6 Player Acquisitions Arsenal Need To Make
What an end to the season! It was a great day full of twists and turns and surprises. My congratulations go to City and although I don’t want anyone winning the title except for Arsenal I will admit to hoping that City wouldn’t grab a last minute winner against QPR because I didn’t want to see Nasri lift the title. Players with heart like Kompany, Aguero, Barry, Hart, Zabeleta and Yaya I would have have rooted for over United if it was not for Nasri.
The manner in which he left the club and his comments since to me were just as bad as Adebayor running the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of us.
People can argue that he made the right decision but you can also argue that his original motivations to move were money based. If rumour is correct he had the opportunity to join United. A team with a track record of winning trophies and playing in the champions league. Just looking at the table you could say that United without Nasri were only a few goals shy of being champions themselves and with Nasri possibly would have been crowned champions again with a few weeks to spare. Last summer the better choice was United as City weren’t that far ahead of Arsenal last season, on that basis I believe his motivation was money and that is why I didn’t want to see him lift the title but that is done now and we move on.
I'm not sure who to credit for this picture but it is awesome
It was great to see Arsenal finish above Tottenham again for a multitude of reasons. Our bad start, our January/April blips, our period with no full-backs, no Jack, supposedly the worst Arsenal team in 17 years, Tottenham’s best team in 50 years (statistically as well as pronounced), the media acclamation of Tottenham and derision of Arsenal, the claims of power shifts and the mind the gap t-shirts to name a few reasons. I was praying yesterday that we would not lose 3rd spot to a Spurs goal scored by an ex-Arsenal player.
Watching Arsenal across the season has been tough but to claim 24 points from losing positions shows that this team has real heart despite what many will say. Twitter goes mental with “Gooners” slagging off the team saying that they have no fight after a loss but 24 points from losing positions, more than any other team, shows that this team has more fight than most. The main problem Arsenal have with the current team aside from squad depth is the main subject of this post, positioning.
I believe that before the M’Vila’s, Suarez’s, Vertonghen’s and other such names bandied about there are 6 more important acquisitions Arsenal need to make. I touched on the difficulties of buying/selling players across these articles POST1, POST2, POST3, POST4 but I think we can solve quite a few problems with these 6 acquisitions.
The first being of course the re-signing of Robin Van Persie. If anyone thinks it would be easy to replace a striker of his calibre just take a look at his peers in goalscoring this year, Messi, Ronaldo, Rooney, Aguero. Not your bargain bucket signings.
The second being the return of a fully fit Wilshere. Jack has been sorely missed this season and I’m very excited about seeing him in the advanced role next year. Jack’s return would give us strength in depth in that role as well as in the deeper role he played to great effect last season.
The third being the permanent signing of Benayoun. Yossi is a consummate professional and probably the only player we have in our ranks that would have chased the ball back to the keeper and forced a mistake. He has been excellent for us this year and would give us experience and strength in depth.
The fourth being a Japanese wonder-kid by the name of Ryo Miyaichi. Ryo I think should get a shot in the first team next season. I feel he has a lot more end product than Gervinho and whilst I do like Gervinho I do not get excited when he has the ball as I see it as a pre-cursor to an opposition counter-attack. When we counter attack and the ball goes to Gervinho I sit back down as I consider that attack over.
The fifth and sixth acquisitions are also in the club ranks but I think they could learn a lot from Walcott and Mertesacker when it comes to positioning.
I am speaking about Vermaelen and Song. Many supporters have become frustrated with both of these players tendencies to go forward when they should sit, especially when we are winning with a few minutes to go, the Norwich 3-3 being a prime example.
Don’t misunderstand me, I am grateful for their attacking prowess, Vermaelen’s goal against Newcastle and Songs many assists this season but those examples of their attacking talent should not be considered as an argument against them being more conservative.
Most of Song’s really crucial assists have actually come from quite deep so there isn’t really an argument that curbing his enthusiasm for going forward will remove his ability to make assists.
