After leading Arsenal to an FA cup trophy after a long nine years with no silverware, along with a serious challenge for the title which just faltered as the injuries piled up, Arsene Wenger appeared to have fallen back in love with the game, as proven when he signed up to another three years at the helm of the good ship Arsenal.
After the barren years, there is no doubt that the Frenchman has major honours in his sights again, but the Premier League and Champions League are competitions that are even harder to win than ever these days, with clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSG, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Man City all able to outgun us in the transfer market.
So following a tough first game in both competitions, many pundits are looking at Arsenal’s squad and questioning whether we have the quality and depth to win either of them. But the Frenchman seemed to suggest that he was happy with what he has got, in the post match interview reported by Arsenal.com last night.
Wenger said, “Not at the moment, no. I have nothing special to add on that at the moment. Honestly, we are not close to signing anybody.
“We are a bit short at the back, yes you’re right. But we should have Mertesacker and Ozil and Podolski available again at the weekend. Let’s hope they are in good shape when we go home.”
If you ask most Arsenal fans, they would say that it is not just at the back that we are a bit short. I personally feel that a top quality defensive midfielder, centre back and front line striker are needed for us to be complete. And Wenger has nearly two weeks and plenty of money to spend. So does he really believe that no more signings are needed? I guess we will soon find out.
Not being negative being realistic. If Utd get Di Maria & others, Liv get Falcao/Balo, and we get no ST, we will finish 5th FACT
I agree with you Leo, Although I posted the below on a previous post it seems a better fit here.
Sanchez, Ozil, Ramsey and Koscielny are World Class
Theo, Cazorla, Per, can have WC games and are generally Very good
Debuchy, Gibbs, Rosicky, Wilshire, Podolski, Scezny and Ospina are all good players.
Ox, Gnabry, Campbell and Chambers have all shown a lot of promise and can be very good players this year if given a chance
Sanogo, Ryo, Coquelin, Zelalem all need to go out on loan
Flamini, Arteta, Giroud are average players who are subs at best.
Diaby is always hurt.
That pretty much is Arsenal.
So basically two of our DMs are average at best and of our two strikers are one is average and the other one needs to go out on loan to prove that he is not average at best.
No matter how you look at it, Striker and DM positions of Arsenal look very average at best and since these are positions in the spine of the team they need to be upgraded for us to have a chance to win anything.
Never heard Arsenal to finish 5th before………….
Same old same old top 4 again this season for us and we are 3 players short of winning the league in my opinion.
Get Cavani. If it stops United from getting Di Maria, all the more reason. Although United look like their struggling to sign top players.
Giroud has a part to play, but we need a better forward. Alexis was a good signing, but I don’t see him out muscling defenders on his own in the premier league. Play Cavani and Alexis up front and we can score a fcuk ton of goals!
Add to that a great CDM and CB. Discussion from another article, people were talking about Reus, who could play as a LW and ST. El Shaarawy (ST/LW) would also be interesting.
If Liverpool can even consider Falcao then there’s no reason we shouldn’t jump to the front of that line.
No shot we finish behind them this year though. I will bet any number you want they don’t finish top 4 this year.
He seems pretty happy, which is what is disappointing the fans. We see reality. We know we need more change in either personnel or lineup or both.
He doesn’t seem to have any sense of need or urgency.
same shit for the last 10 years
hes happy but i am not….since RVP left we haven had a replacement
2012 sign shitroud….failed to score
2013 sign Ozil…..ignore lacking of striker
2014 Sign Sanchez……pretend hes a striker and play him as winger…..
Conclustion STILL NO Striker
Well said Hafiz Rahman.
So far I don’t see Sanchez as being the target man up front. he’s best deployed on the wing. That leaves Giroud up front. unless Sanogo miraculously starts scoring goals like he did vs. benfica, I can’t see us winning the title with Giroud up front. Sorry all you Giroudites but it’s not gonna happen. Sign Cavani.
Doesn’t necessarily have to be a target man, he would scare the life out of defenders in comparison to Giroud up front, if we sign a LW (Reus) that’s where or Walcott (when fit) will be deployed.
Reus – Sanchez – Walcott
Ozil would have a field day and that would scare any defence sh!tless. Those four could all only be used though against big teams if we get an absolute rock defensive midfielder as well. Otherwise it’ll be Giroud up front to hold the ball up for support from Sanchez and Walcott if we don’t sign anyone else.
On the opening day, Arsenal had the shortest squad. We were also the joint lightest squad (alongside Burnley). Chelsea meanwhile had one of the tallest and heaviest squads. A squad is a reflection of the manager. The Arsenal squad is the way it is because that’s just the way he wants it to be. Can things be improved, yes of course. But then, are the things we consider to be problems, really a problem to Wenger? What if he rates Sanogo as high as Bergkamp? If that’s the case, we’ll be in for a very rough emotional ride this season. What Wenger really needs as a person is failure of immense proportions, such as finishing 10th in the league for example.
