[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.
69 Responses to “The Team: Inside Wenger’s Head (sort of)”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:17 pm
“the majority will start questioning why his job is un-waveringly safe.”
Take ANY manager, give him roughly 20-30 mil to spend each summer, I would love to see how better a job he does than AW.
If Arsenal gets rid of AW one day, I bet there would be ton of clubs chasing for his signature. He’s the chairmans’ “dream”. Think of it this way - normally, 99 out of 100 times we have heard managers complaining / sulking / moaning all the way to the board for MORE FUND.
Arsenal is probably the ONLY club in the world u actually have media, fans complaining the manager does not spend.
Imagine if you were a chairman, wouldn’t u love to have a manager like this who doesn’t keep urging you to open your wallet?
more, look at the established players we got at the side, Clichy… how much we spent on him? Cesc? Toure? Adebayor? Bendtner?… the list can go on and on. now Clichy, Cesc the likes are among the best in EPL. Adebayor’s value rose rocket high.
if you were a chairman, wouldn’t u love to have a manager like that who helps u save ur $$.
and that’s not all… think of the players we SOLD, the money we made out of it… a 600k buy ended up earning the club 23 mil. a player the clubs spent 8.5 mil at when he’s aged of 20, 9 years later, the club still be able to sell him for 16 mil!
the chairmans would die for a manager like that!
and there’s also a small little matter…. 2 double, and a historically unbeaten season.
…. oh, forgot to mention of the new stadium… well..
why his job is un-waveringly safe?
cos the Arsenal board is no bloody fools that’s why.
the days when Wenger leaves, i bet there’s more chance AW is going to win something elsewhere than us winning something with the new manager, whoever he is.
Time will tell.
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Andez, if the team fails to mount a title challenge there will definitely be great disillusion amongst the fans. That is just a fact - whether you like it or not.
Especially now that the fans have seen that he can no longer keep his best players if the players demand to leave. You cant deny that it has all changed.
And why are you so against a questioning of Wenger? Why must support be “unwavering”? Is he not human and hence prone to errors?
And how is Wenger going to keep any of his really talented players if the team fails to even compete?
My main problem with Wenger is that we are building a much, much younger and inexperienced team yet our wages are EQUAL to that of Manchester United!!!!
Andez, how is that exactly saving us money?
Wenger’s play system is what attracted me to Arsenal…but I dont think he is perfect. His giving unnecessarily high wages to the likes of Almunia, Eboue, Diaby, Denilson, Traore and the rest of em need serious questioning!
His new found fear of “suppressing” youth is incredulous.
We need to go back to the pre-2005 days - we NEVER spent much money on players but we always stayed competitive.
In those days Wenger would never go into a season with somebody like Almunia.
You still think Wenger doesnt need a bit of fire under his bum?
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I just cannot see Diaby and Toure in CM. Wenger has openly said that he is chasing a DM, so it will be him and Cesc. The other 4 will play either as two wingers + 2 strikers OR as 3 attacking midfielders + 1 striker.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:54 pm
I see Diaby as a central midfield player to back up Cesc. Don’t think he is cut out to play the defensive role as he is too lazy and is not the best tackler.
Fabregas has to be better managed this year, I worry that Wenger might flog him to death like he did (to an extent) with Henry. For this to happen Diaby has to step up, and provide a viable alternative to Cesc for Wigan and Hull at home, for example.
I’m confident now for this season. Assuming Ade stays, I think Nasri and Vela add real depth to the squad, and if Van Persie/Rosicky/Eduardo can stay fit and a high profile and experienced replacement arrives for Flamini then the only glaring hole I see is CB. Maybe Sendy will have a breakout season and save us millions in the transfer market? I don’t say that with any deal of confidence though.
My worry though is that all this negative press surrounding wages etc, may finally affect the mindset of some of the players, preventing them from playing at their best.
However Wenger is the master motivator, and if he can focus them on playing Wengerball then we are in with a shout.
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Fred, I completely agree that switching away from 4-4-2 could help tremendously with our injury/squad depth problems in attack. In defense, however, I think it will only work if AW goes for a DM and keeps Toure at CB. If he’s only going to buy one more player, why would he buy a CB and play Toure out of position when he could buy a DM and keep Toure where he’s used to playing?
Anyways, I don’t think the formation we use matters a whole lot, as long as we keep playing Wengerball. Tactics/style/strategy (whatever you want to call it) matters as much as formation, IMO.
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
The reason we went to 4-5-1 in the first place was to cope with the loss of Patrick Vieira. Last year, we played a 4-5-1 because all but one of our strikers were broke. When van Persie was fit, we played 4-4-2. It took Eduardo time to begin to get up to BPL pace and when he began to, we played 4-4-2. As for Bendtner and Walcott, they weren’t better than Hleb so we, prophetically, played a 4-5-1. But Wenger’s a 4-4-2 man.
I’ll agree that the 4-5-1 will probably be essential this coming year. Flamini allowed us to play a 4-4-2, but who will Wenger bring in to replace him and will he have the same impact that our hyper little frenchman had? If not we’ll be stuck in a 4-5-1, which will mean some unhappy strikers.
