I heard media reports that David Bentley wants a transfer.I have seen his performances last season,and i really do think that he had a huge potential to be our right winger apart from Ljunberg.
That remains my personal opinion,though.I would want to know what do other fans think about it.
And the other thing which a lot of arsenal fans are missing is that,we are very much having our own version of two specialist’s in one position.
I mean we are there,though i would add that it would be naive,to think that the two are perfect substitues,but with a bit of luck it could work very well.
Having said that….there are a lot of positions open…let me just elaborate.
Goalkeeper.Jens Lehmann.(i do not trust almunia…need another one here).
Defenders.Sol Campbell.Kolo Toure.Senderos.(And you might say Cygan,but again he is really not the goods in this department.I do think Christinaval,would have been a good substitute.His experience could be handy.
Left and Right Backs.Lauren.Cole.Eboye.Hoyte.
Clichy.I would say we are covered here.
Center Midfield.
fabregas.And that is it.I do think Flamini is more defensively minded.We need one here.Maybe hleb,but i do not think so.Atleast,not his type succeed in England in that position.
Gilberto.And if you do think that flamini is not in this category,then we need a cover here.Either ways!!
Right Wing and LeftWing .
Pires,Ljunberg,Hleb,Bentley,Quincy.Reyes too when bergkampf is there in the middle.
Forwards
Any where in the world you cannot have backup for Henry.That is impossible.So i will just mention the other forwards.Van persie,Bergkampf,Reyes,Jeremi(provided he succeeds at West Ham).
What we really need is that,we have one good holding midfielder,and i think arsene wenger was spot on vis a vis baptista.But his kind are really very hard to find.
Apart from that maybe,a goal scorer with a proven 20 goals a season track record.
11 Responses to “What do you Really Think??”
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August 26th, 2005 at 5:23 pm
I think we are quite solid at the wings, which is a position you have brought into question. Ljunburg and Reyes on the right are top notch and Pires and Hleb on the left seems much the same.
As for Strikers I think we are rather set there as well. I see those four as Henry, Bergkamp, Van Persie, and Quincy who will eventually get some playing time this season. Quincy and Van Persie represent our future pairing and I think they are good back-ups, in the case of Van Persie more than that, and will support the top two quite well.
As for the back four I think we look fine on the right and left side, unless you can find a better right back than Lauren. With Lauren and Eboue on the right and Cole and Clichy on the left, we look well prepared there. The CBs are a bit more questionable, but Toure and Campbell, when healthy, are quality and Senderos will soon join them once he regains his confidence. Cygan is obviously servicable, but I’d prefer to see him used sparingly and with the health of Campbell so often in question we could use some more cover there.
Keeper is obvious: Jens needs a new back-up. This back-up should be young and have experience in a European side (prefarably France, Spain, Italy, or England). This will happen soon according to Wenger.
The middle of the park is where things are the most difficult. Clearly Fabregas is for real and should recieve as much playing time as possible. Its Gilberto I worry about as in every game this season he has seemed to lack a certain vigor in his play. I see Flamini as cover for Fabregas, but Gilberto needs someone behind, or in front of him, who can make more tackles. This is what Wenger is currently looking for and I have no idea where you find someone young, cheap, and available with these abilities, but I certainly hope for the best.
August 26th, 2005 at 5:59 pm
To be honest, I don’t rate Bentley very highly. Of course you’re correct when you say he’s got bags of potential - but that can just as easily be the kiss of death. From the interviews I’ve seen, he’s tremendously immature. He has an ego inflated well out of proportion to his actual accomplishments. In my view he displays flashes of brilliance and then expects to trod upon them as currency for his own belief that he is a genius on the pitch. He is very inconsistent. Again, I think its a question of applying himself - and people who are naturally gifted are frequently short of the “hungry” element that leads to the necessary hard work it takes to be a solid and consistent professional. I really don’t think he’s starting material right now - not for Arsenal anyway. Give him 3 years and some humility and he might be a really good player in the EPL. He’d be better in the Italian League though.
