I’m in a very positive place right now concerning Arsenal. I know I’ve mentioned that recently, but I wanted to expand upon it a bit…
Arsenal XI 2006
Let?s just say that we can?t go out and by a single player over the next three years. Let?s also say that all our current regular big time first-teamers all decided to retire together at the end of the 2004-05 season (just humour me). Here?s what we could be looking at to open the new stadium:
Strikers:
Jeremie Aliadiere (France)
David Bentley (England)
Midfielders:
Jermaine Pennant (England)
Stephen Bradley (Ireland)
Defenders:
Ryan Garry (England)
Moritz Volz (Germany)
Sebastian Svard (Denmark)
Justin Hoyte (England)
Goalkeeper:
Stuart Taylor (England)
Now, how many of these guys do I really think will be in the first team in a couple of years? Actually I think several of them could be contributors (Garry, Bradley) and another two or three could be starters (Volz, Svard, Pennant, Taylor).
I?d love to see seven or eight of these guys start in Worthington Cup matches for us this year so that by the time they are 22-23 they will have played against big competition.
I?m sure fans from a lot of teams look at their youth squads and have similar visions of greatness. Here?s where I think Wenger?s policies the last couple of years will pay off. He?s been bringing in first-team foreigners with great success. Two Doubles in his time here is testament to the quality of players he has brought in. In the meantime he has refined the youth system, weeding out players who may have looked good on the surface, but really weren?t up to it.
Now as finances get tight and we can?t go out and pick up another Pires, Bergkamp, Ljungberg, etc. Wenger will now turn to the youth squad. And what does he find there? Not a bunch of heavily-hyped 17-year olds (Rooney is the exception, not the rule), but a group of mature 20-year olds who have had success and a taste of the first team. Guys like Svard and Voltz could probably play this year, and Garry, Hoyte and Bradley will gain some experience this year as well.
I think it?s going to be very tough for us to grab another two Double in the next six years, but I think some of the ?mid-table mediocrity?, ?doom and gloom? scenarios that the media are painting are ludicrous. I?m willing to bet Wenger knows what he?s doing and that after a dry patch (in which we ?only? win a Cup or two and drop all the way to third or fourth ? still good enough for Europe) we?ll come out the other end stronger than ever with a great new ground that will attract more top players from Europe and a young group of home grown players to compliment them.
7 Responses to “Bring On The Future!”
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July 29th, 2003 at 12:30 pm
That’s fine by me. We must never lose sight of the future. Arsenal fans have always welcomed youngsters into the team and they give them plenty of time to settle down. David Bentley showed some terrific skill iin the cup aganst Oxford. Okay, it’s only Oxford, but he showed a confidence on the ball in advance of his years. He never lost possession, he took players on and every pass was accurate.
I would prefer AW to use two teams, one for the FA and Carling (was the Worthless) cups and one for the league.
Take a look around the premiership and first division and you will find teams using our youth. We have the best youth set-up, it’s about time we started using it.
July 30th, 2003 at 9:14 am
wow… you DO view the glass as half-full!!!
Whenever we trot out the “futures” squad in the so-called worthless cup… they tend to get spanked when they face a real team… so in theory this is okay…
With the current crop of stars… Henry / Pires / Sol / Viera… what makes you think they will be just fine with Arsenal NOT buying talent and going for titles and trophies??? Who says Wenger will be here in 2 years if we don’t attempt to better our team… If I were Patrick Viera… and I knew Arsenal were not going to attempt to go deep in the CL… then I too would opt for a team with higher aspirations and deeper pockets…
you can’t have it both ways… you can’t claim to want to be a BIG club like Madrid and United… and aspire to win the Champions League… and then stand pat with a leaky defense that gets abused every year in the Champions League by the best competition in the world…
I hope you are correct… that our youth comes to the fore-front… but our defense was poor at times last season… and we have done NOTHING to improve it… better not have any Arsenal defenders in your Fantasy League squad!!!!
