How will Arsenal line-up at the beginning of next season?
Posted by Chris Rivers on May 28th, 2009
With the dust settling on a slightly disappointing season for the Gunners, I’m taking a moment to look at the areas that need strengthening for the start of next season. After all, Arsenal’s weaknesses have been the main discussion amongst Arsenal fans of late.
Finishing 18 points off leaders Manchester United in the Premier League is a very large gap and issues will need to be addressed in the summer to prevent this happening again.
Injuries did play a key part in their failure to land a trophy. Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo suffered major setbacks this season. Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Gael Clichy and Emmanuel Adebayor also missed crucial periods of the season.
However, one would hope with injuries always inevitable in such a fast paced and gruelling league, the squad would be able to deal with such
setbacks. Arsenal’s squad was stretched to the limits though and at times, the lack of experience in reserve was a majorly negative factor.
Personally, I believe their main weakness was the midfield. Arsene Wenger even admitted the loss of Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb disrupted the midfield, and they found it hard all season to find the correct balance.
Denilson and Alexander Song played massive parts this season, but neither of them are quite playing at their full potential. This is an area Wenger may look to strengthen, with Miguel Veloso of Sporting Lisbon a potential target.
Arsenal’s defence has been questioned this season for lacking a leader similar to that of Tony Adams or Martin Keown. William Gallas was stripped of his captaincy during the season and Kolo Toure doesn’t strike anyone as a natural leader.
Brede Hangeland has had an inspirational season at Fulham, assisting in their Europa League qualification. He might well be the missing link in the Arsenal centre half position.
As for the forward line, the rumour mill has been turning for a few weeks now, with Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie’s future up in the air. Adebayor has stated this week he intends to stay at Arsenal but with interest from Chelsea and AC Milan, a bid from either club may be too hard to refuse.
Robin van Persie is also stalling over a contract offer from the club. However I can’t see the Dutch international going anywhere. He still has a lot to achieve at the Emirates.
If Adebayor were to leave though then he would need to be replaced and either one of Edin Dzeko or Klaas Jan Huntelaar could fill the void. I
suppose we will have to wait and see.
Taking everything into account, this is the team I am hopeful Arsenal will be fielding first game of the season.
GK: Almunia
SW: Hangeland
CB: Toure, Gallas
WB: Sagna, Clichy
CM: Nasri/Veloso, Fabregas
AM: Arshavin
ST: Adebayor/Dzeko, van Persie
What are your thoughts on this? As always, let me know!
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May 28th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Walcott should be in the starting 11… Defence is the main focus, however a CDM is what may just be missing. A back four of Clichy, Gallas, Toure and Sagna is solid, but there needs to be more depth not if but when injuries occur. Beyond that, I agree with the lineup, though “we shall see” about who AW looks to add…
May 28th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Hangeland is not the answer, he’s slow, lumbering and not good with ball at his feet.
It should be 4-4-2
1 CB is needed who is a stopper who will attack the ball in the air and someone like Daniel Agger at Liverpool would be idea to play along side either Gallas or Toure
1 CM / 1 DCM in the Paul Davis/Flamini mode like Alonso @ pool or Scott Parker @ WHU to play along side Cesc
GK – Almunia
FB – Sanga & Clichy
CB Gallas & Agger
CM Cesc & Alonso
FW Walcott & Nasri
CF Ashavin & Eduardo
Subs from – Bentner/Toure/Rosicky/Gibbs/Van Persie/Fabianski/Wilshire
May 28th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
well i agree most of ur words aresenalist
)
but i dont think it would be good idea to have 5 ppl in defence
i mean we dont need SW however one of CB must do that job.
we need some good player in our defence like canavaro ( old times i mean
in all area we need proper subs so if one of them couldnt play subs can fill his position well , our first team is good i think all we need is proper subs
and the other thing is : ” why arsenal every year has a lot of injuries ….compare to other teams its really high in these past years….sometimes i think maybe the doctor of arsenal isnt that good , and maybe the way of training isnt good….i dont wanna be negative or criticizing the coachs cause i’m not in that position , but it really makes me think!….
