Arsenal America

What will the arsenal side look like at the start of next season? I think there were some excellent points raised in a recent article. So how much should we change after a so called dissapointing season? Ok first a reality check how diss was this season anyways, well if we win the FA cup and manage to scrape a 2nd place in the league i think it would be a decent season.

Given the advent of chelsea and some serious injuries that we have had throughout. What has concerned me more is that we have not won a single big game this season (think manure both times, chelsea, liverpool away, munich away) with bayern home and away at the lane being the two exceptions, for me this is far more worrying than anything else. A true test of a good team is crunch games and we havent shown enough mettle or sometimes enough ability to win the big ones..i think this is the biggest loss of the season to me.

Last season we won liverpool home and away chelsea 3 times out of 5 ,inter away, kiev home celta away. So i think its essential that we win our games against everton, liverpool and at the bridge as well as beating manure in the FA cup finals (provided both reach there) if we do that i think it will still be a good season and we can take a lot of positives from it.

Now on to what the side might look like next season, here are the main points of conjecture:

1.)Reyes: ok first i guess i have to say i am big fan of his, i really belived he was the one! and still do. Would hate to see him realise his potential elsewhere. Most fans are ready to see him leave. I personally think he will stay, i think AW wants him to stay. And i can see why he has obvious talent, form is temp class is permanent, and we have seen that class at sevilla and with us. What i cant understand is why he gets so much stick, its not like he hasnt performed throughout the year for 1/3 of the season he was excellentand even after he has chipped in with the odd goal and assist. Consistency at the highest level comes with age and experience how many under 21’s are there today in football delivering at the highest level game in game out?? I could have understood the criticism had he not performed thruout the year but that isnt the case. I remember henry taking time to settle, he used to suffer from poor finishing and poor off the ball movement, vot would have happened had we sold him then?? I think AW will
stick with reyes, he knows he has what it takes. I dont think reyes’s mind is elsewhere atleast thats not showing in his commitment, he’s lost form not commitment or will. i think thats important it shows he’s a professional. I remember this moment from the home leg against bayern when he tried to run at the defence lost the ball and bayern countered it was 4 against 2 for bayern but reyes tracked back all the way and won the ball back..it shows he’s not wiltord or kanu and his commitment is still here. I just hope he can get over this home-sickness thing. I hope he stays and i think he will.

2.) Pires: well plenty of ppl saying he’s getting old that is true, and i think AW must me thinking hard about his future. I think he’s getting a bit of form back he looked decent against bayern when he came on he seemed capable of taking on his man which is very imp for wingers. But i personally would like to see him continue at the club, i think his future is as a super sub that we never had, the kind of player who comes on after 60 and makes a difference its something we lack and he could give that to us. (for eg against boro early season when we were down 3-1 i think he came on and db10, reyes, and then him all scored in 5 mins). But i think if a serious bid comes in then we might see super bob leave, who could fill his shoes i think reyes is a naturally gifted winger but AW seems hell bent on making him a striker (problem again since he doesnt link with henry tht well). If we had to get a left winger as a replacement i would go for vicente at valencia he’s young he’s fast definitely worth 7-10 mill, he’s very much in the robben mold, though he’s also a bit small.

3.) Youngsters: AW is sending out mixed signals first saying nothing but the best in the summer, then saying how can he bring in ppl who will take up the place of a senderos, flamini or cesc. We have been unlucky this season with injuries else we would never have seen the amazing youngsters we have today, i wouldnt go as far as saying thank god for injuries but i think in the long run they might be a blessing in disguise. But the thing with youngsters is consistency, it comes with experience and age thts vot they have gained this season valueable exp. So will AW block the path of a few youngsters by buying players in their positions..cant say. Though ali saying he fancies PSG might have a clue in it, maybe AW’s already talking about a new striker?? (or am i reading too much into it). But this is going to be a tight call- will he buy players to fill up youngsters slots?

