Ashley Cole has become the latest former player turned pundit to urge Arsenal to invest in Mikel Arteta’s squad.
The Gunners are having an underwhelming season even though the start of the campaign promised so much.
They have been knocked out of the Europa League at the semi-final stage by Villarreal and are behind in the race for the European places on the league table.
This season looked positive for Arsenal, but they will likely now begin the next campaign with just the Premier League and other domestic competitions to participate in.
Cole believes that his former team should keep building and has asked them to spend money when the transfer window reopens if they want to reach the next level.
He said Arteta had made them better at the back when he first became their manager, but his top players have refused to turn up for him this season.
Cole said via Sun Sports: “When Mikel Arteta came into the job he definitely shored up the defence, he really got that defensive shape and organisation.
“But now, in the middle third and the final third, I think they’ve been lacking that sharpness, that real quality and intensity to go and grab a game.
“I just think they’ve struggled. As I mentioned, big players have not turned up.
“Next season will they invest? They need to invest if they want to go to the next step and play the Arsenal way, that quick, enjoyable football to watch.
“They need changes.”
DOES ANYONE REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE, AHEM… DELIGHTFUL, ELOQUENT, ASHLEY COLE “FINKS”! He finks all the time actually, about bling and money but just never about anyone else than himself.
Thats quite a “fought”, I mean thought”!
He should have invested more in Cheryl!
Jon- if reports of why he left Arsenal are correct, and there seems very little evidence to suggest otherwise, the player left because after a reported new contract offer of £60k per week was not approved by Hill-Wood and the board, because apparently he was “ only a Left Back”. The fact he was, at the time, and without doubt, the best Left Back in the world, never registered with the Gin-Swigging buffoons at all. Wenger apparently tried to argue the players case, as did David Dein. But no, £5k a week was not acceptable to these “Gentlemen” and “Custodians” of OUR CLUB, who were so quick to sell us out to Kronke, despite initially stating publically “ We don’t want his sort at Arsenal Football Club. For, I might add, Millions and Millions of pounds profits for their shares.
I do not care if I am ever the only fan who sides with Ashley Cole or not, but would YOU ever have accepted a nearly 10% drop in a verbally agreed deal at any time in your life? I wouldn’t, and I certainly do not blame the player for jumping ship either. This same player who went on for years to continually prove himself to be what he was, the undoubted best Left Back in the world.
Phil I do not argue with anything you say. ESP ABOUT THOSE DIRECTORS!
But I intensely dislike Cole as a human being. He is not someone I WOULD EVER WISH TO SHARE A DRINK WITH. LETS PUT IT THAT WAY.
AS A PLAYER HE WAS TOP CLASS ; AS A HUMAN HE IS LOW CLASS, IMO. And not merely because of how he came to leave left us but as a man. I find him “unlovely”, to put it mildly! I am far from alone, not just among Gooners either, to judge from the booing he got at England when making his 100th cap. I find a lot of modern era footballers unlovely too but few as awful as Cole.
It’s not always about just spending. You could have an ensemble squad of the best first eleven players ever assembled. But if they’ve got no direction then all you have is an expensive team and a huge wage bill with matching egos. A lot of the ‘elite’ players that are touted around the footballing world come with huge reputations and price tags and are already tied up in long contracts with other clubs. I’m not saying we should not invest but we shouldn’t just go down the road of emulating those around us ie Chelsea, City, United etc. Football isn’t about ‘keeping up with the jones” in financial terms but in footballing success. At the moment there’s two words that are ruling and ruining football simultaneously. SPEND (outrageously) and SACK (uneccessarily in a lot of cases). Neither of those two traits are conducive to a successfull club and will only ever end up with discontinuity. Insofar as you have now used up all your financial reputation and clout and administratively you no longer have a solid management base.
Remember, once upon a time and, not too long ago. Arsenal had a knack of finding players that weren’t overly costly but had the right qualities for the roles we employed them into. This was augmented by good management and coaching and further so with a very good club ethos. That ethos and style of ‘club management’ is being eroded because we are falling foul to the likes of the so called bigger clubs domestically and around Europe. Barcelona weren’t always a very good footballing team/club because they spent loads. They started off as making do with what they had in terms of players and making sure that they were all exceptional at what they done individually and collectively by good management and structure. Leeds are a fine example domestically. Most of their team are championship players and cast off’s and although they are not in the top four or Europe they play good football. If Man City, United, Chelsea had to take on Leeds with the same resources, or the rest of the premiership, there’s no way they’d be top of the pile.
Arsenal shouldn’t fall into the trap of trying to buy our way out of trouble and bankrupting not only the club financially but also bankrupting the ethos and reputation of the club. We also shouldn’t fall in to the media trend of just sacking managers because other clubs do it with all to much frequency.
I think we should invest in our academy along with having a stabilizing effect from senior players externally where needed. With strong coaching teams and a methodology throughout all levels of football ie youth, women’s and men’s equally. We could produce our own in bred talent for the future. Some could be used as finance in that we could produce a surplus that could be sold to other clubs. Pretty much the way Crewe used to do as a method of self finance. Whilst the remaining academy players would be polished off and used in our own teams.
There’s no need to be spending just to get into Europe and become an so called ‘elite’. Especially when we get there and find that at a footballing level, we can’t compete and are nothing more than making up the numbers. Only to be ridiculed some more by the big spenders. I’m not saying we don’t show ambition and compete. We just do it our way.
Fans in the meantime have to be patient. You gotta stop listening to Ashley Cole, Jamie Redknapp, Gary Neville, Paul Merson, Graham Sounds, Roy Kean, Steve Parrish…and the list goes on. These people all have an axe to grind with arsenal at one time or another and, outside their footballing careers or involvements, they are hardly worthy spokespeople of the game let alone arsenal.
The world of football has become a race and everyone is sprinting to the finish with many running out of puff long before. Arsenal should run the race carefully and at a steady pace, let’s do it our way and not succumb to what everyone else is doing. We’ll get to where we need to be in our own time and at our own pace.
Let’s measure our success on our terms and not become one of the madding crowd
Sorry, meant to say Simon Jordan not Steve Parrish