Where these two players can learn from someone like Walcott is to do the job they are paid to do. We all know that Theo is not a winger yet he controls the right flank pretty well. He tracks back to help out his right back, he runs down the flank to cut into the box or ping in crosses and essentially does what a right winger is supposed to do. Players that are played out of position like Walcott tend to drift towards their preferred position so you could forgive Walcott for trying to play through the middle whenever he get the ball but he doesn’t.
Vermaelen and Song play in their preferred positions so they are rightly criticised for forgetting their duties. Their positioning has cost Arsenal quite a few points this season. Song is a defensive midfielder, he is supposed to protect the back four and use his calm passing to start an attack through our more advanced players, he is not supposed to join them, especially when we are 3 minutes away from winning a match.
Vermaelen is a centre-back, not a midfielder or a striker. He could learn from Per Mertesacker who in my mind is our most natural defender. He has no desire to bomb forward, even though with his frame and speed he would find it difficult if he tried. He sits, he defends, he breaks down attacks, he puts his body on the line and genuinely does his best to defend his goal. I honestly think that he and Koscielny are our first choice centre-back pairing and if Vermaelen wants to take his place then he will have to learn to be a bit more like him and a bit more like Theo. Doing the job he is paid to do.
I honestly believe that two of the best “signings” Arsenal could make this summer are a re-trained Song and Vermaelen that control their attacking instincts and stop chasing games they’re already winning.
I have a good feeling about next year.
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you are right with the retraining of some players, allowing Ryo some playing time and keeping of Rvp, but signing of Benayoun for perment doesnt go down well with me
Why not? Benayoun has been a good player for Arsenal, adds strength in depth, can play in a multitude of positions and play well it must be said. He is incisive, direct, good at tracking back, hard-working, gutsy, has guile and was the only player on the pitch for Arsenal that would have bothered chasing the ball back to the keeper and he got rewarded for it.
Genuinely interested to know why you think signing him permanently would be a bad thing.
We need Yossi because if we are to compete on all 4 fronts, we need a quality bench.
Me too. Clueless gooners.
Why do you think Benayoun would be a bad signing?
I agree David, in my opinion to buy him is costly for such a high salary and his age. I’m grateful for his contribution which was outstanding but I feel was meant to fill the void for the season.
I truely hope Wilshere returns more like Sagna than Ramsey or Diaby. Everyone is hyping him up and what happens if his injuries are chronic like Diaby or sets him back like Ramsey?
Rosicky has had an amazing half season but I’d still prefer someone with magic brought in that can score goals regularly (my thinking is Kagawa here.
I would love a 3-5-2 set up with Kos, Mert and TV but that requires a proper DM that covers for them and stays. Also needs mids that tackle and have plenty of control, good distribution and vision.
But that’s why I’m an accountant/arm chair analyst and not a football manager.
Interesting that some think Benayoun would be expensive. Even if he got paid £60k a week that is only getting rid of Squillaci to maintain the status quo.
I think Wilshere will return more like Sagna than Diaby. Diaby had a leg break and then he had loads of niggly injuries. Wilshere is probably more like RVP & TV5, he has been out for a long time with a muscular injury so has been able to keep fit whereas Diaby had to keep his leg up for ages. I think he’ll come back stronger.
I can’t see us paying big money for Kagawa personally.
Spoton on TV5.
He is a fan favorite but he has been horrendous over the last few matches.If JD had made half of the errors he committed he would have been crucified.
I wouldn’t go as far as horrendous, misguided and positionally poor maybe but still far better than most defenders in the league and certainly better than our other choices (JD & SS)
you are saying the right thing song is not playing his role and so call vermaelen. arsenal need people m’ vela to help the full back.
I disagree with the post. 6 ‘new signings’ for me, are not retaining and bringing back our very own current crop. Keeping van persie is essential, but what if jack has the same issue ramsey has had post-injury. And if diaby never gets over his brittle bone syndrome, we will be in the exact same position as the last 2-3 years. Walcott tracking back made me laugh though.
