I have to hold my hand up and say that when the teams for the Community Shield clash between Arsenal and Chelsea were announced I groaned inside and thought to myself that the Gunners were bang in trouble. The absence of key players like Ozil, Ramsey, Alexis Sanchez, Mustafi and most importantly Koscielny made our team look like boys against a powerful Chelsea XI.
That is what I thought, anyway, but the Arsenal players out on the Wembley pitch proved me wrong I am more than happy to say, so does that mean that we have a fantastic squad full of quality and depth in every position? Does it mean that Arsene Wenger can put away the chequebook and leave the summer transfer window alone?
Not quite in my opinion. For me we are still light in defence, even though Koscielny and Mustafi are waiting in the wings and Per Mertesacker is looking as good as he has ever been. I would love to see the boss make a real statement by signing a top quality centre back like Southampton’s Van Dijk.
I would also like to see our central midfield given a boost, as we really miss Santi Cazorla and Coquelin can be great but can also be not so good at times. Where, if anywhere, would you like to see Wenger add to the current Arsenal squad?
Sam P.
We have to stop conceding goals first….let us be the ones to score first and then not allow or make it difficult for our opponents to score. By so doing, we’ll be difficult to beat and could grab the EPL title while at it.
…first to score or not – we’ve the makings of an irrepressible attack (jus sayin).
Buy Lemar, Van Dijk and Carvalho.
Keep Sanchez and sell Welbeck, Gibbs, Debutchy, Chambers, Perez.
Sanchez wants to leave because we don’t have a squad with enough quality.
a defender like u said.but most importantly Central midfielder.an imposing midfielder.
Definitely an imposing cm like Paddy or Gilberto, we don’t need lemar if Alex is staying, we need a leader in midfield who can boss the show. We have had chances to sign several in the past. Chelski, spurs, city and Utd all have this type of player.
Xhaka?
Good player but too slow and can’t tackle.
Well before we talk of more addition to the squad which i believe needs more strengthening, we should also try and offload fringe players like Debuchy, Gibbs, Perez, chambers or Paulista. And some senior players also Cazorla?(wish he was still 25), wishere??(injuries has hampered his career), Walcott(am tired of him).
After offloading, we can talk of new signings IMHO
We also youngsters like Nelson waiting to take bull by the horn!
Wenger needs to reduce his squad size first, before adding new players. Better midfielders like Jean Seri, Ousmane Dembele, Jadon Sancho and Rafinha would be required.
Wenger will fool everyone again by telling at the end of the transfer window that he didn’t buy any more players because he couldn’t offload the current ones.
Van Djik and Carvalho/Jorghino, (Napoli) would reinforce our spine but still lacking creativity.
The above 2 and Seri and were cooking but that would be 5 signings in one window, not going to happen. Though I think should happen and we should be bold and sell players who are not quite at it or complacent at the club.
Trouble is lots of sqaud players on salaries other clubs cant/wont match.
Slightly worried by the comment I read today then Wenger has stopped negotiations for Lemar until he can sell players. Lemar could be sold before we can react. Then there will be other targets I guess.
First, Wenger has to bring in Lemar quickly before some other clubs signs him, bring back Campbell coz he is d only defending conscious attacker in Arsenal then overhaul d squad, sell Walcourt, Wilshere, Gabriel, Gibbs, Perez, Chambers and bring also a quality or young ready central defender.
I’d want to retain Walcott though
Bales agent is shopping a club for him in UK
Chelsea or united to push a title charge upon purchase
Wonder if we will get a quality cm an cb to throw our hat in the ring
A good or better replacement for Carzola, the right line up for the right opposition and also the right formation, as the 3-4-3 formation might not work against certain teams. Do all these and we are good to go
EXACTLY OFF LOAD EN STRENGTH WE NEED ACENTRAL DEFENDER,VERSATILE MID FIELDER AND AN EXPRIENCED WIGER
I wanted Lemar or Mahrez and a powerful player in the middle like Cravaliho who can bully Opposition to replace Coqualan. There will be times where we need power in the middle and that’s where we are lacking now. I think we need to buy first than sell as our top targets could be sold if we react late.
Wenger statement cleraly shows that he is happy with the squad. This sqaud is good for top 4 but to win the league you need some extra magic from the attackers and Solidity from the Defence. We have to form the best defence in the league, whic can be achived with the addition of Van Djik
Sunny
Which clubs will by and who
Barca -Coutino and Dembele
RM -Mbappe
Utd -Bale
City – Sanchez yes its going to happen
Liverpool -VVD and another
Arsenaal ???