In your formation, you have Rosicky as cover for Fabregas. Last season, when both Hleb and Fab were out injured, Wenger still kept Rosicky out wide. Why did he think it a good idea to keep our only creative option out wide and stick two DM in the center at the same time; your guess is as good as mine because in hindsight and six months later, my vision is still fucking blurry.
If you remember, last winter I was the one throwing rocks at Wenger’s tactics. That’s when we started losing to Sevilla, Middlesborough, and the sort. It only made sense to take a creative player who’s been a CM his entire career and put him where he’ll produce his instinctive best; especially when he happens to be your only creative type available. If you can truly get inside Wenger’s head and figure that one out for me, I’d be awful grateful.
Lastly, my main concern is that we’ll miss Flamini and Lehmann. It’s nice when your backup keeper is good enough to be your starter. It’s also nice to be able to play with four in midfield but can we do that without Flamini? We’ll see. I think that if we successfully replace those two, we’ll be in the race again this season. I’m telling you, Almunia’s performances were down to Lehmann’s presence and an illusion. He’s a time bomb waiting to self-destruct.
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Actually, I only put in Rosicky and RvP as backup because I expect them to be injury prone again this next season. I fully expect Wenger to start them if they are fit though.
As for the formation, actually, Wenger still played 4-5-1 in a whole lot of games even when Eduardo and RvP were on the pitch.
Agree completely on Almunia. He NEVER actually played that well last season. What exactly did he do that Paul Robinson didnt do 5 years ago.
Almunia is the goalkeeping equivalent of Hoyte. He will struggle to make the top 15 of Prem keepers.
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Have to agree more with Joshuad on Arsene’s use of formations. We played 4-5-1 mainly in the CL and EPL away games when we needed to dominate the MF and provide more static defense. He was also forced into the 4-5-1 when RVP and then Eduardo was injured.
Outside of that he mainly played a 4-4-2 with Flamini, Rosicky, Hleib and Cesc anchoring the mid field. We went to 4-3-3 mainly when we were tied or behind in a game and we needed more offense. I can remember only one instance off hand of starting in a 4-3-3 with RVP, Walcott and Adebayor as the target men.
I have to say that I was particularly impressed whenever we did go to a 4-3-3 formation as we seemed to provide more defense by being offensive minded and actually looked to be more dangerous in that mode.
Assuming Rosicky is able to come back early and keep injury free I think our core mid field will be Cesc, Rosicky and the new DM with any combination of Walcott, Vela and Nasri as the fourth MF. If all our major attacking players are healthy he may utilize the the 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 in order to get his best players on the field together.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:30 pm
We didnt go to 4-5-1 to cope with the loss of Vieira. We did it because it was the best use of our resources, namely Fabregas and Hleb, who loved to play short passes to each other, and who both worked better in a 4-5-1. It was also to cope with the loss of Van Persie to an extent as well.
I love Vieira, was my favourite player to watch in full flow. But Fabregas is going to be better (if he isn’t already).
If Ade stays, it will be the same as last season, Wenger will swap systems according to the opposition and the match.
I think he is hoping that Rosicky is the replacement for Hleb. Don’t think he’ll be as good as Hleb, but he might score more goals!
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:34 pm
And I am going to stick my neck on the line here (unusual for me) and say that Almunia will prove himself to be a solid keeper again this year.
Certainly no worse than Seaman was in his last few years. Logically, he should only get better with age (he’s still young for a goalie) and the experience of playing all last year. Not saying he will be awesome, but no worse than last year, and hopefully an improvement.
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:29 pm
I don’t think Almunia is a spectacular GK, however, he is very solid and rarely makes mistakes. He may not win us many games with an out of the body performance, but obversely, he does not lose us any games due to errors. As brilliant as Czech, Lehman, James and others are, during the course of a season they do make gaffes which cost their teams.
My problem is that I am not confident that Fabianski is ready for the # 2 position if Almunia were to get injured.
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:54 pm
With this current squad we are good enough to finish second or third. Let us forget about winning the title for another year. We can lead the league at any time but we wont have the strength to finish top. Injuries will again be the cause and Wenger will use that excuse again unfortunately. This is a matter of opinion and u guys can jump on my head at anytime cause some of u might disagree. With that said, it is always my hope that Arsenal will prove me wrong.
July 24th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Sounds a reasonable assessment to me tAi.
July 24th, 2008 at 12:10 am
I thought Almunia put in a solid effort and had a solid season. My read was that his calm actually helped the defence (as opposed to Lehmanns disruptive antics at set-pieces) until the wheels fell off due to; Toure (post-ACN), Sagna injury, and general resourcing issues in ‘the clutch’.
We’ve never had a world class keeper under Wenger. He inherited a clearly declining Seaman, bought a whacky cheap Lehmann and has replaced him with a cheap Almunia. Intersperse that with a cameo from an Austrian and flop from a flunky Englishman and it’s hardly a testimony to his gem spotting ability.
