Arsenal Must Mass Clear Average Players and Sign World Class Now! by Nikko
When Arsene Wenger arrived at Arsenal, good football arrived. It was not just positive football but also trophies and for the first time Arsenal become a regular competitor at the highest level in England and Europe.
His first few years in charge it took Wenger just a few years to put together a world class side that was fearful for any team across the world. What caught everyone napping was his eyes for talent. It was not just with young players but also players who had been seen as not doing very well. Wenger could take a player for what he had seen in that player that everyone had not seen and making them perform at the highest levels of their talent. Until Wenger happened, players like Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Kolo Toure, Sol Campbell, Lauren, Ashley Cole, Clichy etc were never going to amount to much.
The trick was that Wenger put together a scouting/spy department that was active in not just watching players play but studying them intensely. The scouting did lots of good work following the identified player’s strengths, those that they are playing with and the potentials that the players and their handlers may not have seen yet. The sheer number of players who would have played for Arsenal at some point in their careers makes this case. And if we start naming them the list will never end.
However, this super spy trick has been breached by clubs that have for a long time watched in the sidelines and studied the Arsenal model and started their own home grown models. Most of these have been due to lots of money that some clubs have been able to invest. It coincidentally happens that Arsenal took the decision to build from the scratch a new state of the art stadium and training facilities. The effect is that while Arsenal’s own model was being replicated across Europe, Arsenal themselves could not continue to benefit from their super spy set-up which meant that you identify the players, move with goodies the other side cannot refuse and sign them quickly.
Arsenal did not have the money to compete for signatures of players. The nett effect is that Arsenal ended up with lots of average players who we have tried to develop into world class but often, the process requires much more patience, lots of misses happen in there and very few end up in the top tier. Often, a good number of our players remain with one bad trait – inconsistency. A lot of times we declare players world class at a tender age and end up having to suffer the inconsistency mood swing and terrible injury risks. It simply is that we made a decision to shop at the second level and try to develop these into world class.
In Arsenal’s squad today we have lots of these type of players. Fortunately we can now shop at the best stores if we want. Unfortunately a saying that a chicken tied for a long time will not notice when it is eventually freed of the bondage and will take too long to realize the string is no longer there. Arsenal seems not to have realized that the string is no longer there. Here are my thoughts of players that must be cleared out and new world class signings brought in.
Defense: get rid of Mertesacker and Gibbs – Mertesacker has done his bit but now needs to move to mid table premiership side and Gibbs needs the same move to develop his talent off the top team pressure that causes him injuries every few games.
Midfield: get rid of Wilshere, Ramsey, Arteta, Flamini, and Diaby. I know in this list Ramsey is the most controversial but the Welshman has not managed to return to his best. Perhaps he needs a loan move. Wilshere on the other hand is just not getting where we hoped he would. Or perhaps like he said Wenger refuses to let him trade his potential at the place he feels is his best position – Defensive Midfield.
In attack get rid of: Giroud, Podolski and Welbeck. The sheer opportunities for goal compared to goal conversion we have been looking at since the arrival of Giroud and now Welbeck, betrays one reality, these pair will never be world class.
Who would I sign? The List is about world class buyable players out there.
Defence: For Left Back I would select from this list – Domenico Criscito, Leighton Baines, Filipe Luis, Mattia De Sciglio, David Alaba, Fabio Coentrao
For Centre Backs: Diego Godin, Curtis Davies, Sokratis, Mats Hummels, Mehdi Benatia, Giorgio Chiellini, Ezequiel Garay
For Midfield: Arturo Vidal, Lucas Silva, Clement Grenier, Ezequiel Cirigliano, Ilkay Gundogan, Younes Belhanda, Victor Wanyama, Kevin Strootman, Ganso, Josip Ilicic, Hernanes, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Paul Pogba, Luka Modric, Lars Bender, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Marco Reus
For Strikers: Edison Cavani, Jackson Martinez, Karim Benzema, Alfred Finnbogason, Mario Mandzukic, Paulo Dybala,
Finally, pick (from these and other of similar world class traits that may have been overlooked) and make a new World Class First 11 for Arsenal 2015
Szczesny
Debuchy, Godin, Koscielny, Coentrao,
Vidal—Gundogan,
Walcott ——-Ozil——-Sanchez
Cavani
I would also sign Jackson Martinez and Paulo Dybala to help Cavani and together with Sanogo (I believe he will come good), Akpom and Afobe…The attackers are great. In my Bench Carzola, Ox, Jenkinson would be a must.
What would be your world class first 11 Arsenal?
NikkoGunners