After the Transfer Window had closed, QPR Captain Joey Barton tweeted the following about Arsenal.
“Nasri and fabregas [sic] replaced with Benayoun and Arteta?? I wouldn’t have done that on FM2010”
The controversial man of the moment has a point and it raises the question as to what state Arsenal in. Barton made these comments before the North London side played Swansea and Blackburn but his words hold true after two very unconvincing performances.
What has to be looked at is who they have replaced man for man. As Barton says, Nasri and Fabregas have been replaced with Benayoun and Arteta. Elsewhere, André Santos has come in for Gael Clichy and Park Chu Young appears to be the Nicklas Bendtner replacement.
Wenger also brought in another centre back in Per Mertesacker and Gervinho gives further attacking options. Carl Jenkinson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Joel Campbell were also bought with the future in mind.
However, in all honesty quite a few of the players they’ve bought all come with doubts to them.
For example, Benayoun has been crippled by injury over the last year. For all the brilliance of Mikel Arteta in the Premier League, he’s not as good as Fabregas as his lack of a cap for Spain shows. André Santos isn’t the first choice left back for a Brazil side which has been poor by their high standards.
Although Park Chu Young is the captain of Korea, he was relegated last season with Monaco. It begs the question why are Arsenal buying relegated Ligue 1 players. Even Mertesacker from Werder Bremen hasn’t played for Germany since March and is notorious for not being the quickest player.
Now it’s good in a way they all have doubts because you could look at it in the way that they all have a point to prove. However, when you’re shelling out around £50 million, it seems puzzling.
Wenger is known for his ability to find a gem but his powers of management have waned rapidly over the last few years. It’s almost as if the Frenchman has gone to the second hand store having missed out on the likes of Juan Mata over the summer.
Rod Liddle commented on Wenger’s transfer dealings in the Sunday Times on the 4th September.
“Arsene Wenger has behaved much as I do on Christmas Eve when no presents have been bought and Sainsburys is still open.”
It is the departures of Fabregas and Nasri that overshadow all of Wenger’s signings. There’s a lack of passion from this current side, especially without the fantastic prospect that is Jack Wilshere. Arsenal’s fortunes should increase upon his return in November.
Nevertheless as Simon Barnes articulated in the Times recently, the players don’t seem to have much faith in Arsene Wenger’s methods. His point resonates further when you glance at the table. Even if Wenger is able to restore faith, without Fabregas and Nasri, things look significantly bleaker for the Gunners despite the late flurry of summer arrivals.
Written by Archie Rhind-Tutt for FootballFancast.com.
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It must be a slow news day. The transfer window closed weeks ago, but if you must rehash this story…It’s clear that Wenger made substantial bids for a number “star” players, but clubs weren’t willing to sell. Admitedly, he probably left things a bit late for selling teams to find adequate cover, but at least he got some decent players in the end to fill in. If he didn’t bring in anyone, people would’ve screamed for his head; when he does bring in new signings, people like you complain anyway. The media seem to relish in Arseanl’s recent struggles. The team just isn’t English enough, I guess. Anyway, no one is saying that Arteta is as good as Fabregas, but I wouldn’t take his failure to be capped for Spain as an indication of how good he is (look who Spain gets to pick from). There are very few members of England’s national squad (probably none) who could walk onto the Spanish side. Also, Nasri is overrated anyway–what did he do for the second half of last season?–nothing. He disappeared. And since when is Joey Barton an authority on anything?! This is a guy who threw himself to the ground like he’d been shot when Gervinho bitch-slapped him and has to tweet everytime something comes into his empty head. Please find something real to report on; or maybe take a correspondence course on journalism.