I like Danny’s comment, putting things into prospective. Not being positive nor negative. Most of all, not being overreacted.
The Liverpool game was disappointing. ‘Cos the team played poorly and didn’t even seem trying.
The West Ham game was purely a combination of poor finishing and bad luck. Important thing is - the team still proved that technically they are extremely talented, or they would not have created so much chances. And those chances are not long ball into the box, they CREATED it through sweet passing.
A team like that, it’s only a matter of time before they click and turn into a geniue title challenger.
West Ham fans being chatting “We have only got one shot”. True. But let’s put it this way - that’s exactly why they are in the bottom three.
If you been watching football long enough, you would see from time to time a team with only one or two shots on target beating the team who created 10 times more chances. But those teams will never go far.
Football is a possession game. Naturally you need to score to make it count. But the ability to create chance is the BASIC element a good team to come.
Nevertheless, I have to concede that our finishing this season has not been good enough.
Simple fact is - there are only TWO proven scorers in our team - Thierry and van Persie.
This is plain simple not good enough. Thierry’s outstanding goal record has somehow overshadowed the fact during our unbeaten season, goals were coming from everywhere. This is the main weakness of our current team in my opinion.
Personally, I feel this West Ham defeat, along with that draw with CSKA (when we created 20 plus chances and blew them all) pretty much sum up our season.
Maybe there are other weaknesses in our team, but none bigger than FINISHING.
I like Adebayor, and he’s getting more and more an impact player. His strength and direct play turns himeself into someone we can trust when he’s on the pitch. Not to mention his remarkable workrate. But he has to improve his finishing.
As for Baptista and Aliadiere, I have given up hope. They are simply not good enough for Arsenal. And I am not someone who easily given up hope on a player.
We started very well yesterday with Freddie pushing up. He may not have lost a yard or two of his pace. But his clever movement created a lot of space in our attack. And Freddie is all about HEART.
When Freddie’s legs were gone in the second half and we brought on Baptista and Aliadiere, our attacking play actually became less fluid.
If Freddie, as a midfielder, made a bigger impact in forward position than Baptista and Aliadiere, it pretty much sum up the story.
Lastly, if there is one position I don’t mind to see Wenger bringing in a quality player, it has to be a GOAL SCORER. As if things remain unchanged, I honestly don’t see either Baptista, Aliadiere, Hleb, or Rosicky will be able to add to their goal tally next year.
Perhaps we can give the youngster Bendtner a shot. But I have a high hope on us next season, and still firmly believe it will be the year we start to launch a serious championship challenge. In order to achieve this though, we need to get ourselves a guy who could put the ball into the net.
18 Responses to “All we need for next season is a goal-scorer”
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April 10th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Good points, I totally agree that Baps is not Gunner material nor Aliadiere, and I also agree that we definitly need a top goal scorer, especially one that can knock the ball in the back of the net when needed. I’ve recently read about another *wonder* kid that Arsene is interested in, he plays for the French side St. Etienne; thats exactly what I dont think we need is another *wonder* kid!!! Dont get me wrong every side has to rebuild no matter what sport your yapping about, and I think Arsene has the proper ideas, we’re just lacking some veteran presence on the pitch, but I’m not saying anything that everyone doesnt already know… We need w/o a doubt to get all 3 points on Saturday v. JJ Juicy Jaws squad at the Big E; if 3 is gained then that will relieve a little bit of pressure, just a little, then take apart Man. City and do our best v. Chelski… I read alot of ppl stating that we need a finisher in the summer, my question is who is out there that we can afford, and that can come in and make a difference??? I like the Ajax player Huntelaar, he is versitile with his foot and head, I believe he’d fit into our system, not Babel, but Huntelaar!
UP THE ARSENAL
April 10th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
it was disheartening watching chelsea and especially Man U today….the spirit, the directness, the wit.
we have the most “european” style team, yet they do the business better and more consistently than us.
they go to america and asia, yet in april they still have a lot of energy to be chasing multiple titles. while we roll around playing idiotic teams in austria….yet we are a spent force.
watching Man U today was just eye opening…..the directness of their play was phenomenal. immediately the winger gets the ball, the only thought on his mind is cutting in and getting a short on immediately and with great speed too.
when the ball is played to an attacking wingback he immediately lays it on…..the receiver IMMEDIATELY tries to get a shot off. no playing around.
their system is SUPERIOR to ours.
wenger is too stubborn and has surrounded himself with way to many yes-men. he and his staff are similar in thought. his players are all similar. that is the problem.
