What DO Arsenal need to improve? by Sam P
Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal players were all in a confident and optimistic mood after winning the FA cup in back to back Wembley finals and in some style as well. Let us all hope that we can somehow keep hold of this mood for when the serious business of competitive football begins again for the Gunners at the start of August.
Arsenal fans will also be eagerly awaiting some good transfer business from the Frenchman this summer, but Wenger himself has suggested that we should not expect too much, or at least not too many new faces. The boss reckons that he already has the ingredients for success in the Arsenal squad and will be tweaking his team this summer rather than rebuilding it.
Wenger told Arsenal Player, “I feel that we are moving forward, that we have made progress. The cohesion, the quality, the desire, the intelligence of the players is there. So we have some very good ingredients to do more.
“It’s a great weekend. I was a bit nervy because having got to the final, what a disaster it [would be] not to win it.
“But we dealt well with pressure, had a convincing performance and the game was a continuity of what we produced in 2015.”
But even assuming that Arsenal do not have to cope with the long list of injury problems that have scuppered the previous two attempts to win the Premier League, the manager will be looking to add quality in the summer transfer window and perhaps work on some of the things that have let us down this season. So what are those weaknesses and how do we improve?
Starting the season strongly is one, of course. I also think that we need to be a bit more ruthless against the teams we are supposed to beat because we fell down a bit there at times. Even when we did beat the likes of Leicester, Crystal Palace, QPR, Burnley and Newcastle it was often by a single goal and was much closer than it should have been.
We used to roll over these teams but struggle in the big games so I think the Gunners almost need two teams and two ways of playing. I think we missed Arteta setting the tempo from the middle in the so-called easy games and a clinical striker to finish off the chances created.
What else do you think we need and which players should Wenger sign to complete the recipe?
1. Sort injuries
2. Release/Sell diaby, Arteta, Flamini
3. Sign in this order a DM, RW, CF & GK
4. On big games have more steel in the midfield to counter act other teams threat
And use wings more (ox if not injured, Sanchez and griezmann or similar signing on RW for when the ox is injured:)
5. Start transfer business yesterday!!!
@ArseOverTit
I get the sense that your Like me, Hoping for the best but knowing that it’ll be last day transfer bullsh!t and we’ll have to sit there and watchh all the potential players we want go elsewhere and then hear the announcement on the Arsenal TV and on the site that we’ve signed “world class striker, Nooneknows whothefookheis from Uzbekistan league champions “Neverheardofyou FC” for the mind Boggling sum of $50 and three chickens.
I hear ya!
ST, DM, GK is my order…
Higuain, Vidal, Cech. Or if Theo is the apparent new ST we need a RW and Sterling would be an obvious target.
I would add a change of tactics to that list. Why not play two up top from time to time to trouble stubborn opposition? Why not pack the midfield with 5 players against teams that like to control possession? It doesn’t always have to be the conventional 4-2-3-1, despite it’s general effectiveness in the modern game.
I would say release arteta,flamini,diaby and sell podolski,cambell . buy a DM, right winger, striker
Get a real Beast of a striker in, Someone who will be consistent and scores goals week in week out.
Lacazetta, Benzema, Cavanni, Higuain, Carvalho, or even Benteke.
Get in another DM to compete with and play alongside Le Coq
Schnederlin Khedira, Hummels, Or Vidal (Maybe)
Possibly a goalkeeper as Chesney is too unreliable and as Much as I like Ospina we need another keeper between the sticks at certain points.
Cech is the only options I can think of.
I don’t however see even 1% of these guys coming to the emirates I’ve heard AW’s statements and I know the Wenger speak and I know what it means in real terms.
Benteke? A beast of a striker? I thought I have the best ganja around but looks like you have something even better. And the Carvalho? Like really?
Let’s put things straight, except Lacazette the other ones are really, really difficult to get unless you pay the same amount of money Rooney gets at Manure.
As I said earlier, Bayern is due to shake off some excess to buy new. Gundogan is strongly linked with them which means Martinez, Alonso or Scheweinsteiger is due to get the boot. My money is on Schweini. I think Wenger is eyeing that as well. I don’t buy the hype with Vidal, looks a lot like smoke screen. Vidal is not going to leave Juventus where all he has to do is to beat Khedira for the first team. But well, maybe he will be convinced by Alexis to join the best club in the world.
@Budd
In fairness the Benteke thing was a long way from whome Id really prefer but I take your point. The thing that really bothers me is the thing we’ve disagreed on in the past and that’s imo Wengers apparent lack of Urgency and decisiveness when moving into the transfer window I know that Scheweinsteiger would be a great addition but He is somewhat over the hill in comparison to the others that are being toted about and while I know that we are not the cash Rich Man Poo or Man Sh!tty or Chelski I do know that we are at a point for the first time in ten years where we don’t need to replace many players or are being frced to sell the quality ones we have, we are for the first time in a spot where we only need to add two or three players and we are there in terms of being able to compete, Id hate for the financial Exuberance to stop us taking that final stride forward into the competitive team we nearly are IMO spend the money now, get the striker, get the DM and we wont need to look at transfers in a big way again for several seasons and with that in mind Id rather have the likes of Benzema or Lacazetta or even Cavanni than a nearly over the hill Scheweinsteiger. It just seems that overt financial prudence may again be the stumbling block when we are so close to regaining the ground we have lost as a major player in world football
Hummels is a CB firstly.