Replace diaby with m’vila to get that strength back in the centre, and replace nasri with some proven talent for once, instead of miyachi who looked half decent in a team that got relegated.
6 “acquisitions” not signings. Arsenal’s main problem in past 5 years has been keeping a quality squad together. If we lose our best players or do not keep a decent group together then we are back at square one again.
Jack’s problem is muscular I believe. RVP and Vermaelen has muscle injuries they both came back okay. Jack will be fine.
Diaby will never get over his injury problems because he is an injury prone player but Wenger will not sell him yet because he is a great believer in him. He is a quality player and I hope he can get over his injury problems but I don’t see it and I think we’ll have him around the treatment room for a while longer before finally getting rid.
Walcott does track back. He is a great professional and the second most influential attacking player we have. He works very hard and offers good protection to his right back.
I don’t get why everyone is banging on about M’Vila. Has anyone watched him play a full football match more than once? I guess most people are basing their assumptions on youtube clips. He is decent and plays well at international level but he hasn’t showed me £20m worth of talent or ability to dominate the premier league from day one. If we buy him he will be a great player but I don’t expect him to smash it up in his first season. If we are after a proper box to box midfielder or a classy DM or someone in the Vieira mould then we should be buying Javi Martinez.
Miyaichi is our player already and is on loan at Bolton. Bolton getting relegated doesn’t make him a bad player or even only half-decent. He was player of the year at Feyenoord. He has more end product than Gervinho and that is for sure. At any rate whoever plays on the left out of Gervinho or Ryo will be playing second fiddle to Podolski.
6 acquisitions are where Arsenal should start. The end of year fire sale post is where Arsenal should look next (to sell players) before they even consider buying anyone else. We need to consolidate what we have before we try for any more external additions.
Daniel i understand your Concern with the injury setbacks to the player’s afore state.However i beg to disagree with questioning on Wilshere’s return ability on field after injury.You comparing him to Ramsey is a bit ignorance.Ramsey was an okay player even before the injury,he was a 6/10.Wilshere on the other hand posses most things Ramsey doesnt,that is the Desire to win,the need to improve(not that he was bad)and most of all The confidence that it is him mostly that can make the rest BELIEVE..and motivated even thou they are trailing.unlike Ramsey,wilshere returns to help the defence and at the same time,he leads the counter attacks from our post up to the opponents penalty area.Rarely do u see him standing or walking on the pitch.He’s actually arguebly our 2nd best player..he will be fine.
Was that aimed at the other Daniel or at me because it doesn’t seem to match up to my quotes by you have replied to my post.
I completely disagree about Ramsey. Before his injury he was looking sharp and influential, he was tearing Stoke to pieces in that game with his excellent passing and vision and that is probably why Shawcross decided to rough him up a bit with awful consequences.
Ramsey is a fantastic young player with great potential and he will prove every single doubter wrong. He is a different player from Jack so you cannot compare him. He plays more like Cesc so that is the player to compare him to. He is nowhere near Cesc but before his injury he was playing like Cesc was at 16. In my opinion Ramsey will at best only ever reach 80% of Cesc’s talent but I’d rather have a player who was 80% of Cesc or even 50% of Cesc than none at all.
Jacks injury isnt muscular, its bone…its a stress fracture. And these things never go away….he will have to be managed and rested very carefully….he is potentiallly our ledley king
He’s only 20 & everyone is writing him off as forever injured! He hasn’t had a chance to come back yet. You are correct, I thought it was a ligament problem but it was a stress fracture. He has been resting for most of the year. Stress fractures are caused by putting the bone under stress, when your body is still growing it is more susceptible to such injuries which is why I believe we should be careful with The Ox.
Stress fractures do go away, metatarsal injuries go away, they are stress fractures.
Although technically many stress fractures occur because the muscle isn’t taking the bulk of the stress causing the bone to bear too much weight.
As someone who has suffered stress factrures, and is a medical student….they do not fully heal, they will always re-appear….playing 90 minutes each week plus training….it will re-appear, its just a case of how they can manage the injury.