But Wenger has been quite predictable in the transfer market over the years. GKs and CBs - he doesn’t spend big on, ever.
July 24th, 2008 at 12:20 am
On formation. It’s 442 unless resources bite, which they likely will and then we’ll mix and match. RvP is the key to 442 and Eduardo if/when he returns fit enough to perform.
The question for me is whether our 451 line-ups contain more strike power than last year. We can’t rely unduly on Ade and Fab. There need to be other outlets for goals. Perhaps Vela will step up in patches? Perhaps Walcott will show more maturity? With Nasri he’ll likely need time to carve out a niche and goals haven’t exactly been his strong-suit so I’m not expectig to much from him this season goals-wise.
July 24th, 2008 at 6:40 am
From http://www.football365.com/mailbox/story/0,17033,8744_3860080,00.html
Is Manuel The Goalie Good Enough?
It just hit me, I cannot think of one other regular starter or regular sub at L’Arse who isn’t at some level in the reckoning for their national side.
Yes Arsenal has some players in and near our starting lineup that are not automatic starters for their countries, Clichy and Sanga come to mind, but at least they are in the reckoning and many believe they should be first choice.
Yes Arsenal in comparison to the rest of the big 4 probably has more players on the books from lesser football nations (Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Croatia, Togo, Denmark, Swiss, and previously Belarus etc) so it’s logical that players from these countries would be regular starters in light that they play for a club as big as Arsenal.
Arsenal has a lot of very young players at or near the first team, but some of them are still in their senior national side reckoning (Theo now Vela and Ramsey) but at the very worst all of these young gunners are in their national reckoning for their age group. Has Almunia ever been?
AND to have a player at such a key position as Goalkeeper who is eligible for two international football heavyweights Spain and er…England, TO NOT EVEN BE CLOSE to selection for either at this stage of his career is alarming for a club as large and as ambitious (hopefully) as Arsenal Football Club. Top Clubs should have top internationals as goalies.
I admit it’s going to be hard to ever feature for Spain with the seemingly ever excellent Iker Cassillas still only a baby in goalkeeping years at 25/26, but to not even have come close to being a reserve goalie for some meaningless friendly throughout all these years? And he is Arsenal Class????
Stewart, Miami
July 24th, 2008 at 7:55 am
Um, Almunia would certainly be in the England squad if he was, er, English. But that says more about the quality of England’s keepers than anything else.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:22 am
It appears Arsenal is not the only club who would not let a greedy player holds them to ransom….
Togolese International Emmanuel Adebayor is worried that his huge wage demands have priced him out of a move from Arsenal to La Liga side FC Barcelona.
New Barca coach Pep Guardiola is thought to be less than happy with Adebayor’s astronomical £120,000-a-week salary demands, and is believed to be no longer willing to pay the Gunners the £37.5million (€47.5m) to bring him to the Camp Nou.
In a saga that has run all summer between the Catalan club and Arsenal it is also rumoured that Barcelona were not impressed by the attitude of Adebayor or his entourage.
With Serie A giants already ruling themselves out of the race for Adebayor, the chance of the Togolese still being at the Emirates Stadium next season is looking ever more likely.
Adebayor has refused to sign a new £60,000-a-week contract to stay at the Gunners, but could now be forced into an embarrassing u-turn, with it being claimed that he has now told a team-mate he wishes to remain at Arsenal.
July 24th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Excellent news, as far as I’m concerned from Football365:
Kolo Toure was diagnosed earlier in the week as suffering from malaria. However, it is now understood that Toure has contracted a mild strain of the virus and has been able to return to the Gunners’ training camp in Austria.
Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger has confirmed that the one player he wants to sign before the new season is a midfielder.
“We will need one more body in there,” Wenger acknowledged. “At the moment we do not have Alex Song who is going to the Olympic Games, Abou Diaby was not here [against Szombathelyi] and nor was Fabregas.
“If we find a reasonable target then we will do it - but there is no special name on the list. We have some time. We have until August 31.”
July 24th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Unfortunately, we really do not have until August.
A new player needs practice time with the squad to become integrated and learn how to play with his teammates, especially a mid fielder, who must have instinctive reactions in order to distribute the ball to spaces where his compatriots are. Also, if not from the EPL, will require time to adjust to the tempo and pace of the league.
The next 3 to 4 weeks are crucial for new players since they will have time to be incorporated into the squad without the arduous task of planning for important Cup opponents. Once the season starts it is much more difficult to seamlessly incorporate new players.
July 24th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
I’m just happy that AW sees the need to fill a gap, as opposed to relying on the players we already have (as so many of us here have been speculating). Also, the news about Kolo is good.
July 24th, 2008 at 11:52 am
nipuna, here’s another piece from the Football365 mailbox on Manuel Almunia, this one with some interesting factual data and a nice bit of humor. (Good God, though, this is getting out of hand. I spend more and more of my time on just 3 things: reading World Soccer, reading Football365, and reading ArsenalAmerica. I think my family’s starting to worry about me… and if this is what I’m like 23 days before the EPL kicks off, what will it be like then?!) Anyways, here’s the letter:
Manuel The Spanish Waiter:
I am thrilled that Stewart from Miami has finally brought up the topic of Manuel Almunia.