April 10th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
we need a couple of players….but most of all we need a speedy, goalscoring trickster…aka we need our own “cristiano ronaldo”.
where we will find such a player, i just dont know…..that is why i was talking about reyes-rehabilitation recently….because we desperately need somebody like ronaldo in our team…to take the place of say…hleb.
April 10th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
I believe many ppl on this site was attracted to support Arsenal because of the WAY WE PLAYED, the Wenger’s SYSTEM at the first place.
We won the league unbeaten with the SAME system.
We won our DOUBLES with the SAME system.
when we broke into the CL final last year while Man U and Chelsea couldn’t, does that mean our system WAS superior than them then? If so, then how a superior system could turn into an inferior system after a year?
Every team has their own style, it’s difficult to say which is the best.
Important thing is, when a team decide to play a certain way, they don’t change it just because other team playing other style of football and winning.
When everybody sang our praise song during our unbeaten season, Man U and Chelsea did not attempt to change their style and copy ours.
George Graham’s Arsenal being taunted by away fans as “boring boring Arsenal”, GG didn’t give a damn about it.
That’s the way football is. You don’t try to be someone you are not. Or else the result maybe even worse.
April 10th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
I can’t agree more.
Just a few names who I think can improve our finishing:
1. We lack a winger in our team and if Reyes is sold in the summer we need a new recruit. I think that Ricardo Quaresma is the best there is and he can produce the magic of Cristiano Ronaldo. Also he is a solid goalscorer, certainly better than Hleb and Rosicky, so he would be a good buy. After him on my list are Mancini and Gamst Pedersen, two very good wingers who are capable of putting the ball in the back of the net.
2. We obviously have only Henry and RvP as a proven goalscorers and I don’t mind seeing another one to come in in the summer. My favourite is Fernando Torres, after him are Huntelaar, Bent, Klose, Villa.
If we could add two of this players(one winger and one striker) we will be strong title challengers next year.
April 10th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
I agree our true finishers are missing and it shows, also it seems no one is able to beat players 1v1 at the moment, Hleb as we all know can do it (though has not lately) but with all the skill hes got on the ball, he is not a goalscorer, he has a horrible record, and unfortunatly we cannot rely on Henry to score 30 goals a season anymore or even play 30 games a season for that matter. Rosisky is not much better but at least he has shown that he can score from outside the box (though hes missed some sitters inside the box) which is what no one else in midfield can do, Dont get me wrong Fabregas is a great player but unless he can start challenging Lampard, Gerard and Scholes for top midfield Goalscorer we will always suffer as opposition defenses crowd out their penalty box when we have the ball.
Bar major injuries to Van Persie & Henry again & the inclusion of Nicklas Bendtner (with Aliadiere leaving) I think our forwards will sufice though if the opportunity arose with Klose, Wenger would have to go for him. Wenger could then put Van Persie on the Wing in place of Hleb where he plays for Netherlands & we would could then have 3 true finishers on the park.
Im getting frustrated at all the media reports linking us to *wonder* kids, If this season has taught us anything is that Team with more Experience is needed to get you though the tougher games. Also reports had apparently said we had signed a young defender by the name of Yago Fernandez quoting the player that he had indeed signed then other reports quoted Wenger saying in a Press meeting before the West Ham that he had not even heard of the player (Wats with that???). To be honest I just hope Wenger has got it right with Walcott as Giles Barnes looks to me to be next English superstar.
I hope Wenger can find a place for Diaby he seems to be the find of the season & has done a good job even though he has been played out of position.
This is a great team but Wenger still has alot to do to make them true title contenders come next season.
April 10th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Striker…
I like Amauri of Palermo a LOT.
But Andy Johnson would fit quite well here also.
April 10th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Cesc is a very good player.
For 1 full year.
He shouldn’t be labeled “great” until he does it for a while.
He has done feck all since around December.
April 10th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
The one thing I will say is that although everything sucks at the moment and it’s hard to be optimistic, football is 50% psychological and 50% skill. In other words, things can turn around fairly quickly - even with exactly the same players. I’m talking next season of course, when Henry and Van Persie are back.
I think Fabregas will have a big season next year, I think this season will sow the seeds of his physical development. But we need more competition for places too, so I really hope Wenger sells Flamini, Reyes, Aliadiere and Senderos and adds that ?15m to his existing transfer budget to buy at least 2 top class players. And I think he will. I would be astounded if he didn’t. These players need to be a centre back and striker, and a left midfielder wouldn’t go amiss either.
