This post is about next season so let’s ignore what may happen in the remainder of this one.
When I look at the Arsenal 1st team squad and try to put together a strong starting line-up it is alarming to me the depth of the problem we have, we have a drastic lack of …depth! The positions we are weak in are all over the field, I say weak by our past standards and thats who I’m judging us against. Right about now a bunch of you are probably saying “weak?, wer’e full of internationals!”. Alright then, here’s my weak list of players who I think should be on their way at the seasons end, who do you think should stay..and why?
LEHMANN
PIRES
LJUNGBERG
REYES
BERGKAMP
CYGAN
GILBERTO
POOM
CAMPBELL
ALMUNIA
10 players on a premiership team that has illusions of toppling the likes of Chelsea, UTD and ‘Pool next year….not a bloody chance!
My thoughts on this lot? All our goalies are not good enough, especially the back-ups, there is no doubt we must sign someone of class between the posts. Campbell has lost a step and is easily beaten, apart from that he has become injury prone. Cygan is a poor cover defender and not even premiership back-up quality. Gilberto’s job is to do the things that go un-noticed, covering holes and tidying up, he does that so well this year that he has absolutely no effect on his team mates and we are almost playing a man short! Except that also applys to Pires so in effect we are two men short!! Ljungberg makes great late runs into the box, but last year to a point and the year previous deffinately he would score, this year he misses…he is sadly past his best. Reyes has never achieved his potential here, times run out on him. That leaves Bergkamp….a great player who we all know will retire at the seasons end, but that still leaves a position to fill dosen’t it?
10 players…………………….Our manager has a lot of wheeler dealing to do in the off season. NBG.
17 Responses to “…Should they stay or should they go, I feel that Wenger does not know!”
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January 30th, 2006 at 8:16 am
Keep Almunia as a spare keeper, Bergkamp was already out the door so that’s a non-starter, and otherwise flog the lot. Maybe to Harry Redknapp.
January 30th, 2006 at 8:19 am
This post seems to be an extension of my “Exit 4…” post.
Anyway, my thoughts
Lehmann - Stay. He is not the best but is playing well. It could be because it’s world cup year.
Pires - Leave. He is supposed to be fighting for a new contract, but absolutely no sign of it on the pitch.
Ljunberg - Stay. He is fighter. His late runs into the box are missing because there is no Bergkamp to pass the ball there. But he will graft it out. Didn’t he do well against Bolton?
Reyes - Stay. He has talent and potential. His problem seems to be decision making and execution. Wenger needs to make it clear to him what his best position is (left winger, for me) and play him there consistently.
Bergkmap - Leave. He is a legend but he can’t keep doing it at the age of 37.
Cygan - Leave.
Gilberto - Leave. I always felt he couldn’t tackle. Take Vieira/Edu away and he has been exposed. It’s better to play an inexperienced but committed Diaby/Flamini instead of him.
Poom - Leave. He is nothing more than a short-term solution. We need a good and young GK who can be first choice for a long time to come.
Campbell - Stay. He was never the best, just that he was made out to be so. Even WC2006 is not enough to inspiring him this season. But he can carry on for a few years, just doesn’t have to be first choice.
Almunia - Stay. A good shot-stopper, he makes for a good #2. We need a long-term replacement for Lehmann.
January 30th, 2006 at 8:30 am
I may regret saying this but keep Reyes. Behind all the diving, and having a mental capacity of a 10 year old, he has saved our asses defensively in alot games at highbury and can be pretty good player. He is so good at highbury I’m willing to accept the away performances…for now.
Ljungberg should stay. He has played well all season in my opinion. No question on him except his injury situation. If he gets injured more than once in the next few months, we should off-load him or at least relegate him to the bench.
Lehmann should stay as should Almunia. Poom is doing us no harm.
The rest? thankyou and goodbye.
January 30th, 2006 at 8:51 am
I would like to add some more players for the chop.
Hleb. Doesn’t know when to pass the ball. Needs to run with his head up not down at the ball.
Bentley, he is still an AFC player, done nothing at Blackburn and wont add anything with Van Persie taking his place.
Aliadere. Same reasons as above, out on loan and done nothing.
However I would keep, Poom, has anyone seen him in an AFC shirt? If no, how can you comment.
I would keep Reyes and Freddie and Lehman is a good keeper, had a good season this year.
I would be happy to see Campbell leave if we signed another CB as well if Cygan is going. So I guess the next article should be who should we sign.
January 30th, 2006 at 9:46 am
Lehamn … We need a long term younger keeper. But I think he is a good goalie. Confident and controling. not many keeper has this ability.
Freddy and Gilberto : They are still 28 or so … They play better with different blend of players such as Veirra .. So Keep them .. Unless replaced by highly known stars like Ballack or Robben !
Cygan : Leave and let Dijouro do ur job !
Poom: sure whatever, I prefer a young keeper who would learn from sitting on the bench.
Alumnia is a good backup keeper.