4.) Centre Back: supposedly all our worries lay in defense this season, so say all the football gurus in all the papers and TV channels (though i am not convinced when u score only once against WBA, crystal palace, southampton,man city and a crap newcastle defence and fail to score against bolton then maybe its not just the defence to blame for dropping points)

Senderos: definitely the find of the season for me along with cesc the kind of central defender who reads the game well and is blood and guts in tackle. His performances make a strong case for him to partner Sol come next season. He’s definitely a future great in the making but he’s young and still inexperienced, so are we ready to pay the price of his inexperience- the odd mistake that means dropping points?

Campbell: personally i think he’s had a really bad season, I think too much has been blamed on his absence i know he’s been a great CB for a while now, but this season apart from his towering presence he has brought little else to the game, he was there for the manure games the liverpool game and the chelsea game we gave 2+4+2+2=10 goals in games during that period doesnt say much for him (the mellor shot was partly his fault, so was terry’s goal, scholes’s shot went in off him). But what concerned me most was when he was getting beaten and wrong footed by players of the class of diouf(remember that bolton 1-0 loss, it was after beating cambell that he put in the cross that led to the goal). The thing with cambell is that he’s a bruiser he’s not particularly agile, he reads the game well makes good challenges isnt exactly lightening quick (pace is an
asset that is very imp for defenders these days) and scares the crap out of forwards. The thing about such defenders is that the end comes really fast when they start losing their game, they dont have much to fall back on. Plus he keeps talking about moving to Italy in the future, this puts me off a lot, though I think Serie A will suit him a lot defenders can beat up forwards there!

So as scandolous as it may sound i think we need a world class central defender in the summer, but not to play in place of kolo or senderos but in place of sol to give him a breather so he stays less injury free and to ease his way out of the team, i wouldnt want sol to be playing for more than 2 more seasons max. So who would fit the bill? I think Kuffur would be an excellent buy, excellent CB with proven CL credentials.Plus he’s made all the right noises, ” i would love to play for arsenal blah blah blah”.

Cygan: well supposedly our bad luck charm. I dont think he’s as bad a player as he’s made out to be, just a very unlucky one. But in any case he definitely isnt good enough to be playing for a club thats looking to win the EPL and getting past the quarter finals of the CL. He’s gone for sure, especially with the advent of senderos. So placement, i think stag makes an excellent point, where will you find a world class replacement who will happily warm the bench and be 3rd or 4th choice. But yes after this seasons injury debacle AW will buy someone, hopefully he wont be so unlucky!

Just one thing about the defence, i would like to say that one of the reasons why a defence which was the best of the league last season has slipped to abysmall depths is coz of confidence. I play for my university team at CB/RB and i hope that vote

applies at such a low level also applies at higher levels, i think defending more than any other aspect of football is about confidence. The reason i mention my university team is because the kind of goals we let in against bayern away and manure home are exactly the kind of goals that we (the university team) let in when we’re low on confidence. Either all the defenders rush towards the ball leaving players unmarked (2nd and 3rd goal against bayern) or no one really makes an attempt at tackling the players for fear of making a mistake (united 1st and 2nd goal). So i think if confidence comes back so will the clean sheets and fewer goals against, and if that confidence is going to come back with a new keeper and CB so be it thats the price AW must be willing to pay.

Keeper: jens isnt a great keeper but he is a good one, almunia is a great shot stopper as well. i can see with what in mind AW bought them both, but the fact is we need a world class keeper if we are going to be a top team. I dont see how we can get
Dida, Iker, Buffon maybe just maybe Toldo if not a european giant then i think we have a few options in the EPL i think robert green at Norwich is an excellent keeper (better than niemi) he’s very much in the Peter Cech mould, but one thing we need a keeper who is great in the air and can play sweeper keeper as well (thats y jens was bought), search is still on who can we realistically land?

5.) Ashley Cole: i dont think he will leave, though dont see vot kind of effect this whole affair will have on the team. If he does leave though i think clichy is a good player but needs time so maybe some backup could be necessary.