As for the rest, I think you’re close on Flamini - he’s defensive in that his high energy approach clogs the midfield a bit - and he doesn’t attack quite as devotedly as Cesc does. I differ with you on Hleb though, who I think can *easily* and happily play any midfield role - but who falls more into the Cesc side of offensive midfielder if he plays centrally.
I think that after all the dust has settled, I have formed an opinion that we have 3 solid central defenders - any one of which can be outstanding on their day - but none of which are consistently that way. I think Sol has seen his best days. I think Toure has had a blow to his confidence. I think Senderos could have a great future. But as of *right now*, they are all merely quite good. What we might really need is a truly world class center back - and *NOT* the backup center back that I and many on this board have spoken of in the past.
I like the rest of the personnel, but I’ve noticed that the biggest difference from the undefeated season is the lack of *explosive* counterattack. Two or three touches and a goal. More frequently there isn’t the one extra player forward to make the difference and things get held up. I think that comes as a direct result of our defensive shortcomings that led Wenger to give some additional emphasis to defense. It also means that we aren’t quite as “dangerous” as we were before, and it means other teams don’t fear us as much as they did. By rights, Fulham should have never come to play football - but they did and it cost them. Still, they looked dangerous for large parts of the game - and they signalled their lack of respect by coming to play. All I can say is that I hope other teams make the same blunder against us, because we will certainly benefit by it - and teams like Chelsea and Manchester United might not. We’ll see!
August 26th, 2005 at 8:36 pm
Lets face some facts here, the last big name players Arsenal bought was Bergkamp and Platt. Since then we have bought unkowns and Wenger has turned most of them into world class players. i know we all pine for big name players to sign for us, but it won’t happen yet. Have faith in Arsene’s knowledge of the unkowns around the world. he has not done us wrong so far.
As for David Bentley he needs to learn some patience before moaning about not getting first team football. He may have the potential to be a great player, but he hardly set the world alight at Norwich last season. Where he was a big fish in a small pond. How on earth does he think he will go straight into the first 11 at Arsenal I don’t know. let him go to Pompy or Wolves he will waste his time at a team that don’t challenge for Silverware because he doesn’t have the restraint to wait for his chance at the big time.
Moving on to the CB situation I don’t agree with the posting about Kolo, along with Helb he has been i best player so far. Lets remember we have only played 3 games this season. Big Phil will come good don’t worry, Tony Adams made mistakes when he was young too. So lets not be to hard on him. As for Sol well when he is fit, which seems not very often these days he is still one of the best CB in the league. Cygan can go, I know he scored 2 goals against Fulham, but this doesn’t make up for the blunders in the past. We do need another CB that can dominate in the air. Why we haven’t had a look at Vincent Kompany I don’t know.
I do believe we do need another right winger. When Freddie was out last season we didn’t have the movement down the right with Fab playing there. So Cover for the right wing is a must. Shaun Wright-Phillips would have been perfect but ?21m is silly money for a player that has only had 2 season in EPL.
CM I think one more. If reports are to be belived TA6 was scouting the new Viera for Le Boss. A player by the name of Achille Emana. Don’t know what he is like, but Arsene knows best. Ballack would be good, but the German Captain is not going to leave Germany in the World Cup year is he. Owen Hargreaves might be the answer if we are looking for another holding player plus he can play right wing. So that could sort that problem out as well. Thought I think Wenger wants a CM that can score 10+ goals a season. This is why Batista was his number 1 target this summer.
Which brings me nicely to CF postion. We have all the flair in the world upfront we need a bulldozer to ruffle so CB feathers like Drogba. I like most would have loved to have seen Michael Owen sign for us. Too many times we attack and there is no one in the box. Owen would have been getting the ugly goals that Arsenal lack so much. The tap in and scuffs that we never seems to score anymore. Okay Owen isn’t a Buldozer but he knows where the goal is. Torres at A Madrid would be an option in the Owen school of thoug ht. Arsene doesn’t like target men, but Dean Ashton could come to us to give us the ugly goals and a presence in the box we need. I think we should sign Miroslav Klose from Kaiserslautern. He is great box striker and wins everything in the air, something we don’t do enough of.