Bobie and Sol: I am between letting them go or stay. Kinda feel that they will leave and still have one year to go. I think we need Sol to stay for now … hoping his next year is better. Bobie should accept rotating and stay in Arsenal.
January 30th, 2006 at 9:47 am
Reyes - stay. He is young and the decisions will get better. I agree that his best position is on the wing and not striker. His passes can sometimes be sublime (and crosses)
Almunia - I think that his decision making has gotten better this year as he adjusted to more crosses. He used to flap continuously last year at them and this year he is more confident.
Lehmann - He is having his most consistent year this year. He should get one more.
Poom - Good experienced backup. Keep
Ljungberg - he has been working his socks off for the past few matches and has had improved performances. Ok, so the goals haven’t come just yet - no problem. He also just signed a long term deal…
Pires - Bye Bye. Let us pick up another winger, or see what Smyth or even Bentley can do when they come back from loan…
Cygan - not good enough. Never has been. Caught out for pace too often and decisions can be horrendous.
Gilberto - he has been having his worst season here. Can’t tackle or pass. Heading is good. If we have someone on the horizon, like Ya Ya Toure, then adios, but I am encouraged by the last performance against Wigan. Perhaps Diaby gave him a kick up the arse….Jury still out until the end of the year….
Campbell - He has been injury prone for the past year now and never seems to get into the rhythm. He can’t be automatic first choice anymore, but I am encouraged with Djourou and Senderos. We may need some good cover here as well though. I think we should keep him until the end of his contract.
January 30th, 2006 at 9:58 am
Have Lehmann or Pires signed new deals? If not they are off on bosmans.
Lehmann has been good this year, given the extra motivation of the world cup, but I think we are going to let him go. Judging by his relations with Kahn/Almunia he doesn’t take kindly to any other keepers. Almunia is an adequate number 2 and I’ve always thought we’ll be getting Isaacksson in the summer.
Pires - has not been playing so much because of Cole absence, so quite harsh. I’d keep him because our nest performances come when Pires is on song.
Campbell - we all know that Campbell/Senderos does not work, he’s worth keeping as experienced back up at the very least.
Ljungberg - I think he and Pires were in the top 10 goalscorers in the league last year. One inconsistent season does not a bad player make.
Cygan - we couldn’t give away last summer, we had a greed a free to Lille or Lens, Cygan decided to stay. He won’t have the option this summer.
Reyes - if he ever finds consistency, he’ll be world class. given that he recently signed a 5 year deal, I think he’s here to stay.
Poom - He’s not considered part of the first team staff anyway. I think is being groomed as a coach, Neil Banfield has been singing his praises all season
“I can?t speak highly enough of Mart Poom in the way he is around the place and as a professional for his trade, he?s outstanding”
Almuinia - popular with all the players, apart from Lehmann, and a decent enough number two.
Gilberto - he has been woeful next to Fabregas this season, although so was Vieira for a spell last year. Perhaps his broken back dented his confidence! By definition of his role a lot of what Gilberto does goes unseen, however that doesn’t excuse him for giving the ball away for the first 10 minutes of every game. I think Diaby should give hiim a challenge/can be a good partner for him. Difficult, because if we let him go, we would lose our one experienced player from the middle at a time when we undoubtedly need 2 experienced player vs the 3 youngsters. I’d be inclined to keep.
January 30th, 2006 at 10:00 am
NBG,
Agree with most of what you say….
Lehmann - stay; not another No 1 around that we can afford.
Pires - out; done well but needs to go….Babel in.
Lungberg - out; done well and still runs but is ineffective. In my opinion he started slipping one year ago to the date when he missed against Bolton in the FA cup from 4 yards out……yeah, we all remember that…
Reyes - keep for another season and decide; he should have gotten better by now but hasn’t. Clearly disappointing. And missing a PK that would have seen us play MUFC doesn’r help his confidence either.
Bergkamp - Thanks for your brilliance; we love you. Bring in another striker.
Cygan - out; is he related to Wenger???
Gilberto - Out; as much as I thought his absence hurt us last year, his presence has hurt us this year. He has been AWFUL. Diaby should be first choice.
Poom - haven’r seen him in AFC shirt, so don’t know, but I like him when he was with his former team (which escapes me now)
Campbell - out; bring in Ledley King…what a coup that would be
Almunia - stay. He is a good #2. But we’ll need a No.1 in 2008.
I think our problem this year has been lack of attacking from the wings….ineffective Pires/Lungberg, in addition to a weak backbone in the middle of the park. It all goes hand in hand.
Big Gun
January 30th, 2006 at 11:11 am
So we should jettison Gilberto and play the teen Diaby, based on his illustrious 2 matches?
You can’t be serious.
Agree on our attack lacking because of the lack of speed on the wings, especially the left side. With Cole out, we’ve suffered tremendously there.
January 30th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
Sure - getting rid of 10 players will do wonders for our squad depth!
We need to add to the squad for more depth and to fire up the players that are here.