I am going to conclude the debate by making a facts-based argument here: since its’ inception, no team has ever won the Premiership without an international goalkeeper in the nets. Blackburn had Tim Flowers, ManYoo had Schmeichel and then Barthez and of course Arsenal had Seaman and then Mad Jens (the lotto Chavs have Cech). I would go further and assert that no English team has ever won the Champions League without an international goalkeeper. Even the rubbish Dudek played for Poland.
Manuel ‘Fawlty’ Almunia is a Spanish waiter who got lost in North London on his way to the tapas bar. I am convinced. He isn’t a real keeper. I just saw Barnet make a mockery of him in a friendly just the other day and he even managed to make James McFadden look like Michael Laudrup at St Andrews last season. I don’t like criticizing Arsenal players (bar Adebayor, Senderos, Hoyte, Djourou, Eboue, Song and Diaby) but Arsenal stand no chance with Almunia in goal. Historical data backs this view. As such, I have decided to seek glory elsewhere by switching to a more competitive league and lending my support to Murata club of San Marino.
‘We’ may even have Romario playing Champions League football for us next season! It certainly beats watching the Russians and the Americans fight their contemporary football version of the Cold War….
Stewie Griffin (Justin Hoyte has a brother. And he is actually worse. Dear God)
July 24th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
It seems quite a few share my opinon concerning Almunia. Not that I’m some sort of authority but I’m not stupid either. Honestly, I don’t have a problem with Almunia being our #1 but with the fact that we no longer have Lehmann in the team just in case he crumbles to pieces. Fabianski’s got great reflexes but it’s his judgement that worries the piss out of me.
With Hleb leaving, we have van Persie so we probably won’t miss him too much, but we need to replace Flamini and Lehmann. I so wish we could have gotten Scott Carson as Liverpool were so desperate to sell him on. He went to West Brom for less than four million. That’s dirt cheap for a keeper like Carson, who frankly is England’s best keeper. It’s arguable whether Liverpool would have sold him to us but he’s a very good young keeper with lots of BPL experience. It would have been nice to see him at Arsenal.
Like I said the other day, if we replace Lehmann and Flamini, we’ll challenge for the title but if we don’t, we might struggle to even beat Spurs; well, probably not but we might.
July 24th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Rocka.
Lets not get carried away.
I think Cesc is a great young player. But he’s yet to win feck all.
He COULD be a player on Vieira’s level… but they are not exactly the same type of player.
The question also might be… will Cesc be a GREAT player for us… at Arsenal, or will he have moved on by then to Barcelona.
On that note,
isn’t Gareth Barry … what we need?
Midfielder with some teeth and experience… a leader… not old, but older compared to our young squad?
I think that would be “THE MOVE”… to steal this guy from Liverpool’s wish list… and insert him into the middle of the park…
But hey, thats just my random thought while looking at Villa … waiting to sort out Barry’s situation.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Agreed Stag, Barry would be the ideal signing for the squad at this time. He would provide much needed height and steel at DM, is accustomed to the EPl and is versatile enough to play across the back four.
I would not quibble about Ya Ya or Veloso though.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Stag, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Viera. But the argument for Cesc is very compelling - he has just won the Euros where he was one of Spain’s best players.
He is only 20, and, along with Henry, carried Arsenal to the Champs League Final, something which Vieira never did.
And Vieira had a much better team surrounding him that Cesc does now.
I don’t think Barry is a goer, nothing in the press indicates that. Would be a good signing though, just as much for the fact that he is English, and thus less likely to want to move in a few years time to Barca or Real like a lot of our other players seem to want to do.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
“Like I said the other day, if we replace Lehmann and Flamini, we’ll challenge for the title but if we don’t, we might struggle to even beat Spurs; well, probably not but we might.”
No way will we struggle to beat mid-table teams like Spurs. Sure, we’ll drop points here and there, but I hardly call that struggling, it happens even when you win the title (well, except for the Invincibles). Almunia will be fine I think, but I agree if he goes down we’re in deep sh*t.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Your initial statement
“Like I said the other day, if we replace Lehmann and Flamini, we’ll challenge for the title but if we don’t, we might struggle to even beat Spurs; well, probably not but we might.”
may well come back to haunt you.
Of all the mid table teams, Spurs have made some astute signings dating back to January when they brought in Gilberto, Bale, Woodgate, Hutton and O’hara and over the summer have complemented this with Dos Santos, Modric and Gomes. Ramos is an excellent coach and if they are able to hang onto Berbatov and Keane we may be under the gun to beat them this season,
I hope not, but it is worrying me.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
woodgate was not an astute signing. they were swamped with injuries at the back, so they buy a defender who is constantly injured?! whatever… fine with me if they make dumb moves. I doubt they’ll hang on to Keane, Berba is still up in the air (for once i’m siding with spurs on something, because red nose is being such a fucking hypocritical, arrogant jackass about the whole thing).