May 29th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Almunia
Sagna. Toure. Gallas. Clichy
Fabregas. (signing). Nasri
Walcott. RVP. Arshavin
May 29th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
I think the midfield needs to take some responsibility for the defencive problems as we have dont really have anyone to fill the DM spot that flamini played. Song and Denilson are quite good but not good enough to be winning the league and diaby seems to think he is an attacking midfielder because he definately isnt playing like a holding midfielder. Someone like veloso (who I thought only bolton was after) or barry who apparently now wants to be a gunner would surely do the job. I agree that hangeland would be useful especially in the air for our short defenders but im not entirely convinced he is top four material. He is a bit slow and one good season isn’t enough. varmaelen isnt bad either but he is quite young too, we need to buy some experience. my lineup would be
Almunia
LB/RB – clichy, sagna
CB – Toure, gallas
LW/RW – nasri, walcott
CM – fabregas, barry/veloso
CF – arshavin
ST – rvp
subs: fabianski, vermaelen, gibbs, song, bendtner, rosicky, eduardo
May 30th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Well I must say that I’m not crazy on the Hangeland signing…but with the injuries we have sustained this year he could be a helpful replacement. I think Arshavin should definatly start, he provided a spark that this team so dearly needed, albeit a little late and not in the champions league where we needed it most.
I know the prospective Alonso signing is still being mulled on by AW and i would greatly like to see his expeirence beef up our midfield. Him with cesc in the middle and theo/nasri on the wings would, I think, be a good lethal combination. But I just see it unlikely we will sign Alonso, so I will be happy with Veloso or any other good signing, I trust AW. I agree with Andrew’s lineup, only I don’t see Agger joining us this summer…and I think Arshavin and van Persie in the starting striking posistions are a a threat to any defence.
May 30th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
I say that the man in the center of the park is essential and I’m not talking about Fabregas.
We need someone who can truly take over the center of the park, someone who can do more than what Flamini did.
I think that Barry is a fine suitor in that position.
I say, we need a player who can bounce off the wings, someone to add competition to the squad who has immense class.
I think that player is Raphael van der Vaart.
Perhaps Hangeland could work out at the back, but I think that Micah Richards could work just as well, maybe even better.
Another defender that is really strong in the air and is not afraid to get down and dirty is Alessandro Gamberini from Fiorentina. Another player that would add exuberant class to our defence.
Adebayor should stay. If the team can together surmount a title challenge, he’ll definitely have a major say because he will be more hungry to win.
May 30th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
All those who are uncertain about Adebayor leaving should look at some video from the season before last. You will see a hyperactive, talented frontman running at defenders, passing and moving, causing chaos and missing too many chances. Now he is static and just misses far too many chances.
May 31st, 2009 at 12:11 am
GK: Valdes
RB: Sagna
CB: Gallas, Hangeland
LB: Clichy
RM: Walcott
CDM: Song
CAM: Fabregas
LM: Wilshere
CF: Arshavin, Henry
June 1st, 2009 at 12:07 am
There is almost no way van der Vaart will leave Madrid for Arsenal, and I think Barry is a long shot to leave Aston for the Gunners also.
I also think if we sell Ade we will get a nice sum for him that we can use towards bolstering up our troubled midfield. A couple signings for midfield and defense and staying relatively healthy next year should give us a good chance at winning some long over due trophies.
June 1st, 2009 at 2:38 am
Like Aris, I think T.Henry will retur this summer. He went to Barca to get the Champions League cuz Arsene Wenger was rebuilding Arsenal at that time. Maybe it’s the right time for Henry to get back!
I believe, we need an experienced midfielder like Seedorf, who can get physical with physical players and lead the team.
One of my friends told me that Diego of German club, Bremen, is a great player and I watched his video at youtube, I’m totally excited by his talent. Maybe we need a player of his pace and vision. He’s only 24 and a wonderful talent like all the Brazilians!
But the most important thing is to keep this team together if we wish to win something in season 09/10 cuz we had rebuild the team all the season 08/09
June 4th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
News flash: TH 14 is NOT coming back to the Arsenal, whether he wants to or not. For the record, I seriously doubt he would want to. Didn’t any of you watch Barca this year? Was Henry good? Hell yes! But he also was much, much slower than he was when AW deemed him surplus to requirements and let him walk for a nominal fee (nominal for someone of Thierry’s proven class, in any case). And he would not be capable of playing a full 90 minutes in the EPL (playing in La Liga is NOT like playing in the EPL). Thierry is still good, but he’s no longer World class. He’s lost his dynamism, and we would surely have to pay as much as we received for him two years ago, when he was not yet 32 years old… which is ALSO NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!
