With Arsenal having had the same manager in charge for over two decades comes certain things like stability (or stagnation) and while other clubs like Chelsea chop and change and you never really know what to expect from them, Arsenal are often accused of having the same old problems season after season.
Some of these accusations strike me as cliches and an easy way out for pundits, but some do seem to hit the nail on the head and one of the latter is the idea that while the Gunners squad is full of ability there are not enough leaders willing to take responsibility and drag the team through the tough periods of a match or a season.
It has not always been that way, of course, with notable former Arsenal stars like Tony Adams and Patrick Vieira some of the more prominent players known for their leadership skills. That is the sort of thing that the current Arsenal side needs according to another club legend Ian Wright, who spoke to the BBC about the problem this week.
Wrighty reckons that Arsene Wenger could and should have addresses the issue this summer by signing players like Nemanja Matic who instead went to Old Trafford to rejoin his former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho at Manchester United and I cannot disagree.
However, another player Wright mentioned in the interview was the Southampton and Netherlands centre back Virgil Van Dijk and he is still available, especially after the news reported by The Mirror and others today that the Dutchman has handed in a transfer request and released a statement making his desire to leave the Saints crystal clear.
So Wenger still has a chance to sign at least one player with leadership quality as well as footballing ability, but will he do it?
D.N.
I just hope for the fan’s sake that Wenger has a cunning plan in store for the remainder of this transfer window. ?? One things for sure, He’s either gonna up smelling of roses? Or go down stinking of ????
Wenger can’t fix anything. Everybody ready for another ride on the rollercoaster?
Unfortunately …but Im ready!
dijk, lemar & seri, brought in would give us a great chance of winning the Prem and CL. Dijk i would make captain. to organise the defence (ensuring Belerin knows what defending is like looking alone the line Both Way). Seri is an exceptional midfield player.
When the option for a strong short or long on the group oass directly to the forward is out standing.
His strenght, outstanding. His first touch, well it put him setup for his next touch or stride. Stamina, gladiatorial. Get these 3, sell Sanchez for 80m. If this happens. The feeling that we can strike down anyside will be rekindled, through quick transition from defence to attack, with less side way or backward passes, but quick acurate forwards to players already thinking and positioning themselves 3 moves ahead.
sorry for the blabber??
How is seri defensively an upgrade from who we have? We don’t have any dearth of play making mid fielders – I don’t get it.
If we want to get a player we leadership qualities we should be going for Vidal- proven and successful ; but unlikely he will leave bayern to come to us
Seri plays like N’golo Kante of Chelsea and so is a replacement for Santi, not just a defensive midfielder. If we bought him the other major advantage is that Ramsey would probably only make the bench:)
seri does NOT play like Kante. Lmao…
Seri is not a ball winner.
You must be joking – he is a playmaker – we have them by the dozens. We are not selling anyone this late so come out of your fantasy football and smell the coffee
I agree that vvd should be priority. We could have got him off Celtic for 10m. Same w demble from stade for a 3rd of the cost. And hes french wenger should have seen him coming. the old man just won’t gamble or has crappy scouts. Seri we can still steal and lemar deal should have been done. They just put arnd. Year after year. And they’ve done ok business not horrible but could be better. Laca is exciting but even that should and could have been done yrs ago. Sry to say he he won’t put us over any line we haven’t recently crossed no matter he well he does. So here we are again the 2 players short of a potential world being squad for yet another yr. I don’t see the old man w any hat let alone. W any rabbits in it
Agreeed Sygre!!
Spot on but if Sanchez leaves then we need Mahrez!!
Thats kikazz Afc.
I hate Mourinho with a passion. He is nasty mouthed and unprofessional.
However, he can fix problems. So can Conte.
Mourinho thought Chelsea needed a top striker and CAM to win the premier league, so he got Costa and Fabregas.
Conte needed a top defensive midfielder so he got Kante.
Mourinho is fixing United with Pogba and Mktharyan last season and Lukaku/Matic this season. He is building a fantastic team and may even get Bale.
If Wenger does not get anyone else this summer we won’t stand a chance.
Our CM of Ozil, Xhaka and Coquelin is not as good as Mata, Pogba and Matic for example. We need one more quality CM to compete with other teams. Either a top box2box player or top DM.
We also need Lemar or equivalent
Also getting a Top CB could mean the difference between first and second. We need to improve as much as possible. We can’t go into a false sense of security that Lacazette and Kolsanic is enough. We can’t think that we are the best when we aren’t
Im scared that Wenger is doing just enough for us to finish in the top 4. He considers top 4 to be “successful”.
Again, I hope and pray that he gets a couple more quality signings that we need. I will happily say I was wrong because I just want us strong enough to compete for the title. 13 years is long enough
thumbs up..and arsenal need winnings mentality.all players needs that..
We can’t fix anything Wenger should leave arsenal,he is the problem, all the years he has spent in the league, just winning it 3 times,new coaches are being employed by various clubs and they winning the EPL and while we always bite our fingers at the end of each season since 2004…for the past ten or 15 years,Bayern,barca,Madrid,Chelsea, man u,Tottenham, man city,are they still the same squad? even Everton are try to do something new….sometimes I imagine if the rest clubs that have been winning the EPL are are using magic to influence their winning mentality….