Those other signings are all very good though, and Ramos is an excellent coach. You are right that the spuds may not be a mid-table team next year. This goes back to my prediction from may that the spuds could supplant liverpool’s place in the top 4 this season.
It would be good and bad if they do… bad because i hate them, good because i do love to hate them and i love intense rivlaries. as long as we beat them and st. totteringham’s day takes place again, i dont care what they do really.
But anyways, my point was that we will not struggle to beat mid-table teams. Yes we’ll drop points to them here and there but as long as we keep that to a minimum and dont do it at home we’ll be fine. that was the point i was originally trying to make, but yeah maybe spuds weren’t the best example to use for that.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
I would say that despite the progress we made last season, this season will be tougher than the last. Two reasons
1. Losing Lehmann, Gilberto, Flamini and Hleb is lot worse than losing Henry.
2. Expectations and pressure are a lot higher this season. Contrary to what some might think, nobody has written us off this season. Not many might fancy us winning the title, but many think we will challenge and just about nobody thinks we will be out of the top four. That brings about a lot more pressure than when you are actually written off as having no chance.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Well at least we’ll be helped out by the fact that other teams are having off-season troubles as well. Chelsea have a new coach, who IMO is probably not well suited to the EPL. All his previous jobs were in the Brazilian league, then the national coach of Brazil and Portugal. Very, very different than the English football. Liverpool are Liverpool… they’re having a disastrous transfer window, more boardroom scuffles, and yes, Benitez is still a total Wanker. I think we’ll be better than both of these teams; Chelski have more money and more players but this will be AW’s 13th season in the EPL, it will be Big Phil’s 1st. As for Man U…. not too many weak spots, but maybe Ronaldo will leave and if he doesn’t do so, all this speculation and paparazzi stuff are seaming to have an effect on the squad. Also he is injured and now the Berbatov thing is not looking good for them either.
We are not the only Big 4 team with offseason troubles, though our troubles may be of a more pressing variety (except Liverpool, who suck).
Side-note: has anyone noticed that Mazza hasn’t been on here in forever? He must be a Barca fan now.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I didn’t say we’ll struggle to beat mid-table teams, I said we might struggle to beat Spurs. I don’t believe Spurs wil be a mid-table team next season. But we need to maintain our unbelievable league dominance over them.
Chelsea are far from being in trouble. They’ve managed to keep every player that they wanted to keep. This is the same team that looked dead in the water in November but managed to walk us down and pass us while challenging Manu to the title down to the final day with a new coach that had no BPL managerial experience. As much as I hate Chelsea, what they did last season was simply remarkable. Their entire starting eleven missed half the season to injury and they still finished ahead of us. That is fucking incredible! There’s no way in hell I’m sleeping on Chelsea.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Don’t overplay Chelsea’s achievement too much, their squad was amazing, Arsenal had just as many if not more injuries and only ended up, what 2 points behind them?
July 24th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Chelsea had Cech, Carvalho, Terry, Lampard, Ballack, Essien, and Drogba out for about half the season. We missed van Persie and Rosicky for about half the season.
That’s 7-2, slick. I ain’t the smartest mofo in the world but I can do math. And I’m not hatin’ on what Chelsea did last year. Imagine Arsenal this season without Almunia, Gallas, Toure, Fabregas, Adebayor, a DM, and van Persie for half the season. Do you see us challenging for the title at the last day and going to the CL final?
July 24th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Agreed, Essien will replace Makalele as DM and this will allow Ballack, Deco and Gerrard to monitor another awesome mid field.
July 24th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Makes sense Caribkid, but I think Essien would be wasted as DM in a Makelele type role. He is a real box to box midfielder.
How good would Essien and Fab be in an Arsenal 4-4-2?!!
July 24th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
You mean Ballack, Deco and Lampard I assume. Anyways, you guys are right; They took Man U to the wire in the CL and EPL with Avram Grant and Scolari’s a hell of a lot better than him.
July 25th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Bob Wilson may not be the greatest goalkeeper ever, but he sure hell was the bravest goalkeeper ever. And the man responsible for bringing in David Seaman.
Here’s an acessement of him on our keeper Fabianski (full on Arsenal.com), Wilson pointed out something i always agree - the courage to attack cross is so vital an aspect of a goalkeeper:
“What I love about Fabianski is that, like Jens, he is never scared to come for crosses and trusts his instincts,” said Wilson. “There is nothing greater in the modern game, with the ball travelling so fast in the air, than a goalie who helps his defenders by coming out to punch or kill a move by catching a cross.
“That is the biggest challenge for any goalkeeper and the diamond in Fabianski’s game is his courage in coming for the high cross. If he can add consistency, he will be a serious challenge to Manuel.”
July 25th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Nipuna.
Expectations are higher this season?
Why?
I don’t expect much.
We have not improved.
We have actually lost depth and experience.
Equaling last years total would be a great acheivement.
That could all change with a few signings of impact players… like Barry.
But how likely is that. Not very.
Tottenham is closer to us IMHO… as I think they have improved some.
But how a team gels with new players is a different story.