Gk well Lens is have a good season so far, but how much is that down to him wanting to be Germany’s No 1 at the World Cup next year, I think the idea man for the Arsenal No1 shirt is Shay Given from Newcastle he always has a good game at Highbury. So why not give him the opportunity to have one more frequently.
On a different note anyone else got the feeling that it’s our year for the Champions League. it’s Bergkmps last season and we are playing Ajax in the groups stages. No doubt we will get Juve in one of the knock out rounds so Paddy can say goodbye to us. The Final is in Paris, no planes for DB to worry about there, just hop on the Eurostar. Come on after 8 is it years of bad luck it has to turn for us sometime. I’m hoping for an Arsenal Vs Barcalona final. What at game of footballing beauty that would be, with Bergy scoring the winner with the final kick of the game. I can see him and Henry taking an ear each of that big cup each and lifting it to Crown Arsenal the 2006 European Cup Champions. What an end to a brillant career that would be. Lets hope it comes true.
Come on the Arsenal
August 27th, 2005 at 1:50 am
Great post. I don’t think I’ve seen you post before. Just two comments:
1) I always believed that Wenger was going to play Baptista as a striker alongside Henry. I really wish we’d gotten him, and outside of weather he was a fool to sign with Real Madrid where his talents will be under-used and under-appreciated. For us he would have been a season-shaper. He would have been “bull in a china shop” tough in the box; poacher; and target man all in one. Alas, the world is full of fools who have sold their souls to play for Real Madrid.
2) I have always admired Shay Given as well. He’s always been very good for Newcastle - for us he might be brilliant. If Newcastle are hot to trot for Sol Campbell - throw him in with cash for Given.
August 27th, 2005 at 12:19 pm
Hi Iceotter,
Yeah first time post.
I wasn’t really sure where Batista was going to play to tell you the truth. He started off as a DMF before going to Sevilla where he was played up front scoring 50 goals in 2 seasons. I think he may have played in a slightly raised midfield position just infront of Gilberto but not right upfront. That was the impression that Wenger was giving. He would have been an awesome signing, but he wanted a EU passport so i think we went in for him a season to soon. If we had gone in for him next season he might not have gone to Madrid. I remember reading an article where the Real Madrid president said any players Arsenal where intrested in they were going to bid for. It seems Arsene’s success in the transfer market is attracting the attention of other clubs. We are a victim of our own of our making.
look at Robinho we were after him and he ended up at Madrid as well.
On your second point i don’t think we should sale Sol he is still an awesome rock when he is fit. He gives the back line confidence that sometimes they lack. I think we have enough money to buy Shay without throwing Sol into the mix. If they wanted Cygan on the other hand i would be ok with that deal.
I was watching Soccer Saturday this morning. Champange Charlie Nichols was talking about Liverpool selling Cisse to buy Owen. He said he would love to see us buy him. Not sure myself he has the pace and is strong, but lacks a first touch, though he is a hard worker what do you think? I think we need something different upfront but i’m not sure Cisse is the answer though he did score twice in the Super Cup last night.
There are only 4 shopping days till Christmas now, Well January. So lets hope Le Boss get us a player or 2 before the deadline. I wouldn’t be suprised if they come from the French or Germany leagues. Arsene has been linked with a number of young players in the Bundesliga recently. I guess we will have to wait and see.
Come on the Arsenal
August 27th, 2005 at 12:43 pm
personally, i think that bentley shd be sold cos unlike other young gunners, he doesn’t have the patience to wait for his chance and has been too vocal in expressing his unhappiness. Wenger will do himself no favour if he give bentley a chance now because other more talented youngsters like quincy will get the impression that having a BIG mouth will earn u a chance
As for our squad size, i feel that both our full backs and wingers position are well covered and we can double check that by comparing ourselves with chelseaWe r on par if not better than chelsea in these areas. Ashley Cole has established himself as an international way be4 del horno got himself into the spain squad. Lauren is gd in every sense except for his pace but ferrira is no faster. Ebone and Clichy are better than glen johnsen. Only wayne bridge’s experience put him in front of clichy and Bbone. As for our wingers, reyes, pires, hleb, ljungberg, to me are in the same class as robben, duff, cole and wright-philips.
