The Team: Inside Wenger’s Head (sort of)

July 23, 2008 | 69 Comments

[Note: This was submitted prior to last Sat's Barnet game]

I think this next season will be a watershed, make or break season for Arsenal in general and Wenger especially. He is increasingly reducing the team’s experience and age such that only Almunia, Gallas, Toure and Rosicky are above 25 years of age! That is incredible! Ofcourse some players can still be bought before the “window” closes.

Wenger has of this weekend (Barnet friendly weekend) has promised “one or two at most” signings. This ofcourse is annoying and frustrating to hear for quite a lot of us. However, lets look at his problem from his own perspective – or rather what I think might be his perspective.

Now we had problems last season in defense and with regards to depth in some areas.

I think its safe to say though that Wenger will not bench Toure completely. Afterall if he cares so much about the “hopes of youngsters” I dont see him benching a regular like Toure all of a sudden – but then again he did the same to Gilberto – so who knows.

Anyway, Wenger played 4-3-3/4-5-1 in about half our matches last season. I expect him to use this sort of formation far more often in the next. With a 4-4-2 we look rather thin and uncertain. But with a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 we look a bit more stable.

I would prefer both a new CB and CM but I think Wenger will just buy one of those. He might buy a CB and push Toure into a three man CM.

Overall as it stands, 4-4-2 does not make sense for us – without additional buys. But with a 4-3-3 we could make do with the “1 or 2″ signings Wenger talks about. Infact, a 4-4-2 will only become feasible if RvP, Rosicky and Eduardo are fit – otherwise it doesnt make sense.

With the current realities on ground this is what it is shaping up to look like next season:

————————-Adebayor—————————–
————————(Bendtner)—————————-

——Nasri—————Fabregas—————–Walcott—-
——(Vela)————–(Rosicky)————(Van Persie)—

—————-Diaby——————Toure——————
—————(Djorou)————–(Denilson)—————
—————-(Song)—————-(Ramsey)—————-

Clichy—————————————————Sagna
(Traore)———————————————–(Eboue)
(Hoyte)————————————————(Hoyte)
—————–Gallas(c)——-NEW CB—————-
—————-(Toure)————-(Song)——————–
—————-(Djorou)———–(Senderos)—————–

————————–Almunia—————————–
————————(Fabianski)—————————
————————-(Mannone)—————————-

Overall in this way, we dont look too bad especially with a proper CB in there….it also allows Toure to still play while being displaced from CB. With a 4-4-2 though, we look light on the wings, upfront (considering we cant count on RvP) and even in central midfield.

Hopefully Wenger really has a PRAGMATIC plan – not some “pie-in-the-sky” crossed-fingers kind. If not, the majority will start questioning why his job is un-waveringly safe.

Posted by Fred | Filed Under Arsenal News