Despite it still being mathematically possible for Arsenal to win the Premier League title this season, in reality we are living a lot more in hope than expectation. Even if Chelsea were to lose the three games that would give us a chance, the Gunners would still have to take maximum points from the last nine games and it is just not likely to happen.
But as long as Arsenal do not start next season as poorly as we did this one, then Gooners will feel that we should be mounting a serious challenge next time. Whereas the Gunners were flying high up until the festive period last season, we did not even trouble the top four until after Christmas this time but are now showing the sort of form and performances that make us all think, what if?
So as long as we finish the season strongly and get back in the Champions League, there will be a belief at the club that next season could be our year. And just in case Wenger was wondering how best to increase the chances of Arsenal becoming champions of England again, former Gunner John Hartson has spelt it out for the boss, as a Daily Star report shows.
Hartson said, “Arsenal have to keep investing.
“They have invested heavily last summer and bought the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Calum Chambers and Danny Welbeck.
“Arsene Wenger has to keep getting the funds because other teams are investing too.
“Arsenal are not stronger than Chelsea right now, they have to keep Arsene Wenger at the club and keep spending money.
“For Arsenal to challenge Chelsea they need to start going in for the big players that are available.”
Good advice John, and I expect that Wenger will be spending a decent amount again although nothing like the £150 million that Man United spent last summer and are rumoured to have again. I think it is more important for Wenger to spend his money wisely, but which signings would that be?
Maybe we need a new manager more importantly, younger and dynamic
he’s not going to dishonor his contract -.- . let’s give him his time – we’re nearly, nearly there. a new manager would need more time to make his own team. think m8
Wow… Give him time… 18 seasons – 3 league titles 5 fa cups. Managers like Di Mateo and Rafa Benitez won the Champions League in the time Wenger failed to do it. Ancelotti has won it 3 times in this period! No more time. We are a charity at the moment. We pay a deluded manager 8 million a year to achieve what exactly ? Top 4 ? Klopp reached the CL final in his second CL appearence. So did Simeone. With teams that have not a third of our financial power. It can be done! Just not by Wenger.
@disturbed
And where exactly is Klopp and BVB at the moment in virtually a 3 team league? Simione has a band of battlers in another 3 team league.
Di Mateo could have been anybody(he was fill in the blanks manager)
Benitez(no comment)
Ancelotti is about the best of those mentioned. A true manager of winners.
Funny people on here! “Give him time”.!!
Priceless
@NY_GUNNER read again and then stop and think….then deny Wenger has failed having had more than ‘suffecient time’..
@arseovertit
I see you read it, replied and didn’t even bother to think…
NEXT…
Self denialist
@arseovertit
Hater…
And in that time those managers spent how much on players . Close to 200 milion each and Wenger had how much to spend 20 million. If you want your opinion to be respected show some facts to the argument. I am frustrated as well with affairs at the club bbut you have to look at the facts. Benitez went to Inter and got sacked for criticizing owner for not giving him money for new players. Did you ever hear Wenger attacking the board.
Some of the fans have no clue of football, the main reason is that this website is full of kids who have supposedly been supporting the club for less than a decade. We put on a hell of a performance at Monaco,I have faith in Wenger and the club.we need to spend in the summer.we need more than 50mil, I hope we can sign at least two quality players.we will be pushing for title next season,and we are still in the race this season.go to hell all you haters.we are by far the greatest team the fkin world has ever seen. COYG
On what basis are wethe worlds best team? On the basis that you decided you like their shirts and Girouds hair 2 seasons ago…
Stop this, ‘the dissenting voices are teenagers who just started supporting the club’ bolloc&s.
Gooner born and bred.
How we wished there were no fans like yourself… You are a disgrace to the club…just go on and live in your negative world.
By negative do you mean someone who has their eyes open and who can see the problems as opposed to burying their heads in the sand and aligning themselves with one man who is not AFC?
Go support a Sunday park team if all you want is a kick about. This is the ARSENAL and we aspire to more.
And regarding your comment about giroud, he is a top striker. As simple as that…go on and compare his stats with any other strikers in the bpl
I said you liked his hair. No mention of him being no good.
Enjoy your stats and I hope they make everything ok for you!
Ta ta
1) How do you know he liked Giroud’s hair? What a pathetic comment!