Muscle fatigue is a big cause of stress fractures. Jack had hardly any rest and was only 19, we asked too much of his young body.
No bone break ever truly “goes away” as the bone just fuses together but you can still ensure you do not get the same injury again, hence making the problem “go away”. What Jack needs to do is to immunise his problem area against stress by carefully and regularly putting stress on the bones to increase its resistance to bone stress whilst also increasing the strength of the muscle surrounding the bone.
I agree on most of the points, not entirely on the Benayoun one but I have a rather different opinion on tha last point. While it is true that both of Song and Vermaelen often go forward wrongly it isn’t entirely their fault. If you look at the two previous seasons they didn’t go out front as often because we had a strong midfield which could actually create chances. This years subpar midfield REQUIRED the going upfront thing from them.
Excuse my double postings, am on a mobile with data connection tripping. HERE IS MY FINAL COMMENT
almost spot on mate..
although I think song is not a natural DM and hence we need M’villa or someone of his calibre while retaining Song and help the new DM gel in and squad depth.
Song is actually quite dangerous in an advanced midfield position thus wilshere/Rosicky/Ramsey Arteta/song and m.villa(villa) is quite a creative midfield with the necessary depth.
We never ever had any problems creating chances, so Na$ri has already (automatically) been replaced.
We need a partner for Boscielny thou, Mertasaker hasn’t impressed me yet, especially with his speed and play back to the keeper antics (we all know how much a sucker our keeper is at distribution and clearances).
I partly agree with you on TV05, either he learns or he moves to left fullback were he can actualy attack much, his tracking back is way better than that of Gibbs, offload Gibbs and let Santos back up TV05, thus creating a team with depth that can challenge for all four major competitions.
Podolski/Ryo Miyachi/Gervinho RVP/ (Park or Campell but not necessarily needed) Walcott/Ox
Thats a final third tht doesnt need any further reinforcement to win you the champions league, podolski and the Ox can provide cover to RVP. (an extra striker tover RVP is not necessary but if, it shoub be, park/joe campell who would be good enough for the reserve team and emergency call up in case of multiple injuries to the above metioned.
Maybe its only me, or has anyone else seen how dangerous the Ox is when playing behind the striker (or generally through the middle, look back at the difference he made in the norwich game) …..
Now think Benayoun, Frimpong, Coqueline, Miguel, Jenkinson.
Thats a quality team that can win you trophies… And fits many formations, 442, 352, 3133, 4131,3232* (TV05_LK06_BS03 song_m’villa ryo/rosicky_wilshere/arteta_ox/walcot podolski_Rvp) or wenger’s favorite 433.
The vesatility of Benayoun and the Ox will prove invaluable, so keep Benayoun!
At times most of the gooners including wenger think of a strong first eleven and thats it, but season in season out squad quality and depth has been our nemissis, injuries like arsenal so its about time we plan for it!
VERDICT: BUY ONE DM AND ONE CB (cb can be forgiven for critical technical training of vermaelen and then keep Gibbs)
And please get a goalkeeper coach, Szczesny’s positioning and distribution is horrondous!!! He needs to step up… A cover for him needed although not of my priority unless fabianisky is really irked and he wanna go! Mannone is also good enough though
NB: WHOEVER’S NAME OR INITIALS HASN’T BEEN MENTIONED ABOVE, PLEASE CONSIDER YOURSELF SURPLUS AND A FINANCIAL BUDDEN!!Z OOOHH, and as well as a pain in the butt of an ordinary gooner!
Sincerly speaking u make sence bt I like 2 see benayoun in gunaz squad and miyachi. Wishere is highly welcome bt remember we need a back up keeper and posibly DM.
I’m not in the anti-Walcott camp. I think that even when he appears to have an off game he still helps Arsenal in unseen ways. Mainly its that other teams fear his speed so much that they play a more conservative line when he is in, giving our midfielders an extra 3 to 5 yards of space…
BUT if we are going to overhaul the team this summer, I wonder if its time to let him go.