I don’t think there is great concern that we’ll free fall out of the top 4?
But one injury to Cesc… and we could be in serious trouble.
But we don’t want to stunt the growth of the kids, aye Arsene’?
July 25th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
“He is increasingly reducing the team’s experience and age such that only Almunia, Gallas, Toure and Rosicky are above 25 years of age!”
Wenger did not offer to sell Hleb, Gilberto, or Flamini. These players left for their own reasons and what’s the Manager to do about it other than bend the rules and offer these players unconditional playing time or excessive amount of money!
You can question the wage structure but football is a business and the books has to be balanced at the end of the day. You can also question Wenger’s decision to buy mostly younger, talented players that have yet to proof themselves in the EPL or on a bigger stage than their current club footballing activities, but that’s one way for the club to save on excessive transfer fees after a player becomes famous.
I would just like to see a bit more balance. Continue buying the young talents for the future (who usually needs a couple years to bed in and perform) but also buy a couple veterans that can give us 1 or 2 good years as a stop gap to ensure there is always some experience on the team, and players from which the younger ones can learn from.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Neova.
He could surely bring in a few players over 20.
Future Future Future… when does that come to fruition, if you get younger and younger every season?
It doesn’t. We’d always be playing for tomorrow.
That’s why the veterans or now… mid-twenties players leave the club for “bigger clubs with ambition”.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
You’re right neova, it’s not AW’s fault that they left, but he’s known for some time now that we’d be short in certain positions and short of experience. There was talk of Flamini and Gilberto leaving well before the season wrapped up, so what does he do? Buy young attacking players who have no big-game experience. I agree that the books must be balanced, but that can still be achieved by spending a bit less on the future on a little more on the present.
Hleb really bugs me. A decent footballer (depending on how you look at it), but a despicable, ego- and money-driven human being who represents everything wrong with modern football.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
ChicagoG.
“despicable, ego and money driven human being”
Stop. Please.
That’s ridiculous.
How do you call him despicable?
If you want to say that based on his past?? thats one thing.
but he went for money, in a sport/career… that could END in an instant.
See: Eduardo.
One horror tackle, and your career could be over.
So I don’t blame ANY young footballer (in their 20’s really)… who wants to take care of himself financially.
The other issue, is with Wenger’s ever present plan for the future. Hleb is considered old in Arsenal’s team. So Hleb and others should wait around for the team to come to fruition? with NO older players coming in, year after year… and Arsene jettisoning anyone near or older than 30??
I don’t blame Hleb at all.
He’s a good footballer, going for more money and a team that wants to win NOW… as opposed to a team thats shooting for 2010?
Thats not despicable… its just reality.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
If Arsene wins the CL or EPL this season with his band of Young Gunners it will be a miracle, and the greatest achievement ever by a professional coach.
I have always espoused balance in all things, especially in team sports and if you look back on the “Invincible’s”, we had balance.
We had a blend of youth and senior citizens and we had steel in the form of Viera, Campbell, Lauren and Parlor. We had speed on the counter with Henry and to a lesser extent, Reyes. We had goal scoring mid fielders in Ljungberg and Pires and the divine assist maker and goal scorer in Bergkamp. We also had great dead ball artists in Henry and Bergkamp and a cantankerous but effective GK in Lehman.
The current squad, although probably more technically refined seems to lack that balance and we will need a lot of things to fall perfectly in place for us to bring home silverware in either the CL or EPL. We need to stay basically injury free, have players like Walcott, Bendtner, Song, Djourou, Senderos and Vela come of age. We will need Toure to reprise the fearless Toure of old, Gallas to mature as a Captain and wish a little bad luck on our rivals, Spurs, Many, Liverpool and Chelsea.
I specifically left out Ramsey and Nasri as I think they will need a year under their belt to mature and learn the first team rigors in the EPL.
Having said this, I will still support my team to the fullest and enjoy the good times as well as the heartaches we will have along the arduous journey ahead.
July 25th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
alright, maybe i overstated it, but i still stand by me statement that Hleb represents everything that’s wrong with the modern game. He cant’ show one grain of respect for the man and the team that helped put him on the footballing map? Arsene trusted him and gave him a chance in the side, then when it comes time for Hleb to return the favor to Arsene, suddenly he can’t be bothered to give him the time of day.
Off to bigger and better things, I guess, for someone who thinks he’s bigger and better than the man and the club who helped him reach the pinnacle of his career. And come on, what’s all this with kissing the Barca crest and stating publicly to the media that you know Cesc will return to Barca? Leave Arsenal alone. Fine, you didn’t like us so we let you go to Barca without putting up much of a fight. And then you turn around and call out our star player like that? And the crest kissing… he’s played a grand total of ZERO games for Barca! Lots of players leave Arsenal with class, going out on a high note (ie. Henry and Gilberto most recently), with respect and thanks for the club. But not Aliaksandr Hleb.
July 25th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Agreed Chicago, plus, Hleib’s slapping of a player at the end of last season so he would be banned and not have to play any more games, sums up his personality most adequately.
