4 Things Arsenal need this summer
4. Holding Midfielder: Song’s emergence as a holding midfielder has been pleasantly surprising, and this role is less of a concern than it was last year but there’s still depth lacking here. Given a 4-4-2 setup with RVP and another striker up top, our first choice midfield right now is Arshavin-Fabregas-Song-Nasri. Though potent, it is only one level deep since the next line would be Diaby, Denilson, Ramsey, Rosicky, Walcott and what have you. Given the length of the season and our history with injuries, it would be naive to assume that we’d be able to play our first line more than 60% of the time. To have a solid midfield the other 40% of the time, we need to strengthen our second line and replace at least Denilson and add insurance for Nasri, Rosicky and Walcott (all injury prone).
3. Insurance for Gael Clichy. Clichy’s pace with the ball at his feet is an excellent weapon, especially when he’s overlapping the midfielder, but let that not distract us from what his responsibility is: defense. He was turned inside out a few too many times last year and it looked like the attacker didn’t have to even try that hard. We don’t have much insurance at the left-back position and ideally, Arsenal want to be two deep there just in case Clichy doesn’t rebound next year.
2. A physical and skilled striker. Vela and Eduardo rely on touch and finesse, which are great skills to have, but the necessary complement to them is lacking. Although Bendtner goes some way in providing the aerial threat, he doesn’t have the composure and play-making ability to play alongside Vela or Eduardo. Robin Van Persie is our most complete striker, but he’s often found to be a singular threat in our attack with the next best scoring threat being a midfielder like Arshavin or Nasri. That has to change a bit, we need to be potent in our 4-4-2 formation and another striker (perhaps of Chamakh’s caliber) would be well-suited.
1. Top goalie. To be blunt, Almunia was never good, Fabianksi makes you nervous and Vito is a ways away. Signing Buffon would be an excellent move as it would finally replace Lehmann properly instead of just promoting the substitute. The intangible of adding a high caliber goalie is the confidence it would inspire in our back four, something Lehmann was excellent at. He almost brought a swagger in our defense that has been lacking since he left and was felt the most against Birmingham and Wigan.
What do you think we need?
We don’t play 4-4-2.
You’ve got to be kidding me that “insurance for Gael Clichy” is one of your biggest needs. We have Clichy, Gibbs (injuried by a FREAK accident), and Traore at that position already and Gibbs was showing the form to be a potential call-up for England this year.
The teams biggest needs are (in order):
1. Central Defense (if Gallas, Campbell and Slyvestre were to leave, we do not have much depth there, and factor in Djoruru’s spotty injury record)
2. Goalkeeper: its clear that Almunia and Fabianski are not going to cut it for a top-notch team
I feel that our mid and attack is strong enough, given Chamukh is coming, and we do not need strengthening there. Ramsey and Wilshire are quality central options and Walcott, Nasri and Vela good wide options
Finally, we play 4-3-3 with Arshavin in our attack. If all players were healthy, i would assume this formation for this year:
—–Almunia—-
Sagna–Vermaelen–Gallas—Clichy
——-Song——–
—Nasri–Cesc—–
Arshavin——Bendtner
———RVP——–
The changes that I think are going to happen are the Chamukh is going to replace bendtner, maybe a new goalie if arsene buys, and a change in central defense if Arsene buys again.
sorry, i pressed enter to quickly
Got to include a couple o’ central defenders and a new goalie….and Tall ones at that
Been following arsenalist for a while, if not for the regular posts but atleast for the match of the day highlights.. do tend to agree with most of what’s said here.. but this latest article seems way off.. don’t get me wrong.. what you’ve written seems quite apt and acceptable.. but i think this should have been written some 2 months back..
i don’t think we are going to sign a holding midfielder, infact signing a midfielder at all, to me seems unlikely. 1st of all we’re not playing a 4-4-2.. we’re playing a 4-3-3.. in which our midfield however injury prone it has been, has still done quite well, i’ve read a large no. of quotes from wenger and all seem to suggest he’s been quite happy with our midfield, for the most part we’ve not only dominated most games with our passing but have also scored a large no. of goals from midfield ala fabregas.. at full strength for the 3 in the middle we have fabregas, denilson, diaby, song, ramsey with nasri, rosicky also able to play there and the likes of eastmond pushing for 1st team chances. i dont mention merida, cause a gut feeling tells me he’s already on his way out.
that’s possible 6-7 players playing in 3 positions so even with injuries i think we’re running quite deep there. yes a true holding mid is only song, but before this season we weren’t even counting on him imagine if eastmond turns around and does a song next year.
