HOW ARSENAL CAN BUILD A CHAMPION SIDE? by N.O.
It feels like that. That Arsenal just managed to snatch a title loss from what was supposed to be a win. The title of this article is controversial in gooner town, for in the last 12 years we have failed to do just this and we all know at gooner town, Arsene Wenger isn’t going nowhere. That’s the reason this title therefore becomes controversial. But, beyond the controversy, we Gooners just love to dream our dreams and therefore we are going to continue dreaming this dreams.
Fourth or not, can’t believe we are discussing Wenger cup which we were so sure this season we had outgrown. But one thing the coach said, we made the most chances by far, we just did not convert them into goals. So the changes we need to make must be to build over the core of this team and not to completely tear down the team and start afresh.
First who come in and who goes out? Out for me goes Arteta, Flamini, Rosicky, – great service from this powerful experienced work horses, but it’s time to have legs that can run for the long haul. Then there is the English sparkle that we tried to ignite and looks like they will never light up. So Walcott and Oxlade Chamberlain off you go. Giroud, time up. We can’t be passing all those chances over for you to score and you want to score spectacular which counts the same as just getting the ball over the line. Then there is Mertesacker. Great work rate while you were competitive, but time has come for us to part ways. That’s a lot of room to bring in new players.
Who comes in – Elneny was an inspired signing that seals the holes in the centre of the park. We bring in Xhaka and for me we will be good in this department because of the pattern I will be suggesting that will not need to much personnel in this area. Any addition can come from the academy. Because of the pattern again I would want to add more centre backs. Bring in Shkodan Mustafi, Konstantines Manolas and John Stone for that English touch. With Koscielny, Chambers and Gabriel in the team, there is wonderful fight for positions on going. In attack, Henrikh Mkhitayn and Aubemeyang would be lovely additions. Not sure Dortmund can agree to release both players to us, so perhaps Riyad Mahrez comes into the picture. We have Bellerin doing so well but we need competition for him. In comes Julian Korb from Borussia Mönchengladbach. But with Carl Jenkinson in the squad, we should be able to survive the right back even without bringing a new player. The left back on the other hand is critical because Gibbs is not at the top level and Monreal is pushing into the thirties. So we move for someone like Faouzi Ghoulam from Napoli. With that the team is well structured in all areas around the park to be competitive.
My other suspicion is Wenger’s selected pattern has been another of our undoing, so I will suggest a pattern that I believe with these players we can deliver the best possible mix of outcomes.
Pattern 3.3.1.3, yes a shocking one us most people don’t fancy playing with three centre backs. But with 5 dependable centre backs and some other squad players who can fill in if the need arises, we can pull it off successfully.
My first eleven
————————–Cech———————
——–Mustafi— Gabriel—Koscielny ——-
Bellerin————Coquelin———Ghoulum
————————Ozil—————————
——Sanchez—-Aubemeyang——Mkhitaryn—–
With this setup Ozil will have the lightning fast attacking front that he loves to have. With an interchanging play with Iwobi and Sanchez, he too can get in some goals, and no one wants to hurt a player here because the bench is scary powerful. Xhaka, Elneny, Welbeck, Wilshere, Iwobi, Campbell….
The wingbacks are specialist defenders but now deployed in a slightly advanced role supporting the midfield and the wings. We do not therefore need two defensive midfielders.
We dream on….
Nicholas