At that point he thought he was following Flamini, his good buddy, to Inter until Mourinho took over and scuppered that process.
His behavior has been detestable and shows no respect for a club which provided him his showcase for three years. He needs to learn when to shut up and allow his skills to do the talking.
July 25th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
“Having said this, I will still support my team to the fullest and enjoy the good times as well as the heartaches we will have along the arduous journey ahead.”
Well said Caribkid! Yes we may not have the strongest team (on paper), and we have lot of weaknesses. And our manager doesn’t do everything fans ask him to do (he can’t anyway, cos different fans ask for different things, so there’s no way any manager could please all the fans)… and yes we may not win a title next season…
but well, this is OUR TEAM. it doesn’t really matter who’s going to wear the Arsenal shirt next season. all i know is i will be supporting the boys in red and white with all my heart. who cares how other teams spend? so what if Chelsea spend 80 mil and get their Kaka? so what if Man U spend 30 mil and get their Berbatov?
we will be having our Cesc, who cost less than one mil. we will have Toure, who too cost less than one mil. and we will have plenty of other players who probably bought to the club cheap, and who might not have as big as a name as your Kaka, Ronaldo, Torres… and who might not be as good as your Man Utd wonderboys, Chelsea wonderboys….
but they are wearing red and white. That’s what matters to me. if all the odds goes against us? so what? all the odds ALWAYS go against us anyway. Crisis? Didn’t last summer we had a “crisis” as well? in fact, Arsenal might as well change our club name as “Crisis Arsenal”, i’d still be supporting them with whole heart.
folks can admire their Chelsea, Man U’s sugar daddy sugar mommy sugar candy as much as they wish. If Arsenal ain’t gonna spend a penny this summer, so be it.
i don’t love my club any lesser just because we are cheap.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Right on, mates! COME ON YOU RED AND WHITE !!!
July 25th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Carib, I’ll echo Andez… and Well Said.
Yes, of course we support the team to the fullest.
The players aren’t making the decisions on who goes and stays… and its not their fault we don’t buy any experienced players. As long as they go out and give their all… what more can we ask.
But I don’t believe it has to be this way. Its bordering ridiculous at times, when we say every year we have money to spend, then sell older players, and bring in kids. We are getting further and further away… unless we get a few good men, who have some experience and don’t need a season to fit in.
As stated above… it might take Nasri some time… let alone the other kids expected to produce.
When you are chasing the likes of Chelsea & ManU, you don’t have time to piss points away.
Cesc WILL play at Barcelona at some point in his career. Do you doubt that?
Seriously? He has paid back Wenger with his patience and loyalty. In a few years time… I bet Wenger (if still here)… would NOT stand in his way of his dream of starring at Barca. That, is the Arsene way.
We need a Gareth Barry type of signing… experience in the EPL… solid… center of the park … quality signing… for NOW, not 2010.
I see us getting another 22 year old … and that’ll be it.
And we’ll all cheer like hell for the squad… they’ll over-acheive at times, play brilliant football to WATCH… and fall short, because we don’t have depth or experience, and we don’t address those areas. Its getting like a broken record.
July 26th, 2008 at 4:28 am
Offtopic: @Wayne,Nipuna,Any Indian Arsenal fans: A bit of good news here.
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOI&BaseHref=TOIM/2008/07/26&PageLabel=27&EntityId=Ar02700&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T
July 26th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
http://www.justin.tv/
This will be a good site for watching Setanta streams this season. A lot of those nondescript channels on MyP2P.eu are actually found here. Just one more source of football streams in addition to the usual Asian suspects on MyP2P.eu.
We should be give thanks for generous technologically savvy football supporters the world over.
July 27th, 2008 at 1:15 am
Checked it out for the fight tonight. Pretty good quality. Thanks for the tip.
July 26th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
My mind is a blank slate on which will be writ the new season. Expectations: any improvement on last season. I will be very depressed if we finish worse than last season. My hope is that someone will step into that “Eduardo” role and be that additional dependable killer scorer we’ll need besides ?Adebayor? Besides Fabregas, I can’t envision anyone doing that (including you Bendtner) at this moment.
July 26th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/sport/football/article-1038869/Wenger-fights-6m-Senderos-Four-gone-Adebayor-wavering-Arsenal-boss-win-latest-battle.html?ITO=1490
Now this is interesting news. Newcastle trying to take our “Boumsong”. The only reason for keeping Senderos is the principle of not letting another experienced player leave. The only problem for us is that we still haven’t brought in the CB Wenger said he was looking for.
July 27th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Well just sell the entire squad and bring in the reserves to play the premier league matches. That way we will save a lot of money. :P. After all it is not about us winning anything anymore.
July 27th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Why does everyone get so worked up on transfers? 90% of it is utter rubbish. Try and think logically - How many rumors have ever come true? I mean - NOt like the Hleb ones…I”m talking about..Gervinho would love to play for Arsenal etc etc…Its never going to happen.
July 28th, 2008 at 9:13 am
I’m with you Tai.
Lets just play the reserves. They should be great by 2011!!!
Henry to United??!!
That would be a SHOCK!
