I am making the fairly safe assumption that we will be busy in the January window, considering we have lost more times so far this season than we did over the last 2 seasons combined.
Hopefully Wenger sees the clear weakness in our midfield and buys appropriately- but who does he buy? Ideally Vieira has a dramatic change of heart, seeing his beloved Arsenal lacking bite in the middle of the park and begs Wenger to bring him back to London and performs the rest of the season(and his career) like he did circa 1998.
Diarra was apparently alraedy approached and was not interested and Baptista’s in Madrid.
Larrson and Muamba look really good prospects(Flamini and Song do not) but I would prefer an established star.
Steven Pienaar from Ajax will be available soon and Wenger has expressed admiration. Even though he is not huge, he is a feisty bastard(remember him giving PV4 a hard time a few seasons back!) plus he used to play for our local team Ajax Cape Town, so I would love to see him play for the Gunners.He is still 23/4 and has played Champions League football for almost 4 years now.
Who else is there? That Marscherano(spelling?) kid from Argentina is injured and not too big.
I would like to see Wenger try Toure in the holding slot and move Senderos next to Sol. I would also like to see Gilberto and Cygan sold but that’s also unlikely to happen.
Playing a 4-3-3 formation against Ajax was really exciting. I think this is the future for us. Barca play this system and I really think we have the players(except the Marquez, van Bommel type) to pull it off.
Playing a box-to-box type(Xavi/Larrson/Hleb) next to a retreaded defender will free up Fabregas to do what he does best. By the way, this kid really does not mind getting stuck in, taking on Shearer and Camara who both towered over him, once he gets bigger he’s gonna be a tough geezer. I wish Gilberto had his attitude.
Pires and Ljungberg are not what they were, so playing Reyes and Quincy on the wings,like against Ajax is the way to go.
Whatever formation we go with, we will still need a holding midfilder and there are not too many possibilities, are there? I hope lightning strikes twice and Wenger ‘discovers’ another Vieira and I hope he does it soon.
32 Responses to “Who should Wenger get in January?”
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December 14th, 2005 at 6:16 am
i thought I was the only guy that had something against gilberto..
I really dislike this guy..
look at how clumsy he is…
he was always hiding in vieira’s sahdow and now that he’s left with great responsibilty look at what he is doing..real weakness..
I sometimes even doubt him being a brazilian..
it’s not worth sellin him but he wld be good for the bench in times of crisis..
remember ray parlour..what a beast…gilles grimandi..
we need such guys that will leave an impact and instill terror in opponents…
get better players and drop gilberto to the bench..many guys said we missed him when he was injured but he is instead injurying us..
infact last season when we drew with chelsea he didn’t play…
we will win without the lazy guy that lacks commitment..
he doesn’t even the brazilian first 11…
December 14th, 2005 at 6:36 am
Well give him credit the first 11 is pretty good.
I still don’t get why people are wittering on about Vieira coming back. Wenger sold him because he thought he wasn’t good enough anymore, so why on earth would he buy him back? His mistake was not buying a replacement.
And why would Vieira come back? Would you if you were him?
Anyway, I still want Ballack. He has the personality, talent, drive. But I’m not sure he would want to come to Arsenal.
I have gone off Baptista, I watch him nearly every week play for Madrid and he’s slow and clumsy. He doesn’t use his strength in the way you’d think he would. I’m glad we never bought him, but I’m sure Madrid will get rid of him if he doesn’t improve by the end of the season - so Wenger might make his move then.
December 14th, 2005 at 7:11 am
Gravesen or De Jong - in that order. We know Gravesen can do it in the EPL and he has a good attitude - here’s hoping he sold his house in the north-west.
De Jong didn’t do much against us in the non-event game, but he looks a much tougher player than Pienaar (and actually plays DM).
Senna has been mentioned, but I’ve not seen too much of him play. The spanish rate him highly and are desperate for him to be spanish in time for the world cup- downside he may not want to leave villareal mid champions league and the spanish liga is a different ball game to the EPL.
As we need 4 quality centre mids, it might be wise to consider a threat to Flamini’s place. Flamini has boundless energy, but is very much a ’speedboat without a driver’ type of player at the moment - maybe he can change in time (for our next game) and gain more control of the central area, but I’m nowhere near sure and we are reaching the stage where we need a few certainties in our squad - Hedwiges Maduro, tall, strong, fast, skilful and most of all Arsene, he’s young. Now more or less a fixture in the Dutch national side and can play at centre half as well. Err, he’s injured at the moment though as our belarussian midfield enforcer caught up with him the other week.
December 14th, 2005 at 7:13 am
That remark was made tongue-in-cheek.
‘beloved Arsenal’ ….’ begs Wenger’ …c’mon!
December 14th, 2005 at 7:31 am
The choices really are tough and limited….how about Ghaly the young Feyenoord midfielder who is also tall and strong but I personally have not yet seen him play….