Our central defenders are sufficently in terms of amt but quality-wise, cygan still lack conviction though his performance dramatically improved in the Fulham’s game. If we have the money, we shd purchase another centre back like Albert Lopo who’s quite experienced but not too old.
As for our central midfield, i feel that on paper we might not look as gd as chelsea but we definitely have quality there. Fabregas and Gilberto combo will soon become the envy of many premiership managers because they complement each other so well. One skillful and equip with great vision and passing skills but not totally inferior in his defensive department while the other provide the experience and stability to the defence n at the same time gives his young partner the confidence to play his natural game. However i m a bit concerned abt our backup. Flamini is a gd player but he’s in the same mould as vieria. he dun sit in front of the defence. he’s a box to box player who charge up and down becos of his great stamina. he’s the one charging into opponents aggressively and not the one to clear the lines. So he shd be backup to fabregas and even so wenger will need to alter back to the original formation captained by vieria to accomodate flamini but that shdn’t be too much of a prob. i m more concered abt the backup to gilberto. song is a similar type of player to him and is highly talented. if not, he would not be an international at the young age of 17. but if we use him as backup to gilberto when he’s injured, we would have an extremely young midfield and i m afraid it wouldn’t be enough to contain world class opponets like lampard or gerrad. so i advise wenger to purchase a yrs old central mid who is bet. 25-28 n willing to play second fiddle to gilberto and fabregas and become our third choice CM. we can consider players like Gavin McCann n Simone Perrotta who may not be the most glamorous players around but someone who is highly to shut their mouth when on the bench and do their work quitely when on the pitch. much like gilbeto until he was recognised when arsenal’s defence was in shambles when he’s injured.
I feel that our strikers are gd enough in the premiership cos we have the necessary pace and aggression. in henry, we have everything a dream striker has. futhermore, he’s starting to head more and more accurately. in van persie, we have the determination and aggression. he oso has the composure and technique to finish off moves. one plus pt is that he’s a goal poacher with loads of creativity unlike van nistelrooy who only noes how to blast the ball in in the penalty area. how many times we see him assisting others. bergkamp will continue to prove that he’s an asset in unlocking teams. probably mid table and below teams now cos he do not have the energy to trick himself out of top teams like chelsea. but beating these mid-table and weaker teams are keys to winning the league. cos they made up a max of 96 pts if we exclude liverpool, manutd and chelsea and that’s more than wat we have in the unbeaten season. Qunicy will play some part in the campaign to gain premiership experience but i strongly believe he’ll only have a big impact nxt season. so wenger needs to bring in a striker bet. the age of 28-32. he needs to play like the most hated van nistelrooy. esp in CL when we lack the killer touch because we couldn’t capitalise on set pieces and no one in the central area waiting for crosses. one such player would be Vincenzo Montella and he’s has proven scoring rate.
then we move on to keepers. lehmann is exceptional now and i believe he would continue his form becos he now knew that wenger is not afraid to drop him and becos this is a world cup year and after all his hype-up abt beating kahn to the no. 1 jersey, he would be slapping his own mouth when he continues to make high-profile and silly errors. alumunia shd be our third choice and we really shd only use him when we r in a goalkeeping crisis. he shd be playin the reserves and unfortunately rot there. we shd bring in a young, talented player with adequate amt of experience in the top flight just like the cancelled deal involving viera. i strongly recommend Carlos Kameni.