I’m sure we could raise an outrageous amount of cash selling Walcott. That could allow Arsenal to bring in a few extra quality players. If we want to fight in 4 competitions, we need more depth. We need to be able to rest and rotate players to prevent injury. We need quality backups when the inevitable injuries occur.
Number one on my list would be Clint Dempsey. He is a proven goal scorer. He is extremely tough. He works hard and will track back to support the defense.
I’m a fan of Dempsey and think he would be great in our CAM role and he can also do a job on the left and as a false striker or even a no.10.
I doubt we’d get big money for Walcott, the most we’d get for him in this market is £20m. He isn’t really a “big” name and although I think he is an effective player I doubt many would pay big money for what he has delivered. Worth noting that if we sold Walcott we’d have to buy another homegrown player or “promote” one of our under 21s which would waste a squad space. Eg, we don’t need to register Frimpong, Wilshere, Jenks or The Ox next season and they would fall into the homegrown category.
I guess big money is relative 😉
20 million, plus what we already have in the budget and whatever we get for selling off the dead wood, could add up to enough to overhaul the team. Enough to bring in more than 1 or 2 quality players in the right spots (defenders are generally cheaper).
Still. I’d hate to see Theo go for no other reason than my 6 year old son loves him. for some reason my kids seem to gravitate to all the young players like Wilshire, the Ox, and Walcott (he still only 22 or 23 right?)
I agree with the article. There has been games where Vermaelen has been vital for us and I’m grateful for that. But sometimes he does it too much( going forward) In my opinion Kocielny had a great season, and he alone cannot do everything at the back. That is where Song comes into play, he needs to help un defence when Vermaelen is going forward. There has been times where song has given the ball away to the opposing team and that ended up hurting us. Again I’m grateful for the amazings chip passes he gave to Van Persie but as you said in the article, he seems to go forward at times where we should be defending. As for Benayoun, I thank him for his contribution in helping Arsenal secure third place and as a reward, Wenger should sign him permanently. We need him, he scored the winner against Aston Villa, and contributed to earning the points against Norwich and WBA. Those were vital points for us. If we are to compete on 4 fronts, we need him as well as Rosicky,Arteta, Wilshere, Ramsey, and Diaby. Hopefully M’Vila as well to help out Song in Mid Defense.
Most of us supporters are hypocrites. How many of us would not dump our jobs is a greener pasture presents itself somewhere? There is no single professional footballer who plays football for fun. The strange thing is that even though Arsenal pays huge money to mediocre like Almunia and friends some people are still getting millions of pounds in bonuses. If it was for money Rooney could not have been at United! Lets keep on bashing Nasri and five years from now he will have more than 5 trophies to show for his pains whereas Arsenal will be at least happy to have bashed him though remain trophyless.
Nasri may have won a trophy but when he left the better option was United. If his motivations was purely for trophies he should have chosen the team with 19 titles, 10 FA cups and 3 Champions Leagues. United were reigning champions and City had only just beaten Arsenal in 3rd. If trophies were the only motivation then United were a better option, even Chelsea were a better option as both finished above City and have more recent trophies.
Remember, City won on goal difference. United picked up the same amount of points even though they lost to City twice so imagine how far ahead United would have finished if Nasri had joined them instead as he would have been a regular starter.
In my opinion Nasri moved just for money and has been able to cover this fact with a trophy. He is still a money grabber. I have no issue with a man wanting to earn a better crust but at least be honest about it rather than say he was only moving for trophies when he had a chance to move to the most successful club in the country. He instead chose to move to the richest club in the country.
As I said on the tweeter, I might as well add my two cents worth: I enjoyed your article, and I agree with the point you made. Rvp and Jack go without saying. I am also of the opinion that we should try and hold onto Yossi – as you said, he is a football professional. He is also very experienced in the Premier League. And the lad worked really hard against WBA on the weekend – he tracked back well, and got forward just as quickly, showing a lot of heart towards the end of the game. I also think that in a more consistent and settled Arsenal side, he could really do well off the bench and the odd start (most likely). I think keeping Yossi is also especially relevant with regard to Ryo hopefully coming back into the first team. I genuinely think Ryo will be a success in the EPL, based on performances at Bolton. An experienced Yossi almost “cancels out” and inexperienced Ryo to create a bit more balance in the squad. And from reading around, it seems as though Yossi is a large influence on the youth in the squad, which is always a good thing.