2) If you don’t want to be considered a feeble-minded teenager why write like one?
He is a child, now I’m certain
i think flamini and diaby out (even though i will always love em)
– a competition/cover for the coq is a must.
how do you guys feel about another attacker/ defender/ gk?
My 2c$
In: $90M
Lacazette……$30M
Kondogbia…..$20M
Van Djyk, Dragovich….$10-15M
Cech…..$15-20M
Out: $60M
BFG…….$5-10M
Arteta….$3M
Schez….$10M
Campbell….$10M
Walcott….$20M
Jenkinson….$8M
Lacazette/Giroud/Welbeck
Ozil/Carzola
Sanchez/Gnarby
Ox/Wellington Silva
Kondogbia/Le Coq
Ramsey/Wilshere
Boss/Chambers
Gab/Dragovich(Schar/VVD)
Bellerin/Debuchy
Monreal/Gibbs
Cech/Ospina
Me like
Your spending a bit more than 2 cents there Bigman!
I’d save the cash and persuade Wenger to ‘step down’ and Pep Guardiola or Diego Simone to step up.
And John Hartson: what a brilliant footballing brain. Too many head collisions.
Would love to see Simeone or Pep barking instructions from the coaches box @ the Emirates this fall, however Im not honestly sure how many Arsenal first teamers have the mental makeup to deal with such a deviation of managerial style and expectation. U honestly think Simeone would be politely asking Wilshere, Theo, Ozil, etc to sprint back on defense when they lose possession? Or how would the board response to PEP demanding a $200 million dollar warchest to build his Arsenal team? Arsenal would be a completely different team with either stud @ the helm.
Maybe that would be a good thing (them being a completely different team).
It’s always about timing of course but it is known Pep wants to manage in the PL and wants to live in London (Fulham are on alert). So if the AFC Board decided investing for the purpose of winning things on the pitch to help grow the brand (look at Real) was the way to go whose to say we couldn’t keep him and his misses happy with a big enough bag of £ coins!!!!?
As for Simone taking no shit! I think that’s exactly what some of the players you mention need and have been missing. & if they don’t subscribe to his way of doing things then I’m sure he would happily invite them to go and apply their trade elsewhere..
I’m just hoping the stars align at the right time for us..
@big valbowski, your a sick person. Your living in lala land
Not sure if your attempting humor or simply not able to provide a more intelligent comment to my opinions on this particular thread. And if living in lala land is improving the squad by investing in quality players at the expense of those who no longer should be guaranteed 1st team football than I shudder @ what universe you currently dwell in. The current Arsenal reality world is simply not good enough.
We are good enough,trust me.we need a couple of signings not a total clear out. Come on 21 players.????
Like it but not complete. I like your buys though. Here is my buy and complete list of sells.
Buy:
Lacazette – £30M
Schneiderlin – £25M
Schar – £0M
Mings – £7M (U21 deputy on LB, CB for when Monreal goes)
Chech – £15M
Total – £77M
Sell:
Falmini- £3M (he still has another year)
Arteta – £0M (I don’t think he signed an extention, maybe he has)
Diaby – £0M
Miyaichi – £0M
Ajayi – £0M
Galindo – £0M (don’t know how much contract he has left)
Podolski – £7M (his high wages are a stumbling block)
Campbell – £8M
Sanogo – £3M (or keep him loaned out)
Jenkinson – £8M
Sez – £8M
Total – £39M
Unknowns: Walcott, Cazorla,
Cazorla is key and if he goes it could affect the way we play. Firmino would be a good replacement.
To add to my list.
Monreal needs to sign contract extension. He is good and we do not want to let him go for free.
Mertesacker does not need to be sold over the summer. Lets get another CD in first and see how he settles. Mert can be sold in the Winter Transfer period.
Nacho has been fantastic this year and should be 1st choice going forward. However If A Bilbao are genuinely interested and register a serious offer in the summer than AW may have to consider the economics of a LB approaching 30.
Disagree on BFG, he’s been playing on borrowed time this past season and should only feature in CUP games or in an injury crisis.