Now that Gibbs and Arteta are injured, Mr Forsythe will really be tested. Let’s see if “2-3 weeks” will actually happen, instead of 2-3 months.
we need replacements for them…2 quality signings a must for LB and DM
Flamini,couqulan, both can play dm and left back/right back
This shows our main focus should be to add that quality dm plus another defender if they are done then we can add a quality player
Manolas cb 8m
Song dm loan
Rues,cavani,falqao 28-40m
(If coqulan is sold rabiot can come in as he doesn’t add to our 25mam squad)
Yes Wenger is always happy
with his squad because he
chooses the players. He has
won most trophies except the ECL.
Now days 4th place is the Clubs
major goal, anything else is a bonus.
Not many 64 yr olds get 8 mill a yr
for managing a Football team and
being a major director in a huge
sporting institution. If Arsenal finish above
Liverpool in the league and makes the
ECL last 16 its job done.
Having 8-12 average or injury prone
but low paid players also keeps
the club profitable.
You are right about it all David except that none of those average players are low paid.
Podolski at a 100K, Arteta at 70K, Flamini at 50K, are much more expensive than other teams average players.
they are just paid just about right…..
elite players can paid 200-300k above…
300k rooney
250k RVP
IBRA, Falcao, Cavani, ronaldo, Messia are all 200k and above
The irony there is that Rooney is not an elite player. A good player but nowhere near the caliber of Ronaldo, Messi et al.
Spot on….like any good dealer he knows how to keep his clients happy with slightly lower grade stuff than competitors but without them moving on… and that means keeping the 4th place junkies on the board and in the fan base happy….and like all such junkies they love to recall better times while the dealer promises them he can deliver soon and they keep buying his shit….throws in a few warnings about practices of rivals or delivery problems or issues with this years crop beyond his control…. And hey presto we have wenger’s managerial approach….a dealer in professors clothing….if the dimwits like savage and callagher can see the problem and wenger refuses to move then we should understand where the problem is….no other manager of one of Europe s top 10 clubs would be happy with our strikers and defensive midfield options
Podolski yes.
Ryo Coquelin Diaby Flamini
Campbell Sanogo Rosicky
Mertesacker Ospina Martinez
Monreal Bellerin Gnabry Debuchy
None of these are on wages
like Chelsea and City.
These are all average Joes
supporting our small number of
elite. Thats why Sagna left
like Nasri Fab RVP they all knew they were worth more.
Why stay and pay for the injury prone
and dead wood and win nothing
when you can go else where win and get paid double?
Wenger knows the odds of winning the EPL
is very low and ECL is
astronomical so why spend mega
to come 3rd a la Chelsea
when you can spend cheap to come fourth?
Ryo Coquelin Diaby Flamini
Campbell Sanogo Rosicky
Mertesacker Ospina Martinez
Monreal Bellerin Gnabry Debuchy
these players shouldnt even be at Arsenal in the first players
we need world class big name big tag players…..
Clueless. Anyone who puts Rosicky or Mert in the same category with Ryo and Coq is just Clueless. And what the f#ck do you even know about Ospina? It is just babble.
for 3 years we’ve needed a striker and a stong CDM
all the pundits say is arsenal need a top striker and a cdm
to anchor the team and bring strenth to our team
which is true
and 3 years later and the same problems
if we brought in a player like calvarho
and a good striker
and right now i know we’d all take Balotelli or remy over giroud
we’d be a great team
and it’s been that way for such a long time now
i just don’t see why we add these two keey pieces….
Is. Arsene happy?I know I’m not.This was to be a new dawn for the Arsenal.After a quick early dip into the transfer market we appear to have gone back to our old bargain hunting. well,old habits die hard and where running out of transfer time and so is Arsene.
Me be a loyal disgruntled gooner. I
A few weeks back we was top of the transfer ins table with 4 signings, now we are bottom. That how quick things can change. I think once we know our fate on Wednesday we will some more action.
Win and the signings could be world class, khedira, reus, cavani, etc
Go out and we could be looking at eto, rabiot, and other freebie/cheapies.
Acording to todays papers he isnt..wanna sell poldi to gala…which i think means hes in for reus
Certainly don’t want to sell players like podolski, when we have players like miquel, ryo, diaby sanogo and coquelin taking up places in the premier league and champions league squads.