With regard to Vermaelen and Song, I agree again on their positional play. I worry about Vermaelen bombing forward, especially when Song is supposed to fill in for him on these occasions. Song worries me in general. He’s had a great season in terms of assists, but as you have pointed out, he is a defensive midfielder, and he’s been especially lacking without Arteta playing nearby. I don’t think he’s a very good defensive midfielder. I also don’t think he is a genuine defensive midfielder. I also battle with him a little – sometimes he looks as though he’s not up for the game, or he’d be rather doing something else. But that’s a separate issue altogether. So a good point, if both stick to what they’re supposed to do, we’ll be better for it.
Thanks for the read!
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for your comments egg. Please do check out some of the older posts too when you get a chance. About 30 minutes to read them all if you read at an average pace 🙂
Very detailed and well written article and the articles before this!
You are certainly right in pointing out that we need to deal with the squad before going out and getting players in. I think we certainly have all the right people at the club.
But what has been lacking for past few years has been the consistency with the squad. Wenger builds a team and a critical player moves away! So he’s again on the drawing board. I hope this doesn’t happen this year with RVP.
I feel you haven’t written about one very good talent in our squad. Joel Campbell. He’s exactly how the usual Arsene signings are. Only if he gets a work permit, but yetim too excited by his prospects.
Please if you can shed some light on his situation.
Thanks for your comments. I wanted to focus on players that I feel will go straight into the first team or are already there. Joel is a cracking little player but I feel he will be eased in if indeed he gets a work permit. I feel that next season will see either him or Afobe get into the first team. I personally feel that Afobe will stay at Reading for the year and Joel will get a run in the carling cup
Interesting analysis and we do need to upgrade those players, but don’t forget we have Arteta as well…he has been a revelation and in his own way has helped us forget Fabregas and Nasri. Wait until you see Podolski play..he is a beast,strong in the tackle, a great defensive attacker and very good in the air, a player who can, with a great team like AFC around him, get 10-15 goals every season, or more.
I have to say that while I like the idea of getting a fully fit Wilshere back is great, as too would be a fully fit Diaby, I think we need to learn from past mistakes.
Gibbs and Diaby are both perfect examples of players that we cannot rely upon. How many ‘comebacks’ have they both made, only to last 15 minutes? Ramsey also – he returned from injury and failed to find form for the entire season.
Whilst I hope and pray for it to be different next year, we can’t expect Wilshere to play 50 games next season after the season he’s just (not) had (I’d be thrilled if we got 30 games from him). Neither can we rely on Diaby or Gibbs (or Ramsey for that matter), so there’s issues there – do we make additions to their positions or do we move them on?
We need that strength in depth.
Personally I think we need to buy a creative midfielder although who that should be is anyone’s guess.
I’m also intrigued by all this talk across the web of Wilshere playing in the creative AM role. It’s not the role he played in 10/11. In fact I’m struggling to remember him playing in that role in the first team at all. I think he played the role that Arteta played this season. I’d love to have him back fully fit, but we need to prepare for there being some rotation in whatever position he takes.
I would like to see us sign Benayoun on a perm deal – I think that he has been one of the players, alongside the likes of Arteta, that have been responsible for instilling the fighting spirit we’ve seen from the team this year and that has been missing for far too long. It’s not a coincidence that our end-of-season dip coincided with Arteta’s absence.
I also don’t think Ryo is ready for Arsenal’s first team. He did well at Feyenoord last year and had spells of inspiration at Bolton since his loan move in January (even getting player of the month in Feb), but around half of his appearances in a relegated side were from the sub’s bench.