Seems the Totts want to much for Berbatov.
I’d take Henry for 9 mill. less too!
July 28th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Come on Stag, we are all frustrated at this point but there is still a lot of time before the transfer window closes.
Cesc just came out and said he never gave any interviews and all that is being said is “utter rubbish”.
Like LDE said, most of these rumors are just plain garbage.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Half Time: Arsenal 7 - 0 Burgenland
Bendtner 4
Vela 2
Wilshere 1
Traore hurt in first half with the famous groin strain.
Wilshere playing out of his skin and had a couple of assists. Ramsey doing a good job.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
For those who are interested 7-0 at the half.
LDE: not even getting worked up. I found this rumor hilarious because it paints Newcastle as stupid while trying to once again paint us as financially desperate. Imagine Newcastle willing to ‘donate’ 6mil to our transfer fund by buying one of most ‘beloved’ players. Cracks me up. Ofcourse this rumor was DOA when it said the Arsenal board was behind the decision to go ahead. Hell will freeze over before the board interferes w/ Wenger and his players.
Oh, the details on the friendly. Mighty Burgenland XI are being embarrassed as Wilshere (1), Bendtner (4), Vela (2) have done the damage so far. Not really much of a contest. Sort of like Barcelona-Dundee United w/ Jack Ramsey as the “Beaver”.
July 28th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
10-2 Final. How does Burgenlands score 2 you might ask. Intensity just really dived down and the other team kept plugging away to their credit.
The two players who have really stood out above the rest have been 16yo Jack Wilshere and Coquelin. Everyone is just doing the run of the mill “Arsenal’ thing but these guys have really influenced the game when they are on the ball.
There is not a lot more that can be said about these preliminary friendlies. Stuttgart on Wed. w/ super Mario and someone named Lehmann then the heavy hitters on the weekend. It’s time to get out of the kiddie pool and get serious because it’s 15d to CL qualifiers.
July 28th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Seems like Wilshere is surely in Wenger’s plans for the season for him to be playing a full 90 minutes on this. Thats good. Even the likes of Randall and Landsbury never got this kind of time.
Jay Simpson seems like he is going to make a step up … to the League cup scene. And Ramsey and Vela will definitely be in the first team.
Overall, we have lost Hleb (replaced in numbers and effect by Vela and Nasri). We have lost Flamini and Gilberto (replaced in numbers by Ramsey plus ???).
So basically we need to replace Flamini and Lehmann.
I am sure Wenger is going to take the cheap option and wait to see if Diaby can take a “flamini” stake in CM in the first few serious friendlies.
July 28th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Wilshere has impressed every time he has set foot on the pitch, but still can’t see him featuring in the EPL this year because of his age and diminutive stature. Probably will play in the reserves and get a few cracks in the CC.
A great one for the near future if he continues to improve. he has great technical ability, is never overawed by the competition, is crafty, has goal instincts, seems to be a battler and has an excellent touch on his passes. For me, he has outplayed Ramsey to date and is the surprise of the pre-season.
Justin Hoyte once again failed to impress and I keep wondering when he will be traded to Aston Villa. Vela, Bendtner and Walcott when he came on in the second half, looked in a different class from all other players on the pitch (as well they should), and Gavin Hoyte, Traore, Clichy, Sagna all looked more than capable and self assured.
Jay Simpson looked good with his pace, positioning and movement but missed 5 chances, 2 of which any seven year old could have put in the net.
Vela looked very clinical with his finishing from the strikers’ position and Theo played on the wing which is where he probably will play this year for the Gunners.
Ramsey played well but looked a little winded towards the end. Not a brilliant game and never really stood out for me.
July 28th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Robbie Kean has officially been acquired by Liverpool and now teams up with Torres to make a formidable strike partnership.
July 28th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Very interesting. We will see how that goes.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Not sure Robbie Keane is all that, but I think he’s better than Crouch. Is he better than Kuyt? They are trying to improve. Going for it with proven players. I’ll give them that.
Yes. There is still time to bring players in, but not much… and then it will take time to adapt to the squad… no training with the squad. We are once again, even younger, less experienced… and more notable subtractions than additions. We haven’t improved on a team that needed experience and depth. We are young and less deep, lacking proven winners. Again.
Not going in the right direction. Sorry.
Are there folks that think we are winning the league or CL as currently constituted?
July 30th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Robbie Keane is not a “proven winner” now is he, Staggy?!
July 30th, 2008 at 11:14 am
No. He isn’t Fred. He’s a proven goal-scorer though.
He could help Liverpool. Torres definitely has. I give Liverpool credit for
buying him. They know he can score goals.
You can’t be satisfied with Nasri coming in… and Flamini, Hleb, & Gilberto exiting. Thats not ANY players coming in… that have done anything of note…in the EPL, or any other league worthy of mention.
We are going with all kids. Its an absolute crap-shoot.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Gilberto wasnt significant last season. Vela and Nasri have replaced Hleb. Arsenal now needs to replace Flamini and Lehman as well as plug CB.
We dont need “proven” big money wastes like Keane.