While I clearly think there is no way TH 14 will be back in Gunner’s red, and the children who wrote that he would return are stark-raving mad, what I find even more maddening is that each person who submitted a prospective first XI included captain crybaby William Gallas, often at the expense of Kolo Toure – a faster, stronger, younger (although not lacking experience by any means) ARSENAL man. Kolo’s downturn in form has coincided not with his own deteriorating skills, but with the partnership of Gallas. In short, Gallas can go on a free tranfer as far as I’m concerned. And he should be replaced with a similar but different (i.e. better) player…preferably someone a bit more in the mold of Nemanja Vidic; a big, mean, intimidating Center Half from eastern Europe; a real shin kicker with good on-the-ball skills who can also win battles in the air, and keep up with Arsenal’s required movements. I don’t know if that’s Hangeland, but it sure as shit isn’t William Gallas.
One more thing: Aris thinks Victor Valdes would be a great replacement for Almunia. That is the D U M B E S T thing I have read in a long, long time. Almunia is every bit the shot stopper Valdes is and a better distributor of the ball. Of course, Aris also is one of the children who thinks TH 14 will be back, and that Alex Song is the obvious answer in midfield (he would replace Almunia, but NOT go looking for a holding midfielder?!?) and while I think we ABSOLUTELY DO need to find a true holding midfielder to partner King Cesc of Fabregas, and that there should, in fact, be a place for Song in this side, as he WAS quite good in the second half, I don’t believe he is ready for a full season in that role. But I should probably defer to Aris, as the youngster has proven his footballing intellect is unrivaled. After all, Aris does include Little Jack Wilshere in his first XI… and I am certain that nobody else reading this article would have ever thought to do that! Unbelievable. Really. and really unbelievable.
June 4th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
…maybe I should have also included the side I’d like to see run out on opening day (as long as I spent so much time criticizing everyone else’s selections. So here goes:
RVP
Arshavin
Walcott
Nasri Cesc
Michael Essien
or
Yaya Toure
Clichy Sagna
Kolo
Vidic (haha)
Almunia
June 8th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I certainly believe hangeland would be the right guy for us. he is a top class central defender that would compete with djorou, toure and gallas. I’m not certain about him in a SW position though, if we want to play with a sweeper we should look elsewhere.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:58 am
Hello people. I think that the current situation puts us in the position that Hangeland might not be coming after all. Vermaelen, the Ajax captain might be coming.
Goalkeeper:
Almunia
Fabianski
Vito
My pick: Almunia
He has had a mixed season, ranging from terrible (Ronaldo) to wonderful (take any world-class save). However he has kept us in many games and has saved 2 penalties and saved one in the penalty shootout against Roma. For me, I would certainly pick him.
Defender (Left):
Clichy
Gibbs
Traore
My pick: Clichy
Gibbs is still learning, and Traore is more of an attacking player. With Nasri and Arshavin constantly on the left, it must be a more defensive-minded wing-back, in other words, Gael.
Defender (Central) 2:
Gallas
Toure
Djourou
Senderos (?)
Song
Silvestre
Hangeland (?)
Vermaelen (?)
My pick:
Hangeland / Vermaelen and Toure if Hangeland is transferred, otherwise Toure and Gallas.
Hangeland has had an excellent season with many fantastic moments including a certain goal against us. He goes for the challenge and can clatter any attacker to bits if he wants to. I would pick Toure over Gallas because Toure has less insane moments and does not tend to fall over as much as Willie G used to.
Vermaelen as I have seen is a tad short, but he heads the ball with determination and purpose. Besides scoring goals, he also tackles in Vieira fashion. Put simply, take the ball and push the man.
Defender (Right):
Sagna
Eboue
Song (?)
Hoyte
Nordtveit
My pick: Bakary Sagna
No argument here. Go to sleep.
Midfield:
Arshavin – Fabregas – Vermaelen (Oh please give him to us!!!) – Nasri
Walcott, Denilson and Diaby – Not good enough. Ever since Theo entered the fray, I always saw him as a supersub. Fantastic pace, good dribbling, decent finishing.
Denilson? I suggest playing him slightly deeper during the easier matches.
Diaby? He should be utilised in the tough matches like Bolton, Wolves, Blackburn and other physical sides.
Forwards:
Adebayor
van Persie
Eduardo
Bendtner
Vela
Simpson
My pick: van Persie and Eduardo
I’ll say something first, and read this
READ THIS
Adebayor will not leave the club. I know it is too early, but he has a 4 year contract, and leaving for Milan will only make his prospects worse. He has not been playing to his best and until he starts doing that, there is no way Wenger will want to trust him any longer.
Why van? van has proven that when he is fit, he scores and scores… and scores. The two may be weak, but look at it this way:
Rooney and Ronaldo are not very strong on the ball.
Torres and Gerrard are not strong at all on the ball.
