Arsenal’s season is already destroyed. by Frustrated Gooner
There have been more calls for Wenger’s head this season than ever before, and why not? This has been the worst start ever for the Gunners in a long time even by Wenger’s standards. Under Wenger this team seems to be not stagnating but decaying. His inaction to get a defensive midfielder and defenders is clearly showing results – much to the frustration of the fans. What’s worse is the division of Gooners over the team’s fate.
Our list of excuses is long… Our key members are injured (tell us about it): we dominate but lack the killer instinct and it goes on. Don’t all the world class teams go through this but still come out on top.
The first thing Wenger must concentrate on is lifting the team spirits and ensure that his forces end up in the Top Four so that they have their place in Champions League. This will ensure that the top players still want to join this club. He is experienced enough to understand this. A solution in the upcoming transfer windows like the following should be enough to show that Mr.Kroenke and Ivan Gazidis are serious about filling the trophy cabinet.
Let’s look at how this can work out for the North London club. Apart from Santi Cazorla, I don’t believe any other names will raise eyebrows because these names are either underutilized or underperformers (including Wenger). Cazorla has not been at his best so far in this season. Also he is aging (he will turn 30 before Christmas). Teams from his country- Spain (read as Atletico Madrid) have shown interest in him and this seems the right time to cash him out. Joel Campbell has not won the confidence of his manager, though he has stated that he would like to stay at the Emirates and win his place it seems unlikely (don’t forget Sanogo has been preferred over him).
Diego Simeone will be an ideal replacement. Saying he has survived in La Liga in presence of two giants- Real Madrid and Barcelona – will be an understatement. He has managed to win trophies too with ample Champions league experience. There is a similar situation in the premier league. Arsenal are in shadow of Chelsea and Manchester City and there’s Manchester United, who with their heavy spending are showing intent to bring back the glory. Also the Premier league is the most competitive in entire Europe. Simeone has class, character and persona to stand amongst the likes of Mourinho and Van Gaal. He can pass some of his chutzpah to the English side. Simeone is also known for youth development and his transition to the Emirates can prove to be a fertile breeding ground for him.
This overhaul will ensure there’s a fresh mentality introduced. Also it will add muscle to the current departments of defence and midfield (especially DM and CB). It’ll add versatility to this team so that they can play different positional patterns as per the opponents they are facing. It will also allow young guns like Chambers, Bellerin and others to learn their trade from world class counterparts and give overworked aging legs within the squad some rest. Productivity will shoot up amongst the players as there’ll be healthy competition to claim their role in our playing XI.
Arsenal have a salary structure in place. Check the table below. There’s ample scope of handing out promising contracts (with appraisal) to all the names mentioned and it won’t disturb the salary structure.
Arsene Wenger 175,000 Diego Simeone 115,000
Lukas Podolski 75,000 Morgan Schneiderlin 30,000
Joel Campbell 40,000 Marco Reus 65,000
Santi Cazorla 90,000 Julian Draxler 45,000
Abou Diaby 65,000 Lars Bender 60,000
Tomas Rosicky 85,000 Neven Subotic 90,000
Mathieu Flamini 65,000 Fabian Schar 10,000
Nacho Monreal 50,000 Matija Nastastic 75,000
Total: 645,000 – – 490,000
*Weekly in GBP
There’s no saying that the club does not have the think tank to have imagined this. It’s easier said than done. Transfers and salary negotiations are a tricky game. These players are mostly wanted by other clubs too and their current ones would not like to lose them. Wenger has been here since a very long period and has a very firm grip over the proceedings, it’ll be a task to convince him to step down and offer him a different and bigger role.
This is how the Arsenal squad will look like if the above story comes true (P.S: Left back situation is unchecked)
Manager
Diego Simeone
Forwards
Danny Welbeck
Alexis Sanchez
Theo Walcott
Serge Gnabry
Olivier Giroud
Yaya Sanogo
Midfielders
Mesut Ozil
Aaron Ramsey
Jack Wilshere
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Mikel Arteta
Gedion Zelalem
Morgan Schneiderlin
Marco Reus
Lars Bender
Julian Draxler
Defenders
Mathieu Debuchy
Calum Chambers
Per Mertesacker
Laurent Koscielny
Kieran Gibbs
Hector Bellerin
Neven Subotic
Fabian Schar
Matija Nastastic
Carl Jenkinson (currently out on loan)
Goalkeepers
Wojciech Szczęsny
David Ospina
Damian Martinez
Does that look like a team that could help us to compete with he other top teams?
Frustrated Gooner