The left back slot: i can’t believe that’s the position u’ve mentioned where we need cover, this is one position where arsenal literally roll out top quality players by the truck load. clichy, gibbs, traore.. that’s already 3 top top left backs at our disposal. we’ve had atleast 2 of them injured at one point or the other without much concern. i think clichy is 1st choice easily but the other 2 are really good too. gibbs has matured coming into the 1st team and armand has always looked good from his time at pompey. so i really dont think we need to get a left back. plus as extra extra cover we always have the verminator ready to slot in like it’s his natural position.
i must mention that we must sign 1 if not 2 centre backs.. i dont think we’ll sign 2 .. but we will sign 1.. i think gallas might leave, which will be a blow cause lets face it he and vermaelen are good together. i think sol will stay on and be good cover and so will djourou.. if quotes are to be believed. wenger told djourou you’re the reason i let toure go so you can play. {paraphrasing obviously}
so again left backs not a problem so isn’t right back with sagna and eboue being solid for us.
coming to your big strong striker point. 1stly i think chamakh is a done deal, when wenger actually acknowledges the interest in a player that means that it’s already done so i think he’s on his way. i think next year we’ll have some great options at our disposal cause bendtner has improved this season no one can say otherwise and next year i think he’s just gonna get better. van persie fit is better than most strikers in the league barring maybe rooney, torres, drogba. but that’d still be up for discussion. so with theo, arshavin, nasri, vela, rosicky, eduardo, eboue. we’re good with the supporting 2 following the central striker of the front 3.
though i do unfortunately completely agree about the goalkeeper position. i’d love for almunia or even fabianski to step up and prove everyone wrong but that doesn’t seem likely and well i’d want a keeper in there who would save us in more matches over the year than the no. of matches he’d cost us.
gigi buffon would be perfect, experienced, commanding, wants to play in the epl. but again the skeptic in me can’t ever see this deal going through. joe hart would be a good signing too, with city not letting given go and hart wanting to play 1st team football, this might be a great chance at getting a keeper. but lets wait and see .
fingered crossed pre world cup we should have a striker and hopefully goalkeeper signed.
The reason why this post doesn’t make much sense is that the author wanted more traffic from those who are subscribed via RSS so that the would come and comment on this post, possibly accidentally clicking on one or two ads. haha
I only want to see several moves made.
I. Chamakh deal, signed, sealed, and delivered.
II. Joe Hart comes in. Lets face it, we need more English players, and he is a great goalie, young and experienced. I DO NOT WANT BUFFON.
III. Gallas out. He is a great paring with Vermaelen, but he is older, has injuries and complains too much.
IV. Sol stays on for one more year.
V. Wenger finds another gem like Vermaelen at CB.
I think we definitely need a strong, hard working striker to complement all of our finesse players. Someone like Anelka I feel would be perfect and Chelsea might be willing to part with him given his age and with Sturridge on the rise, they have the money to replace him as well. I’ve never seen Chamakh play in real life, but if he plays like he does in FIFA I’d love to see us sign him on a Bosman, I just don’t know if he has the physical presence we desperately need up front.
I agree that we need more center backs and I’m not so confident about our title chances if we start Sol Campbell. LB isn’t that big of a hole with Gibbs and Traore, although they tend to be attack minded just like Clichy. RB, on the other hand, has no depth, unless you count Eboue, given Sagna might be the best RB in the premiership. A good signing would be an experienced defensive minded full back who could play either side. Aly Cissokho is a player I like and one we’ve been linked to.
If we get Buffon or Hart along with some other strong, experienced pieces like Wenger promised, we might be able to walk away with some silverware.
1. Center-half, perhaps two assuming Gallas moves on.
2. Goalkeeper, I never want to see Almunia in an Arsenal jersey again. He’s just failed on the big stage too many times. Fabianski already sealed his own fate imo.
3. Power striker, lets just check this one off as it seems Chamakh will be the man.
4. Upgrade in midfeild partner for Cesc. I believe Nasri is a wonderful player, but duplicates Cesc’s talents and asets a bit too much. I like how Song is developing in the holding role, but I’d like to see another player added who can bring a new dimension to our midfeil. A nice mixture of power and finese. Someone that can play like Diaby, but with a heart and brain. It would free Cesc up even more, and Song could be that much more disruptive to the oppositions build up if he knows he’s not the only mid whose gonna take pride in tracking back.
Get those and I see us seriously pushing for the title. Also Arsenalist, insurance for Clichy, for real brah? And no way we can afford (nor should we spend the money) on Buffon, I think there are just as effective and more prudent options.
Agree with u on most things! But i think clichy has got cover! But i was wondering wat u guys think of the other wing? Wat bout Sagna??
I hope Joe hart arrives soon! That would be amazing!!