I don’t want to see anyone else sold ahead of those 5, just players coming in. It’s not all doom and gloom. 2 areas of the park are in good hands goalkeeper and attacking midfield (though an out and out left winger would be a welcome site) but defence, defensive midfield and centre forward is a must. If it were me I would replace the 5 players listed above, sending all 5 out on loan, with a defender, a midfielder, a left winger and a centre forward coming in as priority. Then I would add another defensive player who can play in the back 4 as well as in midfield preferably a left footer.
we need a world class quality manager
Please, no disrespect to anyone but if the boss thinks his squad is fine, then he will be in for a big disappointment come end of the season. Just take a look at our main rivals and how they have strengthened in all areas with power, speed and skill. The big question he needs to ask himself is this, “could Giroud, Arteta or Monreal get into these teams on a regular basis?” Your answer is as good as mine! We need to strengthen in 3 VERY KEY areas (striker, defensive midfield CBand do that ASAP in order to give these players time to gel before we lose ground.
Still 3 players short of being serious tittle contenders another cb,dm and striker all needed not convinced wenger will buy 3 players maybe 2 max but believe 1 of them will be a big signing only thing prob holding up deal is champions league qualification first hope its reus we have chance as dortmund appear to have changed there stance in whether they can keep him would be a fantastic signing and still leave funds to cover other 2 positions we really need to make these signings if we are to have any chance of challenging in all competitions!
The sad part is Wenger always insists at stopping 2 or 3 players short of a squad that could compete seriously for the league title.
He is really not that far off, but he simply REFUSES to put the final pieces of the puzzle in place. And it is fairly obvious the positions that need to be filled. 1 top striker, 1 solid DM, 1 more decent backup defender to cover Verm’s departure. Just fill those 3 positions and Arsenal could compete in every competition.
no matter how flamini performs i actually see one thing ..he is the easiest dm out there to pick a yellow card..it doesnt even need a tactic from the other manager or a smart player to cause it ,its a constant habit from him…diaby injury prone & even if he is better than yaya toure i wouldnt even risk the club situation for his sake thats unacceptable …arteta is no shit at all he plays very well and stats says it all ..but as a cm checking the stats of a cdm and actually throwing a strong player right there would not fully solve the freekick issues and defense but it will have a huge huge impact on it and we wont struggle as much as we did in the past years ..and for a striker giroud is a good striker .but not a world class striker who can constantly cause probs for other defence..bony plays in swansea and he killed it against every big team in epl ..and hey we even rate giroud better than him .lol ”and im a giroud fan” but looking at every other team around the world now i mean seriously wenger if atletico madrid and dortmund gonna have better strikers than u have then just dont promise me anything that wont happen as by far its only sanchez and nothing else …plzz prove me wrong as i dont want to live the same shit all over again …striker..dm..and dc needs no manager to get it & u are the prof.
Giroud won’t even get into d swansea team; and we expect to challenge for d league with him? I have lowered my expectation this season to avoid hurting at d end of the season
Giroud wont even make it to Borewood FC
Let’s tell ourselves d truth; our team is still way behind city and chelsea. I was looking at Ba while we played Besiktas I was like so this guy didn’t get into chelsea team; those defending Giroud, has anyone seen giroud turn a defender like Ba did Koscielny? Arteta plays regularly for us but is he really better than Mikel Obi that only gets a place on d bench. Liverpool have sturridge who is way better than Giroud and they are trying to bring in another striker. At best Giroud is Lambert’s level. It has come to the point where if I see Giroud in d starting eleven I won’t bother about the game. Even when Sanogo doesn’t score he is better, we start defending from up top when he is on and attack is more fluid; I know ppl will point to d palace game but they sat very deep not affording him any space and Giroud wasn’t exactly better when he came on. Am not saying sanogo is a finished product buh personally I prefer him and I know he will get better but giroud is at d peak of his career yet he is crap.
I can give the excuse that Sanogo is young 21yo stilll learning and improving but Giroud has to go….
we need 2 world class strikers to score and backup…
So long as Sanogo has the chance to improve in the reserves or on loan, I am with you. He should NOT be playing for Arsenal 1st team other than periodic, brief appearances when necessary. He is not even as good as Giroud – NO GOALS in any competitive game.
Akpom is far more capable right now than any other striker.
Lambert isn’t better than giroud overall but he is a better finisher although giroud hasn’t done himself any favours as he was clinical in France scoring from all over including left,right head acrobatic.
Giroud should be alloud to shoot more outside the box eg Everton , Man city games he had two wonderful strikes outside the box
I’m getting sick of threads saying we need a top class striker. Of course ANY team could do with one. However, ANY player would take time to blend in. The facts are:
We only have one striker who has been playing regularly (and scoring)
Opinion: Yet people think any striker could walk straight in and score 25-30 goals a season.
Opinion: Suarez was a freak of football scoring nature, and it remains to be seen whether Sturridge will continue his own excellent record as the star name..
Facts:
Sanogo is still a work in progress.
Sanchez is still finding his feet, and playing on the wing.
Walcott is not back yet.
Podolski is rested.
All facts.
Why on earth would we spend upwards of 25 million on any striker when we have very good options coming back (Walcott and Podolski) with one or two potential stars too? (Sanogo and Sanchez).