Why the need for a target man then?
van Persie will probably be floating outside the penalty box, with Eduardo awaiting the cross inside. A passive poacher he will be, like Inzaghi, Shevchenko and Pires. Although Pires was slightly more of a team-player.
Why is Adebayor not getting goals? I’ll tell you why.
I look in the penalty box in any match, who do I see? van Persie and Walcott. Walcott cannot head for nuts and van Persie rarely has enough height to reach it.
Where is Adebayor? Outside the box. Why? God knows. He will try to twist, turn and put a crappy cross into the box. His crosses are very much the opposite of Eboue. Slow, square, straight and hopelessly low.
If Adebayor was always in the box, he would have many tap-ins, headers and scissor kicks. You have Arshavin, Nasri, Fabregas, van Persie, Eboue, Sagna and sometimes Clichy providing a quality cut-back or cross. How could Adebayor possibly starve?
That comes to my final point. Eduardo is very very very very……… very clinical. He has a 90%-odd strike rate and is very narrowly edged out by Zaki in the FIFA rankings. Zaki is at 93%, thank you very much.
He places his shots to perfection and if you were to give him 20 chances to score, you could be sure at least 17 were taken. No more sitters, no more wasted chances. And surely no more whining.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:31 am
if eduardo is fit i’ll be happy with the strikers but it seems he won’t so we need to sell adebayor only i wish Dzeko would stop all that crazy talk about loving milan and just sign for us. He’ll be perfect for us. Why doesn’t he see that??
June 11th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
This is my best guess
Almunia/Buffon
Sagna Toure Gallas/Hageland Clichy
Yaya Toure
Denilson Fabregas
Walcott Arshavin
Adebayor/eduardo
This is the modern formation in EPL and champions league. This is a lethal team. iThink we gonna bring home 2 trophies.Arsenal needs to by the following
GK. Buffon/Kameni
CB. Varmeeleon/hageland/chiellini
CM. Yaya/Alonzo
ST. Dzesko/treseguet
Arsenal needs to sell adebayor big time cash in while he is still good. they have enough quality strikers. they need Big robust players, they get got enough play makers and skillfull dudes.
June 11th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Oh yea Van Persie is good
June 12th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Can anyone please tell me what is wrong with ROSICKY. that kid been out for quite a while. Hoping we get Yaya, here is my pick:
Sagna(RB)……Kolo Toure(CB)……Gallas(CB)……Clichy(LB)
…………… Yaya Toure(DM) …………….
Rosicky(RM) Arshavin(LM)
Fabregas(AM)
Adebayor(ST) Van Persie(ST)
June 12th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Can anyone please tell me what is wrong with ROSICKY. that kid been out for quite a while. Hoping we get Yaya, here is my pick:
Sagna(RB)……Kolo Toure(CB)……Gallas(CB)……Clichy(LB)
……………………Yaya Toure(DM)……………………….
Rosicky(RM)…………………………………. Arshavin(LM)
…………………….Fabregas(AM)……………………..
…………..Adebayor(ST)……..Van Persie(ST)…………..
June 14th, 2009 at 9:40 am
PPL UR ALL SAYING THE LIKES OF YAYA AND AND AGGER BUT WILL THE RESPECTED CLUBES LET THEM LEAVE AND YES THE YOUTH POLICY NEEDS TO BE CHANGED
THE MONEY ISNT THERE FOR THE HIGH PROFILE PLAYERS SO CONDIDERING A YOUNG SQUAD LIKE THIS TO BE 4TH IS GODD BUT WE NEED TO STOP SAYING HIG PROFILE PLAYERS R THE ANSWER
REMEBER WILTARD REYES FOR INSTANCE
June 14th, 2009 at 9:41 am
gk almunia
defence clichy toure gallas sagna
mid walcoot fabregas arshavin nasri
strike ade van persie
we will not sign once again
June 16th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Almunia
Sagna Toure Vermaelen Clichy
Veloso
Fabregas Nasri
Walcott Arshavin
van Persie
June 20th, 2009 at 2:20 am
with gallass attitude, he can go to Milan. Sad to say Toure looks as though he might be out, sell Gallas and see if he stays. Adebayor can hold the ball for long periods of time, but lacks a finish, he can also go. trade adebayor for Yaya or sell him. Melo has an excellent tackle and a good cross, buy him or Veloso
Almunia
Sanga Vermaelen/Hageland Toure Clichy
Walcott Fabregas Yaya/Melo/Alonso/Veloso Nasri
Arshavin
Van Persie
Subs: Rosicky, Eduardo, Fabianski, Song/Denilson, Djouru, Vela
June 20th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Almunia
sanga toure vermealean clichy
rosicky fabregas (veloso, toulalan, yaya) nasri
arshavin
v persie
Subs: Walcott(super sub), eduardo, fabianski, djouru, vela, Song/diaby/denilson
out: adebayor, gallas
in: vermalean, hageland, toulalan, yaya
June 20th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
It is somewhat early to talk about next season’s line-up. Considering some players may be departing, I will just use what we have right now to make a desirable team in 4-2-3-1.