N i do agree that we need cover for Song! But I dunno if we need to actually purchase some1 for that! Maybe Diaby could step up.. Or Eastmond..
I hope Chamakh is enuf! I still feel we need some more power in that area since we do look clueless wen i potent striker isn’t on! I hope Edu n Vela get better over the break! that would be enuf
Oh n Gallas apparently is on his way out since arsenal don agree with the wages he’s demanding! Hopefully we get a replacement! Hangeland maybe?
what arsenal really need is just one center back. if gallas and silvestre were to leave we have to resign campbell as our fifth centre back. Wenger has to stop giving senderos away on loan and keep in the squad as a back up. if gallas were to go to roma we should try to bring in phil jones who has a lot of promise. if not him then hangeland is a chance but he is pretty old so he most probably wont be bought by wenger.
Goalkeeper. this must the foremost priority
almunia is a gud backup keeper but never was and never will be worthy of being the no.1 keeper of a big 4 club. i think akinfeev will be the best replacemnet but if he is not possible then wee must have lloris at the least. monnone shud be kept in the squad as he has potential whereas we must sell off fabianski and mayb even almunia
Striker. Chamakh is coming in so that will be a big boost for us. i cant but stop and wonder how differnt things would have had we got chamakh in at the start of the last season and maybe we would have been crowned champions had we not been in a strikerless situation, that we had to play arshavin up front.
mid is pretty much good so i believe that if arsenal do the changes i propose i think we will be crowned champions for sure.
1. Goalkeeper : Hugo Lloris or Steve Mandanda
2. Striker: Charlton Cole has the height and the strength great combo with RVP better then just only having Bendtner as the only tall and strong complementing striker
first of all I want to say that altough I quite agree with you(Arsenalist) that Arsenal needs a good Goalie and a competent anchor man to replace Song if necessary, I don’t think Wenger would think so, because the fact is Arsenal currently have 3 goalies, excluding Woljech Scszeny(I don’t know how to write his name correctly), and there’s no way that Wenger would sell any of them. Who would buy them seeing their performance this season? I think the solution to this is to trust Vito Mannone, just let him play, maybe he’s just the goalie that Arsenal needs. And the same goes to the need of an anchor man. Currently, Arsenal have 3 players that can be considered as a DMF by Wenger, which is Song, Diaby and Denilson, so I think it’s unlikely that Wenger would buy any midfielders this season, as he said over and over again, “Midfield is not the problem.”
I personally think that we only need to officially SIGN Marouane Chamakh, and spend all the remaining budget on defenders, maybe Simon Kjaer and Nevan Subotic. Either of them paired with Vermaelen would significantly reduce the threats to Arsenal’s defence I think, especially with Subotic being 190cm tall, which, hopefully, could fill up Arsenal’s weakness on set pieces.
I heard people saying that Wenger should buy Eden Hazard. I think that’s unnecessary. We already have Cesc and Nasri, which if played together will be a deadly combination, just like Xavi and Iniesta in Barca.
I wish we had Drogba!
Shay Given – as Joe Hart might pip him on the number one spot – and lets not forget the respect the Gunners fan’s gave him when he hurt his shoulder AND Arsenal’s HUGE Irish following originating from the once HUGE Irish community in North London.Stephen Ireland is goin to and he is a great talent – also Micha Richards and Kompany are good – of course there is other players outside of Man Greedy that I think would suit being at Arsenal…
Ochoa – Good Mexican Goalie
Arteta – if Fabregas goes
Yaya Toure – the new Viera
Silva – Arshavin with a better attitude plus consistent
Richard Dunne – soldier up with big Sol
…anyway thats how for now.
Sell Arshavin and Gallas – plus Silvestre and all the other obvious dung bags.
All the best,
Fuck Spurs.
Sell silvestre, denilson, almunia and fabiaski
I think Arsenal is lacking in the back 4 because vermaelen needs a tall back partner who is strong. the left back and right backs should be more defensive minded because too many goals have gone from counter attacks.
arsenal need:
striker (chamakh or carlton cole)
2 midfielders (1 offense, 1 defensive minded) (wright-phillips, arteta, and/or yaya toure)
2 defenders (CB and either LB or RB)(hangeland, chigrynski, and/or anybody else)
goalie (save us!) (buffon or hart)
total 6 players.
I’d say, the transfer politics depend on Cesc. If he stays, the midfield is perfect. No need to improve anything plus we have amazing backups as well.
If he leaves, what is quiet obvious at the moment and very sad, we’ll miss our heart of game in the upcoming season. So, I don’t think we can close that hole in the season but still Arsene would have to figure out, how we could do it.