I am disgusted with the vicious attacks against Giroud because like it or not he is still Arsenal’s top scorer. He is not the enemy. He does his best.
But I cannot agree that Arseanal are good in the striker department.
1. Giroud is just a #2 or #3 striker for a top team – at best.
2. Poldi has not fit in as a lone striker but does very well as a winger or 2nd striker.
3. Walcott may be an option but he is not ready and will need still even more time to get back up to game pace and fitness. And then we still do not know for sure if he will excel as a central striker.
4. Campbell may be an option but he has been used far more as a winger and Wenger is intent on bringing him in slowly.
5. Sanchez: Could be. But if he is the main option Wenger had better start working him in quickly to see if it works. But I doubt Wenger wants him as the lone striker.
6. Sonogo: Wenger may be in love with him but this player needs MUCH practice in the reserves or on loan before I would think about using him.
7. Akpom: Unproven at EPL level but may be the best choice right now.
So you see, there are many possible options but ALL of them have question-marks or obvious problems/short-comings.
Translation: Arsenal need a top striker if they want to keep pace with the other big clubs that have no problems improving their squads.
I’ve got to say is …
1. If wenger dosen’t sign who we need b4 the window’s over, we’re doomed.
2. With wenger at the helm of things at arsenal with this same attitude (tactical naivity, stubborness) we’re going trophyless again
3. And sonner rather than later, all our good players will start joining other clubs in search of Trophies i.e Ozil, Theo, Sanchez, Ramsey, Koscienly, Carzola.
How many times have we heard pundits, (anti Arsenal and ex Arsenal players) say the spine of the team is weak. CB, DM and STR needed.
We should be trying to get a STR from the PL, Bony, Remy, Hernadez etc.
We don’t have to pay premiums for the likes of Cavanni/Falcao a circa 15m striker would be an upgrade and add depth.
DM player the notorious Caught offside is linking us with Tiote, (buy) and De Jong, (loan) this morning. To be honest at this stage I’d be happy with either.
CB I’m sure Wenger is looking and I hope we can find a player that can also competently slot in at LB.
LW everyones clambering for Reus. This would be nice but we already have options in Ox and Campbell. For some reason though Wenger is reluctant to play them.
As the squad is we are vunerable and risk missing cl this year.
While Wenger is improving the team and we appreciate that, he is not keeping up with some other clubs who are improving their teams MORE than Wenger is doing for Arsenal. That is the problem.
It is great to get Sanchez. But other teams get their version of Sanchez PLUS several other top players. Chelsea for example had a striker problem last season, so they did something about it – not Wenger – not yet.
Wenger is just not doing enough to keep pace with the other big EPL clubs or many other UEFA CL clubs. He is not “keeping up with the Jones’s,” as they say.
Same old same old, reality is 4th place at best.
Reading today were linked with song id take him bk in a heart beat comparing him to what we have in d.m position at moment & also get manolas. That will be plenty of cover for dedence and depth as song can also play c.bk & then we can push chambers as a possible d.m cover which I think we would all like to see.
Ballotelli to liverpoolt thats brilliant business by them if they get him, Looks like its Super Giroud for us lol
This is our current champions league A list, anyone really think we can win it?
Szczesney martinez macey
Debuchy gibbs(injured) mertesacker koscielny monreal Chambers miquel
Rosicky arteta(injured) Wilshire ozil ramsey(suspended) cazorla flamini diaby(injured) Coquelin zelalem
Podolski giroud alexis sanogo campbell
B list
Chamberlain gnabry(injured) akpom bellerin hayden huddart iwobi jebb kamara moore olsson ormonde-ottewill vickers
Not.listed
Ospina(injured) Walcott(injured) ryo(injured) ajayi crowley galindo iliev pleguezuelo
Same old story. Every season.
If we had a striker last season we would have won the PL. We didn’t score enough goals, which Wenger himself admitted. He buys Sanchez (awesome signing and a genuine “addition”) but thinks we have enough. He forgets his former strikers like Henry, Bergkamp, Ian Wright, RVP etc. He is happy with Giroud and Sanogo who can’t score 30 PLgoals per season.
It’s NOT too late. Get Falcao, Cavani or even Ballotelli/bony OR get Reus and convert Sanchez into a striker.
And for the love of God please get a top CDM
Chelsea bought Costa before WC technically.
Barca bought Suarez in the middle of WC.
Real bought Rodriguez after WC.
Yes, we got Sanchez, but we also need a top striker (there are not too many world class players so I don’t say world class), and we need this since Judas left.
What did you do, Wenger?
Want to get a near bankrupt club like Malaga to find some good deals?
Want to pull another Ozil deal on the last day of transfer period?
The way Wenger acts, he is just the same person with no ambition. FA Cup win and more budget do not change a bit of him. He just “wait and see”.