AT LEICESTER GAME AND AT STOKE HOW IMPORTANT IS IT (FANS) THAT WE HAVE A CAPTAIN? ASSUMING BFG (INJURED) AND KOS (SUSPENDED). HOPEFULLY NOT WALCOTT (AGAIN).
I would give the captain’s armband right away to Kolasinac, even though he doesn’t even speak the language yet!
If not him then Xhaka!
@McLovin – Good idea, altho i’ve no idea bout his communication ability… but yeah i get it.
Yes of course sir. Go ahead and make Kolasinac captain. Just make sure you don’t get on his back after just one bad game.
Why not Sanchez, just a thought?
How I wish Wenger can offload Theo Walcot.He has failed to improve since 2006, push out fring players ti make room for better ones.
Yes there may be better ones but Walcott is not at the top of the list of the ones needing to go. He is still useful for the team and hence I think he should be staying, till January at least.
As we have seen on last FA CUP final and community shield even those not first choice players shows a great fighting spirit ,strength,endurance which make it very difficult for Chelsea team to get space and time to settle and control the ball even in their own half .arsenal players are getting to the strengt ,fighting spirit and endurance that were lacking before and wenger has to continue strengthening on that especially on training for endurance which is a key to press on the opponent for the whole time of a game and also it is observed that there is a lack of good shoot and precise pass around the goal which needs to be given attention on the training . Having all these still we need more skillful midfielder ,and winger with good pace and dribbling ability and killer instinct around the goal.with that arsenal can challenge for the title in my thought.
up gooners
Like Klopp’s “Gegenpressing”
Although I am okay with the strength of certain positions going into the new season, if I was being hypercritical, I would strengthen all the ‘okay’ ones, such as:
GK – Upgrade on Cech
CB – Upgrade on Holding/Mustafi
DM – Upgrade on Ramsey
CAM – Upgrade on Ozil
Only CM and CB are viable for this summer, and even those 2 might be too much for Wenger..
Xhaka – Ramsey – Coquelin – Elneny for the whole season through is suicide
Yeah I agree. Four midfielders, and none of them WC (although Xhaka has good potential), is just asking for trouble.
Yet the majority of the experts on this board genuinely believe that this midfield axis is proficient enough to challenge for the EPL title, and last i checked Coquelin(the only defensive presence of the 4) is set for another spell in the treatment room.
Seri and Carvalho are available and affordable yet Arsene waits and waits, claiming that players need to be sold first to to balance the Arsenal books.
Laca and the Tank were fantastic additions to the squad but in typical Arsenal fashion just not enough to seriously challenge for EPL crown
Wenger waits and waits, yet if he wants those players then why do AFC not buy them?
People can do maths, we have read the £100 million war chest and additional sales will be added to it, doing maths on that for what has happened so far shows we do not have the cash.
If Wenger and AFC as a whole said they needed to sell to raise funds then do you think teams would offer even less than they are now for our players? Simple fact is, we do not have to register players so sales to free up space isn’t exactly top priority compared to raising funds for transfers.
Best way for AFC to resolve this would be for Silent Stan to put his hand into his back pocket and ensured the funds are available for AFC to buy the players Wenger wants then to make the money back from sales after we have gotten the players in.
We do not want to sell then unable to replace and leave ourselves short, we need cash for transfers… we have a billionair as the owner who says he is backing the manager but only as long as it doesn’t mean any investment from him.
You mentioned Carvalho and again said Wenger waits and waits, is it Wenger? Wenger wanted Lacazette 12 months ago but we didn’t have the funds to offer enough, ended up with panic buy Perez who was never given trust by Wenger.
Wenger wanted Carvalho years ago, got priced out, got interested in Xhaka and got priced out… got ElNeny. ElNeny lost game time as soon as Xhaka arrived, forced to play CB for game time in preseason and only played because Coquelin and Cazorla are both out along with Ramsey.
Where was the support from AFC to buy the top targets?
We now have a squad with a lot of players who wasn’t top targets.
Why not point that frustration at Silent Stan?
Encourage that scrooge to show SPORTING ambition, set targets matching the new found sporting ambition and if fail, get someone who will match the new found sporting ambition.
Let CEOs worry about the business, take advantage of our owners wealth when applicable, let the professionals do the job they are best at. Managers manage team, CEOs worry about business, owner showing ambition.
Wow! This is the best of the comments I have ever read in this year, 2017. The writer of this comment hit the nail on the head straight ahead. He actually shows his high level of intelligent and understanding of what’s really happening in Arsenal as it is, not as it ought to. I salute your IQ bro. You’re second to none.
“Are Arsenal ready”, not “Is Arsenal ready”. Sorry but little things annoy me.
Good article though.