lineup for this season (4-1-4-1) with our current resoures:
Gk: Lehmann
DR: Lauren
DL: Cole
DC: Campbell
DC: Toure
MR: Ljungberg
AMC: Fabregas
AMC: Hleb
DMC: Gilberto
ML: Reyes
FC: Henry
SB1: Alumunia (hopefully he comes)
SB2: Senderos
SB3: Flamini
SB4: Van Persie
SB5/SB6: Pires/Bergkamp
SB7: Cygan/Song
August 27th, 2005 at 12:51 pm
I agree that Cisse first touch may not be the best..But he definitely has pace and that is something we need upfront instead of Bergkamp..Watching that Fulham game, I kept hoping for a striker with pace because Bergkamp could not get to the balls in the box..It also gives us that lob option if teams packed it in on Henry…I think Cisse is definitely worth a try if we can get him at a good price. Remember that this was badly injured all last season and is probably still not back to form…I can’t believe that he is not a good finisher, when you look at the 20plus goal seasons he had in Ligue 1…I think there is definitely potential here..If the defense sits back, it gives Reyes and Hleb room to run in…Henry and Cisse’s pace would be a nightmare for defenses.
August 27th, 2005 at 3:29 pm
Unfortunately I can’t speak to the Cisse question because I haven’t watched him enough to form an opinion.
As far as Sol Campbell is concerned I think you and I will just have to agree to disagree. I share your regard for Sol’s talents - I just don’t believe he’s worth paying big money to in order to get less than 20 games a season out of. Wenger once said that Sol was a “big machine” who needed more time to recover from injury. I’m afraid we’re talking about a case of diminishing returns. If you told me right now that Sol would be abSOLutely healthy for 75% of each of the next three seasons I’d change my mind - but right now I’d bet my house that isn’t going to happen. Unloading Sol isn’t just about getting a transfer fee - or valuation in the case of a trade - it’s also about getting rid of his heavy paycheck. It’s just good business.
Anyway, I am absolutely thrilled about the future of Arsenal. The new stadium is the lifeline to future greatness, and it trots towards completion as I write this.
August 27th, 2005 at 3:39 pm
I agree, the wings are looking solid as can be. Strikers? We have yet to see really where we stand. Maybe we can move Cygan there? LOL.
Bergkamp looked like a stormer v Fulham though and really opened up Henry’s game.
I have just posted an Arse-related tribute here.
August 27th, 2005 at 4:02 pm
Bentley isn’t as good as he thinks he is. I wrote last season that Bentley wouldn’t figure in the first team this year. He isn’t better than any of the many attacking options we have to include Quincy and if he can’t be patient, develop, and try to become a better player then he needs to leave.
Everyone knows how strongly I was opposed to the Vieira departure so I won’t go there, but the center midfield needs a ferocious presence. There is no need to look for a “Vieira replacement” because no one in the world can do what Vieira does. We do have Flamini and what he provides is a phenomenal work rate, a hard tackler, and if his passes clean up, he can start our great counters. We will lose Fab’s playmaking ability but if you look at our current crop of attacking players, do we really need him doing that as much as we need steel in midfield? It’s a bit difficult to come into a game if you don’t play from the start and that’s what Flamini has had to do. Hopefully Wenger will give him a run of games soon and we can see what he can really do.
We also need Sol back healthy and fit. Everyone praised Senderos last year but I watched him in Holland this summer and he looked very average. His situation is a lot different from last season. There is pressure on him to perform as he is fighting to keep his place instead of taking his chance when Sol was hurt. Drogba owned him and his confidence was shot. In my book, Sol is still world class. We are solid everywhere else. Almunia is a good back up and our attack is solid.
My only other beef is our captain being a striker. Henry is one of the most remarkable players in the world but to ask him to do what he does and lead the team is a bit much. I’ve never seen a striker be a captain in the true sense of the word and win championships. Someone corrected me that Shearer won a title at Blackburn which I forgot about, but he wasn’t the Blackburn captain. It just goes to show how difficult it is. If anyone can do it Henry can. I wish him good luck.
August 28th, 2005 at 12:53 pm
Just like Aliadiere, Bently is just not quality enough to break the starting line-up at Arsenal. Both of them are certainly good enough to start in the EPL, just not at Arsenal.
I think it’s the best move for himself to get a contact elsewhere or he will always be a 2nd string player and never get the cash he might desrve to play. We’ve let players go in the past and it’s all a part of the game.