There may be some very strong sides in other leagues around Europe but the strength in depth and the ability of any team to beat another makes the Premier League the toughest in the world and that is exactly the task facing Arsenal this season.
It will be a long hard road for Arsene Wenger and the players and we will need all of our creative ability, resilience and determination if we are to find ourselves at the very top of English football in around 10 months. While Arsenal may not have the financial resources of our main rivals Chelsea, Man City and Man United, we do have an edge over them in other ways.
The continuity that comes from having Arsene Wenger at the helm for two decades is one of them but the biggest factor for me is the one that our new number one Petr Cech alluded to in his interview on the Arsenal website, the brilliant team ethic among the players.
Cech spent 11 years at Stamford Bridge and you could say that Chelsea are a fairly strong and together outfit, especially last season when they only added a couple of players to an already strong squad, but the keeper has clearly been struck by the strength of the team spirit in the Arsenal dressing room.
He said, “What I’ve found is a group of players who work very hard and who are focused on what they are doing on the pitch to get ready.
“I found that the team spirit is extraordinary in the way that everybody pulls in the same direction. This is why I believe that we can have a successful season.
“We need to have that connection between players to reach the same targets. I’ve only been here a few days but I can feel that the team is together.
“We have a good balance in the team. We have players with a lot of experience and we have young players who want to prove their value by being a part of the first-team squad and playing as much as possible.
“There are hungry players, there are experienced players and in terms of the age category we have a good balance. We hope to use that to our advantage.”
Perhaps it is the need to preserve this close knit group that is making the boss very careful in the transfer market but is it not more important to keep all our current players happy and fighting for each other, than risking it by signing a player with the wrong attitude?
I totally agree that our team is close knit and all know each other well.
But I must say, adding a quality player to that family will not hurt one bit.
come on Wenger….Get it done!
Agreed. We have loads of box to box MF. Only one true defensive MF. I don’t see Welbeck playing on the wing. Could possibly use a versatile winger. If Monreal leaves we need a new LB. hope he stays.
Just saw a 16 year old score on Chrlsea from NYFC. Sign him up Wenger. Quality prospect
We have a world class keeper in petr cech! Looking forward to seeing him marshalling our defense and excelling as the new season goes on! Coyg!
We need to beat chelsea in the cs. The players seem to have been able to get over thier big game mental block, but arsene needs a win over mourinho to get this season started off properly. Arsenal need to send a message to doubters and non believers. Can’t wait for the season to start.
Agreed, but I see that game as only positive. If we win it will do us a world of good mentally, if we lose it might just force Arsene into the transfer market.
We will definitely be a stronger close knit unit than last season! Here’s praying and hoping all our “gunners” remain fit and healthy throughout the new season!
Will definitely love to see us put chelsea to the sword in the community shield! Coyg!
It will be impossible for us to beat Chel$hit at Wembley .
well I guess Mourinho could stick close to his starting 11, but if he uses all 6 subs then they won’t match our depth.
Remember when Tottenham did an overhaul with their squad? (Sigming al football managers best players haha). Arsenal, Chelsea, Madrid, Barcelona, Man City did not do any major signings this season. It really says something about the availability of world class players
Barcelona have world class players so they dont need to sign one , yet they signed Vidal ( other one) and Turan, a physically brute winger/playmaker.
Real Madrid are after DE GEA and Manchester United have stood up to them and refused to sell. Technically they dont need any player , just a keeper issue. But perez will make a signing for the sake of doing so dont write them off.
Chelsea have a settled squad, not sure whether they are the strongest but they have a settled squad and they have already bought cuadrado in summer. They replaced drogba with Falcao so they have got a back up. They are going to sign Stones so they will strengthen their defence. Like madrid and barca they dont need world class players so they are doing reasonably well.
Man city have signed sterling who has good chances of shining with aguero and silva along side him. So to say they not made any major signing is an understatement. With no FPP restriction this time they will spend more .
Now let us come to us, we have made no efforts in transfer markket so far. Cech will bring the much needed stability but he cant win us premier league. All other teams didnt require any big signing but we require so to say they have not done and we have also not done is a lame statement.
We can just hope and prey liverpool and Manchester United dont click liek last season because if they do find their form , we are in trouble. Sanchez cannot bail us out every time. We need some quality upfront and need a leader in the back.
Preach son…go on preach…
I’d rather sign Cech from Chelsea than sign Turan, Stones, Cuadrado, Falcao or Sterling. This is an entirely legitimate question, but who is going to replace Courtois if/when he gets hurt?
Begovic…Not a terrible number 2 really is he?
You are aware they bought Begovic right?
“We have made no efforts in the transfer market so far”
SO you know what our efforts have been do you? Honestly Arsenal’s business is not transparent and you have no clue who we’ve been in talks with or who we have attempted or are still attempting to purchase. This is a statement made from the fact you don’t see a big signing yet, not an actual comment on if Arsenal are trying to make headway in the transfer market.
“We can just hope and prey liverpool and Manchester United dont click liek last season because if they do find their form , we are in trouble.”
Liverpool are yet to make a signing that makes them a better team then us. They’ve made lots of “good” signings but nobody outstanding. I still believe we have them beat on every position on the pitch. Sturridge and Coutinho are their best players – Sturridge might be a better striker but Coutinho wouldn’t replace Santi or Ozil and even Ramsey or Jack has the ability to be better than him. Benteke adds more fire power but honestly, they are not some scary giants suddenly – they’re still a fifth place team.
United once again spend hundreds of millions on players and look like they’ll be a new beast again. It’s worth worrying about, but honestly, they were never great last season and they will once again be starting from square 1 thanks to a huge influx of players. Yes, they will be better but it doesn’t mean that we won’t be too.