I question whether he’s ready for a first team place playing in a team that has aspirations of winning the PL and going as far as possible in the CL. I think he needs more time on loan first (look at is this way – if he wasn’t an Arsenal player already, would we be looking at buying him and putting him into the first team right now? No).
A ‘retrained’ Song. Ha! Don’t make me laugh. He plays DM because there is no one else to do it, not because he is a natural in that position. He has always been a player that likes to get forward in the more attacking and creative roles, that’s why he has the tendency to roam forward. However, we’ve generally been over-staffed in AM role and he has shown that he can play the DM role effectively when he’s concentrating.
However, I would like to see a specialist brought in for that role. Not least because the competition might make Song pick up his game a little – for all his assists this season many of his wayward passes and lack of positioning have been responsible for opposition goals. If that’s M’Vila then great. If it hurts Song’s feelings and he wants to leave, then I’d be fine with that too, if the specialist we bring in is of a high enough standard (Frimpong and Coquelin should be thinking of pushing for that role too anyway).
I agree with you on our best centre-back pairing. Mertesacker has come in for a lot of grief this season, but I think he got far more right than wrong before his injury and Kos has been immense. Vermaelen is great but I think he has been over-rated a little. He’s come up with some great goals, but like Song and Gibbs, has been found out of position far too many times as a consequence of bombing forward.
I would like to see Mert and Kos given more time together next season. When you consider that we would then have Verm as back-up and Dj**rou as fourth choice I don’t see why we should be looking at defensive reinforcements. Particularly if we have Miquel and Bartley as further back-up.
Interesting times ahead, but further signings must be made if we want to be seriously pushing the likes of MU and MC next season (you can be sure they’ll be strengthening in the off-season so hoping that our ‘comeback kings’ will make up the 19 point difference and then some is pipe-dreaming).
Very comprehensive reply as usual Matt. I enjoy reading them 🙂
My point about Jack is that he is an influential player and Jack for just 10 games a season is better than no Jack at all. Imagine what we could have achieved this season if he was fit. Would we have won the league? No. But I doubt we would have been 19 points behind.
If we did do that I would go for Kagawa.
Jack played deep midfield because we had Cesc. I believe he will take up a more advanced role when he returns otherwise we’d have to drop Song or Arteta & I don’t see that happening.
To be fair mate if you are fighting relegation are you really going to play an 18yr old with limited experience? I’m not saying he should be a starter as Podolski will take that spot but I’d like to see him given a shot in the squad as he is fast, direct and puts a good cross in as well as being excellent at cutting inside, taking a man on and driving at the keeper.
Song has always played deep from his time at Bastia to present day. He started as a centre-back and was moved into DM by his manager. Song does like to get forward but that is because he has been encouraged to do so. Plus what kid ever wants to be a defensive player? They all grow up dreaming of scoring goals. If we encouraged him to stay back more and attack less we’d be less exposed.
We do need to make further signings but my last few posts have been about communicating the message that we need to get our house in order first before we look at extensions for the squad. We need to re-sign our best players, work on positioning with some others and have a clear out to make room for new players but also to properly identify where we need to make signings. It’s all good saying we need this or that but until we have a settled squad as such we can’t identify the weakest spots that need strengthening the most.
Daniel, as usual a comprehensive piece.
I’m suprised AFC haven’t snapped you up. I’m sure
You know more about our club, then many ppl
Work there. You & AW obviously think alike, he has
Already stated he wants to get rid, before he brings anymore
In. We will kist have to wait & see, but i’m sure he knows what
He wants to do. As for Chelskii’s win, well don to them. Now
We move on and concentrate on AFC . I hope Aaron has a better
Time of it from August. I hope this all makes a kind of sense. :))
Yep it makes sense. You’re about the 9th person today to say I should work for Arsenal or for a paper. Would be nice but I don’t ever think that’ll happen 😉
It would be good to get some investment in the club in such a way that doesn’t turn us into a benefactors toy.
Usmanov offered to put £100m in through a rights issue but the board vetoed it.