I find it amusing that so many Arsenal fans thumb down my post and seem to have reached the consensus that the current squad would not be considerably better with the additions of 4 top class players. Am I missing something? Lol
@bigvalbowski I do think we need 3-5 additions and you got most of them right. Thumbs down are for probably for including Walcott in your sell list. I think the Walcott situation depends on his contract negotiations, we will find out in the next 2-3 months.
Priority wise I think this is what we need.
1. CDM
2. Striker
3. Center Back
4. Goal Keeper
5. Left Back
This is how money should be allocated.
I think we only need 2 players (3 if szczeny leaves) and we will not only be genuine title contenders but i think we can push on for european glory.
For me, schneiderlin or kondogbia for the cdm to provide competition and depth with le coq. and this might be a long shot, but if dortmund don’t qualify for europe and walcott doesn’t sign his contract extension then we should go all out for marco reus (and play danny as a ST from here on out).
we had that (ridiculous) article about bale and how he would complete us but i think reus would be even better suited for us. I am such a big fan of reus i really hope wenger is considering him
For a second I thought that Hafiz wrote his first article 😆
Me too….then I realized his been watching his Bangladesh team loose the cricket..
Hafiz should have an article every month, Im just curious what the spuds think of Arsenal ahaha
and that dude that always use emoticons :0 🙂 🙁 🙂 🙁
Let’s start a petition for Hafiz to write at least one article!!
Positive or negative
u mean that pithagoras littie….lol
Arsenal could release/sell
anything between 1 and 21 players.
Podolski Campbell Sanogo
Jenkinson Ryo on loan
Flamini Mertesacker Arteta Rosicky are all aging
Szczesny Wellbeck Sanogo out of form
Diaby Wilshere Walcott Ramsey Chamberlain Gibbs, Gnabry injury prone
Cazorla and Monreal wanted by Spanish teams.
Another 100 days of summer transfer madness coming up.
We could sell the emirates aswell and open up a chipshop down the road while were at it. SMFH
Might get a better atmosphere then and perhaps local people will be able to afford to come in too. Would have to offer lobster for the exec’s though..
No ‘spuds’ though, so just good quality fish, sausage and pasty for the lower classes.
You never know. We might actually win a major food award with Wenger behind the fryer!
21 players, lol. You must be on crack…some of you are just too young to be given away comments about a club like arsenal.
Spending isn’t the problem we actually have a brilliant team. Its the mentality.
& AW
Fucccck your mentality
Ooooooooooo temper temper.
Like Arsene you must remain calm and stoic at all times. No shouting in the dressing room!;)
Just keep up all the negative comments.Wenger will remain as our coach and we will win more trophies under his wise guidance. So eat you asss out ma friend
Eat my ass out?
Interesting idea!! Is it something you do often? Or do you prefer Wengers steak tartare?
Wenger’s time will come after more steady under achievment, you mark my words, friend!
If spending is the answer to our problems then I wonder how Chelsea, City, Manure, Liverpool or Tottenham are out from european comptitions.
We need to actually (in fact Wenger) stop being sentimental about some players and thank them for the service. They are just keeping one place in the squad. Look at Diaby, he’s in the squad and taking one possible place for anyone.
I believe unloading deadwood started last summer must continue. We need fresh blood, people with winning mentality, people hungry for glory. And Wenger should swallow his pride and stop searching for the perfect game. The perfect game does not exist, humans are not perfect so stop chasing that. Stop being an philosopher and be the manager capable to inspire players as he did back then.
It is the grunt, attitude, the balls and the arrogance we lack when big games unfold in front of us. We have to face it, most of our players (bar few) acknowledge that they are not a UCL winning team. What does Atletico have and Arsenal don’t? Players? Manager? Good finance? Great stadium? Huge fan base? What does Juventus have? Or Porto? Or Monaco ffs!
Without a change in mentality we can spend one billion and still not win anything more than FA Cup. We need to believe again from the beginning not when half of the season is passed and we have only mathematical chances. Yes, we need to be ruthless. Wenger needs to stop tolerate mediocrity. Players should understand that they will polish the bench the day after they cock it up in the field. This is what we need. And then we can talk about money.
I think its quite telling that each year when Arsenal predictably capitulates in there home Champions league fixture that the manager and then captain make statements about the naivety, or lapses of concentration by the team in key moments. Is it a testament to the lack of credibity or accountability by the players to respect the magnitude of the moment or the inability of the manager to properly instill the fear of god in his players. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, but the last three years of inexplicable madness in the first leg @ home needs to stop starting next year.