I read Myles Whateverhisname on ANR today and was appalled by his dissection of Wenger, which was well over the top. Where does all this venom derive from when he freely admits to not even supporting the club? Come out of the closet Myles.
Wenger has his weaknesses and we all know what they are, but it’s too easy to forget his strengths when things are not going well.
I think it’s time we all remembered this. Wenger has had 10 seasons in charge of Arsenal, in one of the top three leagues in Europe. His record is thus:
3rd
1st
2nd
2nd
2nd
2nd
1st
2nd
1st
2nd
4th
4th (hopefully)
So we’ve slipped behind, saddled with a ?350m stadium debt and the worst injury crisis throughout Wenger’s tenure so far. We’re not getting what we’re used to, some might say we’ve been spoilt.
Sometimes you really do have to put things in perspective.
I know Wenger has let the team down with his touchline rants and dodgy TV interviews, but equally many of us let ourselves by talking dribble and giving knee-jerk reactions to bad results.
April 10th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
“Dont get me wrong Fabregas is a great player but unless he can start challenging Lampard, Gerard and Scholes for top midfield Goalscorer we will always suffer as opposition defenses crowd out their penalty box when we have the ball.”
Well, tell me how many goals those three has scored when they were 19? Certainly not much. Yes, Cesc needs to improve his finishing, and I think he is improving all the time, just look at the shot he made against West Ham when he hit the crossbar. A year ago his shots were without power, the ball rolled on the pitch and now he hits the ball much stronger and I hope he will learn to shoot with accuracy too. He will get better, just have patience.
April 10th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 10th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
He will get better. He has the potential to be a great player.
But he is NOT currently a great player.
We expect too much too soon, and as always over-rate our players.
April 10th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
I think after United absolutely CRUSHED Roma tonite, and Chelsea found a way to win and advance yet again… we will have 3 teams in the Final 4 of the Champion’s League.
It easily could have been us there… only if… if if…
But one thing is for sure, there can be little debate that the English League has the best teams in the world.
3 teams in the Semi’s of the CL???
Thats very impressive.
I can’t bear to watch, and frankly was routing against all 3… but they all advanced… and well done to each team. An English team will be European Champion again, it just won’t be us.
EPL, best league in the world?
I’d say a resounding YES.
April 11th, 2007 at 12:12 am
We have our own Christiano Ronaldo. His name is Thiery Henry. It would be hard to pay for 2 of the top 5 players in the world with our budget.
April 11th, 2007 at 2:44 am
We didn’t make it to the CL final with the SAME system. Hell, we only made it because we changed the system.
Chelsea changed their system from last year to now and are still chasing 4 titles.
The system is only as good as the players.
April 11th, 2007 at 2:50 am
I agree we need a goal scorer but not sure it’s a striker. We need multiple goal scoring options and there can only be 2 strikers on the pitch. We badly need goals from midfield. Cesc may improve, but I don’t think Hleb or Rosicky will.
April 11th, 2007 at 2:54 am
I really doubt Wenger will sign any proven players. When Bergkamp was leaving he brought in Van Persie and Adebayor and most recently Walcott. He now has 5 strikers all chasing for places that is excluding Baptista and Bendtner.
If Arsenal do the impossible and somehow snatch Klose , Bent or any of those star players, what then will happen to Henry, Van Persie, Adebayor, Aliadiere and Walcott. Unless you suggest some of them go. Because Klose would demand that he has a regular place and since Henry will most likely be a constant it will leave the rest itching for transfers away from the club.
And then there is the Center back issue. Again I don’t think Wenger will buy a proven Center back. He just recently bought Gallas and with Toure, Senderos and Djourou already in the team it will become quite uncomfortable with so a John Terry in the team. He’d demand a regular spot just like a Klose or Bent and that would mean Senderos, Toure and Gallas would have to fight for the remaining spot.
In my opinion the main defensive error is playing two short Center backs. Gallas and Toure might sound like the ultimate partnership on paper but in actual sense they are very similar. They both like and go forward on more occasions that they should and also they both started out as full backs. That being said, I think one of them should either be dropped or move to the fullback.
Think about it. Do you honestly think Wenger is going to add an extra defender to the 4 Centre Backs he already has. He will buy more kids to play in the cups. That is it.
April 11th, 2007 at 9:19 am
Are you nuts??
Henry is a striker not a winger…no matter what you might think.