Secondly, people who are mentioning Lacazette – he is unproven, and MASSIVELY over rated. Stop playing football manager and Fifa, and watch them live before making comments based on players being good enough!
i personaly wouldnt want to bench coq nxt season.i have nothing against buying vidal but it is similar to getiing someone like ribery despite having sanchez or getting isco despite havin santi n ozil
You mean it’s like adding a good player onto a good player? Sounds horrible.
Orrrr we could evolve as a squad and buy better than what we have to push the current starters?
Yep, but I still want Isco. A couple of years on the right then to start taking over from Santi.
For me, we already have a potential 30 goals season striker in Alexis. Alexis is far more dangerous when playing through the middle as his game opens up alot more compared to playing in the left. He becomes more predictable than normal as he tends to cut inside alot. If you guys notice, most of his goals and best passes came when he was playing through the middle.
All in all, convert Alexis to a deadly ST and instead buy a world class LW because the football world is short of world class strikers.
The only striker I can think of is Lacazette who would cost at least 40-50 mil and he is not even proven on the european stage.
Like Suarez right? That would be awesome but for that Sanchez needs to work on his left foot .that can make him the phenom in world football. And hav you ppl noticed Ramsey’s weaker foot shooting. He is becoming two footed and deadly
Steel – sometimes we crumble against strong opponents
Drive – sometimes the team just does not turn up
Ruthlessness – had we taken more of our chances we could at finished top of the league
Cech, schneiderlin and higuain! We are good to go!
I only agree on Cech. We have qualities in this team as it is much better than the other two.
Not sure I agree if Giroud was the player that some think he is then we’d have gone further in Europe and also other teams would be looking to buy him. IMO he’s not the man we really need and that’s not down to ability its down to the fact that he more often than not fails to turn up mentally. Le Coq is superb and an additional CDM would only be to cover him or at least give him some competition so as to keep him sharp
Hmmm. OK, let’s suppose Higuain is better than Giroud at the moment (although this idea comes just because he had a Madrid spell) but then the stats are saying Giroud is more effective so it begs the question : is Higuain clinical compared to Giroud? Seen the last game? Tap ins for Higuain in a totally sleeping Lazio defense. You don’t see such a sloppy defense every day in EPL.
But the Schneiderlin over Coq? Never. On the defending department Coq is king above Schneiderlin. Going forward is another story but we have 4!!! (four) other better players doing that every game. So what does Scheiderlin offers above Coq? Yes, I understand the squad depth argument and I’d say yes, do it! But when you see Vidal is valued at the same amount then you begin to wonder.
OK I know I’m stating the obvious but we need to increase our competitiveness and effectiveness a good notch or two so that we turn defeats into draws and draws into wins whether it be against Stoke on a wet and windy night in Feb or against Barca or Bayern. I agree with the author and AW – we do have a very good squad + potential for improvement and we don’t need a major overhaul. However we do need to add some additions/upgrades in some areas if those players are available and affordable – GK, DM, Striker. I would like our style of play to become faster (not Wimbledon) but crisper and more direct with good mobility. Sometimes our play gets bogged down and we are easy to play against. Finally all teams have to cope with injuries if they are impact ones but we must improve prevention of strains and muscle injuries.
Do you people Remember Wenger saying that Bale is a good player and that ther was no need for him due of us having Clichy around? If the chance comes around to make a move for a player we need to do it, if not someone else will do it.
Spare your self with this babbling of: but this player will hinder that player progress.
You are taking things out of context. At the time Bale was a LB and even today Clichy is much better LB than Bale. We were in the market for a LB not a winger. Wenger did nothing wrong in regards to Bale. Yes, he fscked it up big time with Messi, Ronaldo and Ibra but here he was right.
Honestly, I would love players: Vidal, Lacazette, Reus, Cech and a young LB.
However, we only need three: DM, CF and LB.
Problem is we have too many players. We have depth in quantity but not depth in quality in two areas.
Center Forward: We have Giroud, Akpom, Welbeck, Podolski, Sanogo. Giroud is very good. Welbeck is better as a winger and needs more time to improve. So does Akpom. Sanogo just isn’t good. Wenger doesn’t want Podolski
Chelsea have Costa, Remy and maybe Falcao
If we got one more top Striker like Lacazette, Martinez, Benteke, Benzema and sold Podolski, Campbell, Sanogo and send Akpom on loan. Then we would have Giroud, New striker and Welbeck which would be more sensible and make us better.
As for Defensive Midfielder, we have Coquelin but Flamini, Arteta, Diaby, Wilshere won’t cover him. Flamini and Arteta are not good enough, Diaby is always injured, Wilshere is more attacking.