With that said I honestly believe three summer signings, supplemented by the continued,
necessary purging of deadwood 1st teamers will cement Arsenal as a serious threat in the EPl and Europe
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Move over Rover and let someone else take over.
We have a midfield that can match that of Bayern player-4-player and one that is better than City,Chelsea,Barca,Madrid.. Also player-4-player…
Barca n Brazil2002 has shown that even with poor defenders, if ur attack is deadly u can keep cleansheets and make it look like the defense is sound.
So whatz d problem..
Our problem is upfront.. First of we need a pacey striker, which Welbeck is, but we also need sum1 that moves into positions for the likes of Ozil,Alexis,Santi,Ramsey to feed him, we also need a striker that can create something outta nothing.. We need a skillful striker…
Now I would have said a Lewandowski bcos he will make us fantastic, but if we wanna utilize our midfield to the fullest we should get a complete attacker like Aguero,Suarez,Rooney..
A player like that, Iv heard much about Dybala n he looks that kinda player too but he lacks experience in Europe n isn’t proven outside Palermo.. Signing him will be a big risk.
However,Muller is a type that ticks all the box, he is who we need as our striker.
Get one of Suarez,Rooney,Aguero,Muller, irrespective of the price n we are gonna be as good as Barcelona.
In defense, Gabi-Kosci should man those positions n Per should be dropped to the bench totally, or Subotic should be gotten.
In midfield we are good to go, but we can do with another DM.. Considering we already have Coquelin who’s been fantastic.. If we are to get another DM to bench Coq he has to be CLASS like Javi Martinez …
if its for competition he has to be much more of a bully like Wanyama,William,Kondogbia
Yes they do!
From the last article about Sanchez needing a rest, I cant agree more.
In the last few games Sanchez has been trying to cut inside onto his right foot all the time and the only time we got in behind was when Giroud went to the left and Monreal overlapped.
I think we really miss a left footed winger, I even thought to allow Sanchez recovery time we could consider playing Gibbs and Monreal together with one of them deployed as a winger.
Off topic: Just been looking at Physio room to check our injury return dates.
It begs the question again how is the Chelsea sqaud so bullet proof and injury free?
Many of their players have played most of the games so far and for a long time John Obi Mikel has been their only injured player, astonishing given the physicality of Matic and explosive play of Hazard. I’d love to be an Arsenal fly on the wall in their camp for a week or two!
Bob, good morning. In a world of hopes and expectations, I am going for both. What is mathematically possible can be possible if the maths is correctly solved. The solution to Arsenal winning the Barclays Premier League and the FA Cup and become treble champions lie in the Gunners winning all their remaining 11 games this season. After the disappointment of our Monaco UCL exit, It has become necessary for the Gunners to SUDDENLY have a realizable ambitions of become a treble champions. They have won 1 out of the 3 titles already – The Charity Sheild. Talking of continue to buy more new players by the boss for Arsenal, I think the boss has said sometimes ago that Arsenal are now position more than ever to compete in the transfer market for top quality players. And I am positive the boss will in the coming summer transfer, get 1 top quality striker, a CB and a CDM for Arsenal next season campaign. Less we don’t forget that the boss will equally sell some Gunners and ofcourse loan out some as well.
I think the team is looking more balanced than for a long time, so any players need to be really special and fit into the team well.
Perhaps a DM to cover the Coquelin position and possibly another striker…not another up and coming but a proven goalscorer…but who?
I’m not convinced by big names, so it’s difficult to see which striker could fit our style, aside from someone like Suarez of course… 😉
Among the many names being bandied about as potential striker additions I think Lacazette is the most Suarez-like and best bet. Next best Dybala looks a bit weak for the EPL to me.
Yes, we do need to continue to invest and develop. We’re not a million miles off. 2 quality players in would probably be enough to mount a serious charge. 3 quality players in I’d be disappointed not to be leading the way next year. We have something Chelsea and City don’t have that should be the difference: we have players who love the club. No mercenaries please!
I’d also invest in more medical facilities or better medical staff or a fitness coach. Our injury list costs us year on year. We need to change that.