Remember at the start of last year we had the worst start to a season in a LONG time. Our final league position reflected our season as a whole, but we were easily higher based on once we got going, much like United. They, however, have to start again…we don’t.
We do need signings. BUT your perspective is that clubs make signings because they’re not good enough, on the contrary, they do it to refresh the team and cause excitement for their fans. Yes, we’d like some of that too, but we’re not earning enough to splash cash like idiots. I don’t think you understand the difference between Arsenal spending £50m and United spending £50m. Our purchases HAVE to be smarter – that’s why if you don’t see signings yet, it means the right deal hasn’t been found yet. CHILL OUT!
So United spending 78 million on 4 players is not smart but us doing becomes smart! Logic fails. From starting point what Manchester United have done so far is tremendous. They have signed players they need unlike last season where they made panic buys.
Signing Schneiderlin for 24 million is smart , bringing an experienced legend Schweinsteiger for 14 million is smart, Getting one of the hottest property in europe , Depay, for 22 million is smart and getting an italian RB for 12 million is smart.
So whats the definition of smart according to you? Buying an unknown swedish player who has broken back for 10+ million is smart or spending 16 million on a manchester united reject striker welbeck who has become even worse is smart. In our last few years the best buy that we have made are Santi and Sanchez for 35 million. We over payed for Ozil but that was worth but other than that let us not even for one second behave that our signings have been smart.
Getting schneiderlin for 24 million in todays time is a great business and same with Schweinsteiger but off course its not smart because it was not us who did that.
Very nice way to potray.
When you try to potray something then please add everything, just don’t add things that are relevant to your point and leave others.
Man Utd also bought DiMaria, Falcao, Shaw, Herrera,Rojo and overpaying for each of them with none performing as per expectations. The only good signing was Blind last year (may be Herrera). The year before that they bought Felleni, Mata again overpaying for both of them.
To add to the Arsenal list, Ospina for 3M was the best value for money, Giroud for 10M, Podolski for 10M both very good value for money (though i don’t think they are extraordinary).
I specifically was talking about this season, is that difficult season. I said they have made smart buys THIS season. I live in present and am worried about our transfer this season. I commented because you said they have not made smart buys this season. The whole talk was what everyone is doing this present season. So let us stick to that
Ohh they why did you mention about our LAST season and before LAST season buys. So its not me who got out of this season it was you.
Just looking back to conversation and how it began , now realised you suddenly popped in between without knowing what the debate was.The debate was started when a person signified that we do smart tranfers unlike other teams , to which I said getting 4 quality players for 77 odd million is smart and I also wanted to know what smart actually means and thats why I picked old examples. I never said Manchester United or Liverpool’s business were smart last season because they were not but this season they are just like chelsea last season. I am talking about present season and just wanted to say let us not act like we have always done smart buys because we have not.
No, you missed my whole point about being “Smarter”. I never even said that their signings are bad – on the contrary I think they are something to worry about. My point, if you read, is that they spend big and have no constraint on doing so. If they spend £50m on a flop, they just sell him back on at a loss and it’s no big deal. Arsenal can’t do that. DiMaria was a HUGE investment and now it looks like Man Utd might ship him on, or at the very least, he’s gonna get demoted to the bench. If that was at Arsenal and the result was we didn’t get CL then we’d be scuppered for signings the next year.
This summer they have done good business for 2 players in my eyes…two players who play relatively the same position and for a position which they paid considerable amounts for Herrera and Blind (and Fellaini-ish) over the past 2 years. This means benching big money signings, causing unrest and ultimately probably selling someone at a loss. The other pieces of business we’re yet to see how they turn out but both are considerably large pieces of business and could backfire. We don’t know yet.
As for your attack on Welbeck and Kalstrom (who was a loan deal…) I understand your frustration. Welbeck, however, fits into Wenger’s plan of a strong english core and as he is one of the most highly regarded English players around, it wasn’t terrible business by any means. He’s not come good yet, he may never will, but when you’ve got everyone involved in United or England as a setup getting ridiculously angry that he was sold and congratulating Arsenal, I think you’ve got to say it wasn’t so terrible. There’s something there we haven’t seen yet. Kallstrom…well it was a panic signing to plug a gap…but why that medical went through I don’t know.
We may have overpaid for Ozil, but he was a great signing and what the club needed at the time – the fact we’ve won two major honours since then I think shows that this was a good signing. The next summer we signed brilliantly with Alexis, Debuchy and Ospina all coming in. You add to that Welbeck and Chambers who have massive potential and you get a good summer.
The ONLY thing I am saying is that Arsenal CANNOT spend needlessly. We do not have the capital to spend £100m+ one year and replace those players the next. We need to spend on positions we desperately need and spend on players who are going to actually add something worth their price tag to the team. You cannot look at other teams and say “They’ve signed more than us, we’re going to be awful” because that simply isn’t the case. It also isn’t the case that we’re not trying to make signings – it’s just we’ve not found the right fit yet. We won’t not sign if there is quality out there which can actually aid us.
meanwhile my jamaican reggea boyz just beat usa 2-1 in the goal cup semi final
and…the usa had this spurs player yedlin playin…what u expect…its happend again its happend again totnum hotspurms its happend again lol comeon gunners
Cech speaks like a man
who has been in a winning
set up for a long time.
He said “attention to detail is important ”
suggesting to me that he thinks Arsenal
has weaknesses which need addressing.
But of course he must be diplomatic
he has only just arrived from a
successful, envied hated enemy.
He speaks well of Arsenal’s unity but
subtly is implying it needs to be total not just good.
Cech brings a wealth of knowledge especially
how to take those last small but incredibly difficult
steps from 3rd/4th to the top.
Liverpool just sign benteke