I keep saying Diop although I agree with Danny T saying AW does not seem to like him that much….
One thing I do feel strongly that AW will get someone or two players…but his major overhaul WILL come during the summer before, during and after the world cup as more new players will come to the fore…..
December 14th, 2005 at 7:33 am
i love the description u used on Flamini - “speedboat without a driver”! funny, but very spot on!
December 14th, 2005 at 8:21 am
forgot about Ghaly, like you, never really seen him play, but he’s got the african nations in january I believe.
December 14th, 2005 at 9:58 am
Ok, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Some people make such dumb comments around here that it’s hard to tell when they’re being serious or not.
Remember the custard brain who thought Arsenal would not win the title because they were jinxed in the Charity Shield. He was serious.
December 14th, 2005 at 10:04 am
NO One …
I dont think Arsenal will buy anyone or anyone who can make an impact. We will keep buying those kids … I do like the way AW buys players, but at this time we are in a need for a working heart in the Mid. Ballack or any physical expereinced MID would do it. I would like also to see a Defender who can play LB/RB and also CB if needed. I dont trust Cygan anymore.
I like the 4-3-3 style specialy we have only one real striker (TH14). playing him up with Bergy/Reyes and RVP/quincy behind him. Then putting Cesce/Hleb/Gilberto/Freddy/Bobbie/ (NEW JANUARY MID) will do it for us …
December 14th, 2005 at 10:09 am
I’m not sure how this 4-3-3 system is supposed to work - it looked all over the place against Ajax. Where was Quincy playing? Right midfield or up front? It took me 15 minutes to figure who was playing where.
You can’t change to 4-3-3 overnight. But if Wenger cannot find a decent central midfielder in January he might have to try something he wants us to get more than about 6 pts away from home in the remainder of the season.
December 14th, 2005 at 10:28 am
Gravesen is my choice as well. Nothing flashy just gets stuck in and gets the job done.
December 14th, 2005 at 10:40 am
A note on 4-3-3 and without a deep analysis of the system- we have no Samuel Eto and I think it would be a waste of our key player Henry just to play him through the middle, he needs more space to play and create/finish.
December 14th, 2005 at 10:55 am
I really think that those who suggest Gravesen would be a good adition are looking at the wrong dane. Schalkes Christian Poulsen would be the way to go. Very disciplined in his distribution and combines well going forward. He has packed in creative midfielders such as Totti and Kaka to the point of frustration (we all remember Euro 04), and he will do it again. He is 25 and will peak the next couple of years.
Now he might not be an angel himself, but we could all agree that we need some of that disciplined agression. Playing in Germany has tought him just that.
Wenger, go for it.
December 14th, 2005 at 12:20 pm
Ballack’s had his eyes on ManUre for over a year now. He would fill the void for us, though.
December 14th, 2005 at 12:30 pm
I think the general consensus is that he’s not going to Man U, ie Fergie saying so, and he is in fact off to Real Madrid.
December 14th, 2005 at 12:44 pm
Interesting shout, he’s left-footed as well which would help the balance of the team. Schalke are no mugs. You could be on to something here!
December 14th, 2005 at 12:51 pm
As Danny said, it’s very important not to get too carried away with getting a defensive midfielder for the sake of it without making sure he is top quality in all areas. Just because someone is disciplined and “knows his role” and all those cliches, it doesn’t mean they’re gonna make a difference. While Flamini is a good example of that at Arsenal, Pablo Garcia is a striking one for Real Madrid. Madrid have been calling out for a no-nonsense holding midfielder and Garcia, the uruguayan workhorse, was billed, along with Gravesen, as the man to add substance to the style. Well, it turns out he is shite and more a carthorse than workhorse. Real Madrid would probably benefit more if they played one of their show-ponies in his position as he doesn’t even contribute much defensively either.
So we have to make sure we sign a player with genuine quality and not just because he gets stuck in. Gravesen? No way.
December 14th, 2005 at 1:00 pm
Fabregas will hopefully be the perfect player for the role - when he’s a man of course, right now he’s just a kid - give the lad 2-3 years and he can be one of the best midfielders in the world.
Gilberto must be dropped and a ball playing hard man should take his place. And Hleb needs to get stuck in more, and Ljungberg spends too much time on the floor wabing his arms arouns. It’s not just the middle two - it’s all four of them - they’re all girls!
December 14th, 2005 at 1:07 pm
and when Real played with Gravesen in the role for the second half of last season, they had the best defensive record in la liga. I cetainly don’t consider Gravesen the answer to our prayers, just a good stand in and squad member for 18 months while we discover if our some more of our youngsters are going to be hit or miss. To be fair to Gravesen he can play both midfield roles - at Everton he was their more creative player - and he doesn’t seem to mind being on the bench….at ?2 -2.5m I think it’s a punt worth taking.