CB: Gallas, Vermealean
LB: Clichy
RB: Sanga
HM: Kolo Toure, Alex Song
L Winger: Rocisky
R Winger: Walcott
CM: Fabregas
S: Arshavin
We need a left winger. Nasri didn’t fit in that role, and there is no sign of him improving in that position. He played far better as a CM or RM. If Fabregas do leave, then Nasri can be the full-time CM. Rocisky is a great winger which was why we got him. I hope he is healthy, so we can see better play from the left midfielders. If two forward are used, I will always go for v. Persie as striker, and Arshavin being CF. If v. Persie can’t commit, then Vela or Eduardo will be ok.
I personally wish for a great holding midfielder like Senna, Yaya, or Toulalan. But we just never know if we can get someone like tha at this point.
June 21st, 2009 at 4:50 pm
in: Melo, yaya, vermalean, hageland
out: gallas, adebayor, silvester
June 27th, 2009 at 1:58 am
in: vermalean, hageland, yaya, melo, manuel neur
out: silvest
almunia
sangna toure hageland/ vermalean clichy
nasri yaya/ melo fabregas rosicky
arshavin
V. persie
subs: walcott, adebayor, gallas, bendtner, song, manuel neur
July 4th, 2009 at 3:29 am
Almunia
sagna, gallas, vermaelen, clichy
Nasri, fabregas, rosiscky
arshavin
adebayor, van persie 4-3-1-2
July 4th, 2009 at 3:33 am
GK: Almunia
RB: Sagna
LB: Clichy
CB: Gallas, Vermaaelen
RM: Nasri
LM: Rosicky
CM: Fabregas, Arshavin
ST: Adebayor, Van Persie
July 5th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Thoughts on this team?
GK: Almunia
RB: Sagna
LB: Clichy
CB: Toure, Vermaaelen
RM: Walcott
LM: Arshavin
CM: Fabregas, Nasri
ST: Eduardo Van Persie
Subs: Adebayor/Gallas/Rosicky/Fabianski/Song/Diaby
July 7th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
hangeland sucks.and why get rid of adebayor willingly hes one of the best players arsenal have
July 7th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Almunia
Sagna-Gallas-Toure-Clichy
Nasri-Vermaelen
Van Persie-Fabregas-Arshavin/Rosicky
Eduardo
Explanation: well, as far as i’m concerned, we are not going to be able to bring in a solid, dependable, experienced, defensive-midfielder. thus, i would experiment with Vermaelen as a defensive midfielder, who sits in front of the back-four with Nasri. that pairing, one more defensive and one more creative, would do well to stop attacks, and create something moving forward. this dual role in front of the back four would give our captain a more free and central reign in the attack, having van persie and arshavin/rosicky flanking him, and eduardo up top, who is clearly able to finish.
i rate eduardo more highly than adebayor. it’s a slight problem, though, in that we are benching one of our higher scorers, in place of one who is injury-prone as of late. but, like i said, eduardo can finish. he won’t need to do the running, with van persie and arshavin more than willing to do so. behind him, he will have fabregas, the master-mind.
i would bench walcott, as i don’t see his contribution worth having him on the field, yet. but, other than that, i like that starting 11.
July 9th, 2009 at 2:46 am
________________________Almunia_________________________________
___Sanga__________Kolo____________Vermaaelen_____________ Clichy
__________Nasri_____Song/Cana?Hitzelsperger?______Fabregas_____
____________Arshavin________________________V.Persie___________
___________________________Adebayor_____________________________
Subs: Bendtner, Vela, Denilson, Gallas, Rosicky, Fabianski
August 4th, 2009 at 6:52 am
okay.so here’s my lineup.
Sagna Vermalean Gallas(too bad guys) Clichy/Gibbs(supersub)
Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas, _____________, Arshavin
or
Arshavin, cesc , ________________, Rosicky if nasri still injured(unlikely)
RVP, eduardo +vela(should play him more)
March 3rd, 2010 at 7:22 am
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