I don’t think mid-table is acceptable… and it won’t be for Viera / Pires / Henry / Sol / Arsene…. 4th place won’t be either…
Arsenal either need to step up… and try to acheive the lofty heights they have set out to get to… or perhaps they should sell Viera / Henry / Pires for LOTS OF CASH… so we can build the stadium…
Me thinks thats why Patrick has yet to sign a contract… we aren’t showing alot of ambition…
and I don’t see positive signs in signing Lehman…
while letting Seaman and Luzhny walk… thats lateral movement at best…
scary times at Highbury…
July 30th, 2003 at 10:15 am
I’m not asking to have it both ways. I’m not claiming we are as big as ManU or Real.
I’m not of the philosophy that the only way to improve the squad is through bringing in new players. I think a change in tactics and the added experience Cygan and Silva now have will also help.
July 31st, 2003 at 4:59 am
I think that Wenger will stay at Arsenal only if we build the stadium. He understands the big picture, one or two players (however good) do not constitute the future of the club. What Arsenal need is a stadium that can generate the income to bring the best players here ALL THE TIME, not just the odd player who turns out to be world class.
Vieira and Henry will leave Arsenal, it is inevitable. Be it transfers, injury or retirement, all players leave, THEY ARE NOT THE FUTURE OF THE CLUB. If the only way to get the new stadium was to sell them now and suffer a few years of mid-table mediocrity it would be the right thing to do. The new stadium will secure the future of the club for the next 100 years and it will give us a real chance to be competitive in the champions league.
We do want to be a big club like United and Madrid, but it may mean that in the short term we have to make some difficult decisions and upset some fans. The truth is that in the end only two things remain constant, the fans and the club. We will never leave and the club must be allowed to grow stronger.
If mid-table is not acceptable (and there’s no reason why we still cannot be competitive for a few years with younger players) to Vieira/Pires/Henry etc, then so be it. We cannot sacrifice the long term future of the club to keep happy players who might well still leave in the near future simply because they want to experience a different club or culture.
Not spending on players this summer does not mean we do not have ambition. It means we have a bigger agenda and that is what we need to keep in mind.
Looking forward to next season, it would be great to see some of the younger players and I think it would help to get the crowd behind the team. We have always loved our home-grown players and it is about time to see them on the pitch in the first team.
Heres hoping for a great season.
July 31st, 2003 at 9:39 am
Interesting thoughts…
I agree that the new stadium is essential to long-term revenue… and long-term health of the club…
I hope that the youngsters can step up and compete on a much higher level…
but I do NOT agree that losing the Vieras / Henrys etc is either necessary… or something we can survive (with any success on the pitch)
you can’t lose the CORE players of your team…
you do sometimes… in business… and sports….(which are now interchangeable… )
have to take a step backwards financially to move ahead financially…
IE; buying some talent now… to sustain the level we are at…
I believe Keown and Senderos are already nicked up… where is the depth… how do you cope with injuries with nobody to fill in??
that… is SHORT-SIGHTED… not long-sighted…
lets hope we start on fire like last year… when we played some of the best football I have ever seen by ANY team…
roll on!
July 31st, 2003 at 10:00 am
I was not suggesting that we should sell our best players. I was trying to say that the players we have now are not the relevant point.
We often see in the media that without Vieira Arsenal could not compete. This seems to come from Wenger himself quite often, but what would happen if Vieira has a serious injury early in the season? Would we just give up? Of course not, we would go on. It would be a huge blow, but no one player is bigger than the team.
All of our players will leave, as will Wenger, it is inevitable. I am just saying that the real statement of Arsenal’s ambition is not who we buy this year or next or who stays or goes, but the building of the fantastic Ashburton Grove stadium. When this is accomplished then we will see the dividends. In London only Arsenal have the fan base to compare with Manchester United. Unlike Chelsea, our fans will back the club through thick and thin.
I genuinely hope that all our present core players stay. I understand your point about depth, but in fairness to the club how many players can you have in reserve? If the players themselves are as good as the ones in the team they would probably not be happy to be a squad player. We already do have a number of defenders and although they are not great (ie Cygan, Stepanovs) they do provide short term cover. We have to hope we have more luck with injuries this year.
I agree with you, we need a good start, to get the media off our backs and to allow some of the youngsters to bed in without too much pressure. Lets hope in the next few days we have good news about Vieira and Pires and we can start the season in good spirit.
Cheers
August 1st, 2003 at 12:37 pm
Bravo… well stated… and point well taken!!
cheers
CHRIS