So if Coquelin is injured or he is resting on Cup matches then we don’t have an alternative
We just need a top DM and top striker.
For LB we don’t have depth in quantity. We have only two players. Need one more.
Sell Podolski, Campbell, Sanogo
Loan Akpom, Zelalem, Hayden and Bielik
Release Flamini
Release OR give Diaby one year payp contract
Keep Jenkison as 3rd RB and let Chambers concentrate on CB/DM.
So we don’t need a lot of players. Just three really.
DM, CF and young LB. Then we are good to go.
(Btw, Vidal is not a DM specialist but is quality in both attack and defense ) However, alternatives are Schneiderlin and Kondogbia)
spot on though…left backs include rodriguez or damian…DM first choice would be kondogbia for me but not clear monaco would let him go…attacker still the big issue..it looks like wenger will push walcott to CF to compete with giroud (I wouldnt but thats how it is) and lacazette would only make sense if he canned welbeck (which i would but dont think wenger will) which means we will need to find a more aguerro type coming in from the wing…reus would work but i suspect too expensive for wenger i do like the look of vietto (but havent watched enough of villareal to get real sense)
I Was always confused why we got Welbeck in the first place to be honest. Last season we wanted another top striker and Wenger kept on saying that we have enough forwards then on the last day of the transfer window we get him. Like you said it almost stops us from getting a top quality striker.
Don’t get me wrong I support Welbeck. He is a Gunner, but his finishing isn’t as good as Giroud, nor is his ball holding. Giroud is not as fast as Welbeck but Giroud is a better CF.
I like Welbeck too but how can a CF score only 4 goals. I know he wasn’t played much up top but come on.
You think the return might be a little greater perhaps..
Gotta agree with almost all you say…apart from the Welbeck thing I think he’s never going to pull it off I feel he’s about as good as he’s ever gonna be and IMO that’s not good enough.
FIGHT…
We only need 1. CONSISTENCY. The medical staff seems much better and more importantly everyone at the clubs believes. If we do buy a striker, I doubt that he would get more than 20 league goals simply because of the way we play. Wenger wants goals all over so you can’t just mark one guy and effectively stop the team. I believe the only reason giroud hasn’t scored 20+ in the league is that he has not be made the focal point of the attack. He initiates the attack with his hold up but player don’t always look for him in the box like they did rvp. Honestly I prefer it this way because the wingers and midfielders get more chances.
Arsenal have the largest number of goal scorers. So to all those saying we need a beast, please remember that the beast will probably not score 25-30 unless Wenger changes the system. With the exception of messi of course.
But surely another striker would add that little extra to what we already have and give us options regarding what you’ve already said? one striker is not enough, its no good saying that Giroud can do the job on his own, look at barca they have all sorts of options and we need some more.
IMO Welbeck will never be better than he is, Walcott is great but not consistent enough and Giroud is great but again not consistent enough we need to be able to change tact if things are going against us or the main striker is injured.
OT – Zelalem is killing it in the U20 World Cup!
I have high hopes for Zelalem, Akpom, Hayden and Bielik
Not much unfortunately for Sanogo lol
Get Gonzalo Higuin to Arsenal.
Already played with Ozil at Madrid, and is a well known World Class striker.
It’s no coincidence that Ozil plays better with pace infront of him – Higuin will give you that.
Arsenal will not, and cannot win the league with the squad they have now. I am Arsenal through and through, but anyone who thinks we can, even after winning the FA cup is delusional.
Arsenal need a new NO.1. Fact. Ospina and Schezney are not good enough, not when you’re aiming to win the league. There’s mistakes in every goalkeeper, but these two are prone to too many in a season.
We need a new CB. Someone who can take the heat off Gabriel whilst he’s coming to grips with the premierleague. A born leader, someone who’s hard as nails. A Gary Cahill type figure.
Arsenal need another central defensive midfielder. An inforcer. Coquelin has proven his worth, but again for me, stupid free kicks this season through diving in have cost us massively. He’ll learn in time, but you need an experienced baller infront of the back four.
And as I’ve said before, another Striker. Higuin fits the bill nicely.
ALMOST signed him two seasons ago – but Napoli offered more money. (shock) Played at the highest level, won many trophies, and has proven his worth in every league he’s played in! The EPL will be no different.
Come on Arsene, get your cheque book out
I think if we could get Cech, then we’re in good shape. No further additions will be necessary.
Walcott would only get better if he plays more games as a ST. I think we have a 25-30 goal striker in Walcott.
If Coquelin cost £40M, Arsenal fans would be over the moon. He was fantastic for us this season.
I’m happy with the squad at the moment
@twig. Tend to agree with you that walcott could be the striker we need. My only concern really is if coquelin gets injured. I also agree with ny gunner, whoever comes in I want to have the aggresion and physicality of coquelin. I’d even take cattermole, jedinak or james mccarthy if other dm targets dry up. All are better than flamini!
@Ronny331 If Coquelin gets injured we have Arteta, Flamini and Wilshere
Shame frimpong was so unstable mentaly 🙂 I really liked his physicality and tough tackling approach.