Up front I don’t see any need for backups. Van Persie is king anyways. Bendtner is aight and had a good improvement this season. Vela is one of my favs. I’d definetely give him more play time. Eduardo gonna get better as well.
I don’t really feel Chamakh, to be honest. But if he’s for free, we’ll take him.
But I’d rather see somebody like Ivica Olic next to RVP. Someone physically strong and with a good eye for the stuation. Bendtner will get there someday, I hope. But he needs to improve his ball treatment. All this faults when the ball comes to his feet. He reminds me of Adebayor in his first playtime next to Thierry.
The defense is a problem. Left & right wingers are perfect plus their backups, but the centrebacks…. Vermaelen is amazing but he needs a good backup. Sol can’t play a whole seaseon, I guess. Although I’d love to him doin it. So, why don’t we get Senderos back? What about Mats Hummels (Dortmund)? Look at this young guy – he’s amazing plus he scores very often too. Neven Subotic is good as well. Take a young guy, ‘caus Vermaelen and Sol are already experienced enough to form a younger player.
Goalie – get Vito Mannone in there and let him learn. I like this young guy. He’s so talented and he’s very fast.
But at the end I really don’t care, how we will look like next season as long as I can see us play the soccer we are famous for.
I trust Arsene to know what’s best for the team and I trust Arsene to make Arsenal the best club in the world (regarding trophys). But I take it like Arsene. Take your time. We don’t need silver all the time.
Up the Gunners!
What about David James i don’t see the point in spending loads of money(Of which we don’t have) on Buffon don’t get me wrong he is a top class keeper but lets be real guys. the reason why i said David James i think he has potential and he hasn’t really been challenged as much in Portsmouth, he kept clean sheets when he could and pulled out some quality saves for Pompey v Chelsea FA Cup match for one so he is not one of those keepers who breaks under pressure like ares. and England can really benefit from him i think he has great leadership skills why he given captaincy for england 10 occasions and i doubt he be that expensive..
We need more defenders.
Gallas, Silvestre, and Campbell cannot play game per game. With Djourou & Senderos not having the quality.
We need more cover for them. A much younger and Vermaelen-type of player.
In terms of goalie, we have Vito Mannone and Manual Almunia. I think they are good enough.
A better performance from the defenders might help these keepers perform better. We lost alot of games because of poor showing at the back specially Mikael Silvestre.
ummm sunn jim, david james is 39…. see a problem.
if cecs decides to stay, then we have a MUCH easier task to do in the transfer market, all we need is a quality goalkeeper, i would be awestruck if buffon roumers were true, but i would be very pleased if we got hart instead. if we do get buffon, then mannone can be the no’2 goalkeeper, with almunia as 3rd, and fabianski can go back to poland. buffon would be the commanding, experienced, confident WORLD CLASS keeper that every club craves for, manure, chelski, liverpool, and man shitty all have one, now its arsenals turn.
if cecs stays, then we dont need to add anything to mid or attack i dont think. maybe we need a rock of a player like vermealen to provide backup for song when we need to hold onto a lead to come on a a sub, but we dont need to break the bank to get one, i dont want yaya toure, he will cost too much, and i like song, so he will just be a waste, we can probably with some good scouting get a decent player ive just described for next to nothing.
with chamank actually in london to have medicals now, which just confirms that he is here, i think our attack is awesome, if we go with a 4 3 3 formation, then we cound have arshavin, chamank in the centre, and rvp on the right to cut in with his left foot, and walcott to come in as a sub with destructive impact. thats all we need, at bentman and vela seem to be improving as backups.
if cecs goes, then we obviouly need someone of his quality to replace him, i would want a player like snijder to come and repace him, someone with a killer through ball and a good shot.
I think we all need to get Girlfriends!
LOL
@rvpfan
Got that covered
She’s was a Liverpool fan. This season she’s a Liverfool. Thank God for Wenger and not Rafat Benitez.
Best goals in the world of 09/10
chamakh has signed a long term deal with gunners today. fuck yea time to get a solid cb and a goalkeeper
1. we will probably go to a 3-2-3-2 or a 4-2-3-1 next year to free up cesc in the middle of the 3.
2. Gibbs is adequate coverage for clichy and djou in a pinch.
3. Almunia and Fabianski are adequate…
4. I think vela and eduardo are gone leaving bentner and walcott as the second teir…nicky for height, theo for speed.
and before you hop down my throat on 2 and 3….let me explain…
a airplane flying into your house is not likely to happen more than once in a lifetime..the same can be said about picking up successive injuries to player in the same position like we did at LB (and others)…or commit the blunders in which fabianski and almunia contrived to commit this term…I would bank on lightning not striking twice…although we do have a bloke here in the states who was struck 7 times (as a park ranger)…
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