December 14th, 2005 at 2:06 pm
A psychiatrist.
December 14th, 2005 at 3:03 pm
Hey isn’t this the same guy who got under Guttoso’s nerves? Gattuso is a tough player and if he felt he needed to make a point to Poulsen, well then Poulsen must have really gotten to him.
December 14th, 2005 at 3:46 pm
Yep, I said we should have got one of those sport shrinks after we lost to chelsea in the champions league after a zillion years beating them. It was and still is, all in our mind and I think we should send Dr. Phil over to London.
December 14th, 2005 at 4:17 pm
We need PLAYERS, not a phychiatrist.
Its ON THE PITCH, not in our minds.
We are not the same team. We lack THE MAN. We could use Edu as well… and the injured players even further the problems.
No pun intended, we don’t have the GUNS.
December 14th, 2005 at 5:08 pm
Bolton, Liverpool, Man Utd away all last season we were outhustled and defeated with physical gusto and tempo and THE MAN was playing in all of them. I am not denying he would help in certain situations but our away performances last season in those games mirror exactly the ones this season. If anything our performances in these defeats have been more promising than last years. Gilberto and Fabregas played in alot of away games at the start of last season and coped just fine. It is in the MINDS.
December 14th, 2005 at 5:32 pm
I don’t agree.
I don’t necessarily mean HIM in particular.
I mean a strong physical player in midfield.
Gilberto and Cesc as a duo are simply not getting it done. Its apparent its more Gilberto than Cesc, but they are a tandem that does not work.
December 14th, 2005 at 5:42 pm
I feel they could work though. If Gilberto just played tough and limited the ridiculous individual errors and lapses in concentration he is capable- he has showed it on occasion in the past. Gilberto has to be benched though as he’s just not up to it over a season. The problem is I have a theory Cesc plays better with a passive midfielder like Gilberto than a forceful one. However Fabregas is not doing enough, offensively, in my opinion to make those allowances for him, even though he’s doing darn well.
December 14th, 2005 at 7:59 pm
Yaya Toure would be my pick for CM..Though he is CL tied. Dirk Kujit of Feyenoord would give some tenacity and scoring as a striker..I believe since Dirk likes to play from deep, the 4-3-3 option would work with him…..
The other option is to bring Vincent Kompany in from Anderlecht and move Kolo to DM…After seeing him make that run in the Newcastle game, it would be worth trying…Unfortunately, AW does not like to shake things up…Kompany is being courted by Chelsea also, so we might have to move for him fast.
Nigel De Jong and Senna would also make me happy, but does not benefit us in the CL.
But considering we will be struggling to make CL next year, we must make changes in January..
But, ultimately Scotty is right, AW needs a shrink.
December 14th, 2005 at 10:12 pm
Food for thought. We buy that Tal Ben Haim geezer from Bolton and slot him in at right back then plonk Ralph into the midfield hardman role. Before you say we have enough right backs, may I say that I’m waiting to be impressed!
December 14th, 2005 at 11:36 pm
I know the names of several and they’re not my friends
They helped me: instead of being depressed, I’m now lacking motivation — but I’m happy. Go figure? You spend all that dough only to have one psychosis replaced with another.
Jeez, when we were kids you stomped on someones toe if they had a sore finger, they’d then forget the finger as they jumped around with a sore toe.
Replacment therapy would have only cultivated other problems - we just need a midfield and it’ll probably cost more than a shrink; unless the shrink is from New York.
December 15th, 2005 at 12:24 am
Toure or Lauren in central midfield would provide us with the physical presence we lack right now. But we also need the player to be good at passing and bringing the ball out of defence and giving it to the attack. I am not sure Toure or Lauren fit that role. No doubt, they will be better than Gilberto. But we need a new central midfielder. The search continues.
I don’t mind playing 4-3-3/4-5-1 till we sort out our problems. Three in CM with two being defensive should add some much needed solidity in the middle of the park. But unfortunately, the two who can play that role are Gilberto and Flamini. So the need for a good CM is paramount.
December 15th, 2005 at 12:30 am
The answer to the defender who can play anywhere along the backline is Hatem Trabelsi. Wenger likes him and was close to signing him too. I hope we get him now and dump Cygan. He would be cup-tied for CL though.
December 15th, 2005 at 8:37 am
I disagree, Stag.
We can win at home, but not away. It doesn’t matter how the opposition plays.
Recently Cesc has been quoted to the effect that Chelsea’s dominance has affected them.
We dropped the unbeaten streak last season, and nearly everything else including our shorts.
Kolo and Freddie at each other’s throats (although I like that one).
Inability to concentrate on set pieces again.
And to top it off, Henry not signing is dangling over everyone like “the sword of Damocles” (thanks, Woo).
In LARGE part, we’re koo-koo in the coconuts.