as well. The current squad (apart from the prospect that is Maitland-Niles) has no adequate players to play these roles.
Well hopefully that position will be filled too. I know Arsene has faith in the team, I do believe there is potential deep down somewhere in some of them, and I’m intrigued to see how they all perform under the new manager.
We definitely need to splash the cash!!
Spending should be right though that is not necessarily big-time cash, a lot of positions have been identified as a major need of the team such as the DM, GK and maybe RB/LB.
I’ll want to experiment with the same squad but a different mentality from a different coach to see if indeed it’s a team or management weakness.
Four quality signings are all that’s needed to give the new Manager a good chance of regaining a top four position.Gk,CB,LB and DM.We do not need a new right back.In Bellerin and AMN we have two talented youngsters, who with the correct guidance can make the grade.Left back is another matter.Montreal is past his best and I’m afraid Kolasinac is simply not good enough.If we can sell on Mustafi, xhaka and Kolasinac for say £50,m in all(if we are lucky) a net spend of around £100m should suffice.We have to be realistic and accept that we have not the financial resources to match the likes of the Manchester clubs.
Sam P. I find your silly defence of many poor to average players in your article and you saying they should stay is just a joke . You sound like Wenger and so no wonder you wanted him to stay, at least until very recently. You and he share the same poor judgement of talent. Most on here will strongly disagree with you keeping players like Iwobi, Elneny, Xhaka , Cech and Ospina. None of these are remotely good enough for a club with real ambition. You seem not to have any ambition yourself, judging by the players you have bigged up
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Couldn’t agree more. Add Welbeck to Jon’s list and ship the lot of them out. By the way, did anyone else notice Ospina throw himself to the ground (twice) as Diego Costa approached? Looked to me as though he was trying to get out of the way and avoid any contact with the freakin’ ball! Just what you need in a goalkeeper eh!