Stop the Walcott hating. The guy will give us at least 10 goals from the wing. Plus he’s a beast coming off the bench. Plus his preseason was better than some went for big money. If we sell him for a player that isn’t epl proven or the new player gets injured and were left with no right winger. You same fans will give Wenger shit for letting Walcott leave. Selling Walcott is dumb. You need more than just a starting 11.
To me get Van Dijk 1st to play with Mustafi and Koscenly in the back 3. Get Fabinho or Seri or Naby Keita. then get Lemar. Sell perez, Debuchy, Gibbs, Gabriel or chambers(buy back clause) . Loan Wilshire, cambpell in january when he’s fit. Forget about what we played against chelsea we are still 2-3 signings behind title contenders
I also think that Rugani form Juventus will be good if we sell Gabriel and loan Chambers.
Why are we carried away just because of the community shield my fellow gunners,for the past four season if I am not mistaken we have won the cup three time,arsenal 3-manc 0 and we have been beaten Chelsea twice but before now we haven’t won the epl….to be a true gunners is not to take side with the clubs when things are wrong many areas need to be address in arsenal fc,those clubs that are above us in the table last season are making signing but we are here beating about the bush,today is lemar,tomorrow is seri.if Chelsea can let go matic,why are we keeping players like Ramsey in the squad,if Campbell is not good enough for us what’s Walcott doing in the squad for past ten years….arsenal need competition in all areas if they want start winning major trophy again….the reason why sanchez want to leave not because of champions league is because the club lack ambition sticking to the same old players….over and over again with nothing to show for it
But I thought Walcott was a beast coming off the bench and will score a bucket of goals this year.
And Jack will regain his Barca Boss form from many, many moons ago…
And Ox will finally stay healthy and cement a starting spot after seven years with the club
And Welbeck will finally survive a season unscathed, and develop the technical ability to contribute 10-20 goals.
And Ramsey will FINALLY understand the nuances of the B2B role in midfield and remain injury free for a calendar season.
And……
For the past tens years
Walcott will be this and Ramsey will be that nothing to show fabregas left arsenal and Ramsey scored against man u they tipped him to be next fabregas but today the story is different,the bitter fact is that those players have nothing to show and we are always underdog, arsenal need change….how many of us is rest assured that arsenal will compete for the league this season,or they will end second in the table,……I am expecting good things when Wenger is no longer the coach of this great club and kronke is out,usmanov all the way…
Out:
Debuchy
Walcott
Coquelin
Jenkinson
Wilshere
Gibbs
Ozil
Giroud
Campbell
With money saved/received:
Pay Messi release clause
Leicester won the league with half the squad the top teams have proving football is a fickle game. We were the only team to beat them twice that season. This year an arsenal team with first team players missing and others playing out of position beat a fully functioning league winning Chelsea team in the FA cup and again under similar circumstances in the charity shield.
Yet we fans say we need more top players. Yes it would certainly help as top players have a winning mentality. This is the area we need to strengthen ….. our MENTALITY. In both games at Wembley we won because we wanted it more. On our day no one in the epl plays better than us. We support arsenal because we see this. Let us also strengthen our mentality as fans and support at home as we do at Wembley and stop scoring own goals by over criticising our team
I would only do 2 signings, Lemar and Carvalho.
Lemar is to offer quality in depth for the AM area, picking 2 from Alexis/Lemar/Ozil/Iwobi leaves for backup as well.
For me, I would like to go into the new season with the CM of Xhaka/Carvalho partnering Coquelin/ElNeny. Competition for spots while having quality in depth. When Cazorla comes back then we would have a stronger CM and that can aid us in the 2nd half of the season, if he has his old form then we could look at keeping more than 50% clean sheet record which we had with in in the 4231 formation and without him in the 3421 formation…
If the 3421 formation can gain a better def record due to Cazorla being able to release pressure then it can lead to a great run in the 2nd half of the season…
Van dijk signing would be awesome. A real beast with kos & mustafi in a back 3 would win the EPL with Alexis Oxil Lacazette firing upfront, meaning we have to sell gabriel & loan out chambers (if Dijk comes in)
Lemar is versatile & plays like our carzola. Lets sign him.
IN
Van Dijk £60m
Lemar £55m
OUT
Debuchy
Gibbs
Gab
Wilshire (on loan) he needs games, decent baller when fit.
Theo wallcot ?, truth hurts & sentiments aside, theo isnt deadly enough.
One strong defensive midfielder in the form of Seri then we are good to go. As for other positions i think we have enough covers.
Give me a strong CM that can tackle and play ball, I’m looking at you Rabiot and Goretzka. Both have only a year left on their contracts, are tall, ballers and would fit right into our squad (French, German connections) and neither would cost an arm and a leg, I’m assuming lol
Only need one of them though obviously lol both would be nice though haha