6.) Right Back: i suggested on this site a long time back that tourre’s future is at right back, only to be scoffed at. I think that looks a better proposition today, though eboue also looks like quite a prospect. It would free lauren up to play midfield which would be especially handy to add muscle to the side when playing against hard sides like bolton and blackburn.

And cover for tourre/eboue when he’s injured. Tourre is a good crosser and he’s played well at RB before last season when lauren was suspened after OT, this way there would be no reason to buy a new RB or cover for PV4 and Gilberto in centre. I agree with stag that tourre is very talented and could play anywhere, i even fancy him being a roy keane type CM in the future.So basically we would have 3 players for right back tourre eboue and lauren and tourre as 2 additional covers for CM in tourre and lauren, this kind of flexibilty is essential for cup success.

7.) Freddie and the right wing: well fickle are we as fans, until some time back it was acknowledged that he had been the best player this season and within a month ppl are saying that we should be buying SWP, to do what warm the bench and come on after 60 mins, why would he even want to do that? Well there is some truth in the argument against freddie, he cant carry counters on his own always needs a passing option, cant take on his man, doesn really have the pace or the skills of a genuine winger. But the fact is he’s great at what he does, making runs behind the defence, tirelessly that too and tackling hard and fighting for every ball. His skills of running behind defences and going where henry doesnt go, are needed for the side. People say that he’s attracted to the centre of the pitch and our right isnt as strong as our left i think that has to with lauren and right forward as well, where are we going to find right sided henry and cole? IF we do that then maybe our right will be as good as the left. But back to the point FL8 has to stay maybe even play in DB10 kind of role (AW tried playing pires in that role in away CL games, tht didnt work so maybe he should now give FL8 a go). I think if quincy starts playing on the right wing with freddie in the hole, it could work. But sure as hell cant sell freddie he’s as arsenal as anyone else in the squad!Dont hold ur breath on SWP either.

We know central midfield is pretty well packed even if edu goes that leaves 4 players for 2 places, and i think flamini is excellent brilliant work rate and he can only improve, a future heartbeat of the club for sure. So that leaves the striker to
think about. A previous article mentioned that AW will prob be looking for a big signing in this department. I dont know if he is, but i think that he should be. Can you imagine if he have another world class striker along with henry (thats what reyes was supp to be, but the kid needs more time thts for sure) defences stick henry with 2 markers, now if u have another real threat that makes them impossible to handle, i am pretty sure that even if we make absolutely no changes from this year and sign a world class forward, it will make a huge diff.

8.) Striker: But the thing is who is it going to be, the truth is there are very few players out there who fit in the arsenal style of play, actually most are bought and then taught and converted to Aw’S style thats why it takes attacking players time to find their feet at arsenal. We attack like no one else. I dont think totti will be that effective in the EPL, plus too expensive. I agree Kalou is an excellent player, but somehow he’s like eto’o a couple of seasons ago we should have gotten him too but we didnt i am sure the same thing will happen here too. Trezeguet will never happen he’s a bit of a target man AW will never do that, Crouch …dont think so, he would become the pascal cygan of the forward line. Defoe would have been good no chance now, owen could be interesting(fact:proven goal scorer in EPL and internationally, fact: can adapt well liverpool and real worlds apart still doing well, poachers like him always adapt well) but only possible if reyes goes, which i hope doesnt happen (hoping reyes goes to left wing ofcourse). Van persie wont be a starter next season, AW said we want him playing 10-15 matches most of those will be league cup and FA prob., but his time will come he has guts desire (maybe a bit much) and skill. Basically we need someone with pace and skill, i jsut cant figure out who its going to be and apart from kalou i dont see anyone who’s freely available (as in less than 15 mill and not in a big club already). If tht remains the case maybe ali parterns henry lupoli is atleast 2 season off so it would have to be ali he’s got a good shot but cant say much more. Quincy and henry sounds great on paper as well, though AW doesnt seem to be as keen to play quincy he’s even below RVP in the pecking order, i mean most games he doesnt even get the bench. But with his pace and skill i wont mind seeing him on the right wing either with freddie free to drift inwards???