Agree that we need much more speed on the wings. It’s not coming from Hleb or Pires. Think we’ll see a lot of Walcott next year, even though he’ll only be 17. A more experienced addition would be great, or maybe moving Clichy or Cole to LM.
Our goalies are fine. Lehman has been our best player this season, and Almunia has also done well. Never seen Poom play, so can’t comment.
Don’t see how we benefit by getting rid of Campbell at this point. He’s not going to get us much of a transfer fee. We need 4-5 CBs during the course of the season and I would be happy to have Sol in there for 20-30 games. He looks fine next to Toure
Cygan - good riddance.
Ljungberg has been better in the last 2 games. Maybe PHW’s comments fired him up. If he can keep up the figh,t he should stay.
Reyes should absolutely stay. Has shown great determination (for the most part), superb passing at times, and the talent is definitely there. But he’s by far the most effective when he’s in the withdrawn striker role of Dennis, not as a LM or as the forward striker. His passing is much more effective when he has the freedom to move right and left and back and forth, not just stuck out on the left with little space to work with.
Not sure about Pires. When he’s on, he can still be brilliant, but it sure doesn’t happen much these days.
Gilberto has been a disaster this year, so I wouldn’t cry if he left. Doubt Wenger will move him out though.
Bottom line: need to add players. Get rid of one or two. Addition by subtraction is not going to work.
January 30th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Hold on fellas, what you?re propositioning here is a virtual wholesale slaughter of the vets and thus the first squad. Risky business! I think putting some arses down on the bench and making the positions for first team a little more competitive might be an easier solution. What I do think should go is the 4-5-1 in favour of what we do better 4-4-2.
Having said the above then:
LEHMANN ? stay having a good year
PIRES ? stay for another year contract but he will not like it
LJUNGBERG ? far from finished just needs a 4-4-2 to have someone to chip the ball to
REYES ? great left winger keep him
BERGKAMP ? he should stay forever in the form on a huge bronze sculpture somewhere in the new stadium ? do not forget me when considering an artist, besides he is Dutch.
CYGAN ? you can?t fault the guy for working in places without complaint but we need a better substitute than him so we won?t cya again cygan
GILBERTO ? what?s with him and his passing - in a different formula than with Sendros if not then let him go
POOM ? don?t really know him
CAMPBELL ? love the guy, a spur that saw the light thus hate to show him the door but he? been in such poor form this year it might be time to find greener pastures
ALMUNIA ? he?s looked much better this year keep him for now
WENGER ? keep him, it?s his squad now let him tinker with it; we have great potential
RED-CURRANT ? go you red (there?s no currant in that) even if I look better in this colour. red-currants are sour much like this year has been.
January 30th, 2006 at 4:07 pm
I can only see one player to leave so far and thats Cygan. I believe it will be better to push youngster to play for the first team to gain more experience.
Reyes - I don’t understand why anyone would suggest to let Reyes go. If you havn’t notice, most of the attack is being done by Reyes now. He can create many goal oppurtunities. He have excellent pass. I really believe that he might be the player that can replace Bergkamp.
We still need Pires and Ljunberg eventhough they are getting old. They are still really strong offensively. Pires make really good run and pass. Ljungberg too still look dangerous at scoring.
We need Campbell He’s probably the most experience cdefence on the team. He is also someone that youngster have to learn from.
SO Far I really don’t think that there is anything to worry for Arsenal. I am positive that THe Gunners will come back stronger than ever. Lets face it, we have so many talent thats its insane. They just need time to learn from each other thats all.
January 30th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
P.S. I forgot to mention. I think we should get Torres. If you’ve seen Spain international play. Reyes and Torres might be the perfect Duo
January 30th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
As long as Gilberto plays like a one-legged donkey, yes I would rather see a robust, physical 19 year old.
January 30th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
Gilberto is suffering from Vieira being gone, the defense being poor, and having to adapt to Cesc, who’s not a defensive midfielder.
I am not making ANY excuse for some of the horrid performances that Gilberto has put in this season, but Cesc gets a free pass from many.
I don’t care about his age at this point. Either you can do it, or you shouldn’t be starting all the matches.
Diaby is not the answer right now.
Nice to have him… and Walcott too… but they aren’t going to help much right now.
January 31st, 2006 at 1:18 am
More than half of the players on the list are veterens. I mentioned in my post (the veterens) that they all seem to have lost form and step together. I believe Ljungberg and Sol will regain it back before season end and as a result you will see Arsenal go on a run hopefully very soon.
As for others yes off load them and start a fresh. If with the current youth talent AW can add 2 players of proven calibre around the 25-28 years age group then we have the makings of a very good team that would beat Chelsea and Utd and Liverpool.
By the way did you hear the rumour about Real wanting Ashley Cole in swap deal for Baptista! Not a bad alternative is it?!
January 31st, 2006 at 11:37 pm
Diaby may not be the answer, but he is better than Gilberto…right now