I was going to do a piece today on possible Arsenal reinforcements. The key areas I was going to highlight were obviously across the back 4. However following Sunday’s unlucky defeat to Manchester United, plus van Persie’s disdain at Oxlade-Chamberlain being replaced by the ineffective Arshavin and the subsequent dressing room rows, I wonder if Arsenal will have a new back room staff before they get a new back 4.
Earlier in the season I suggested maybe Arsene Wenger, a man who can only be admired for his achievements and his principals had reached the end of the road as Arsenal boss. The departures of Fabregas and Nasri certainly pointed to the club heading in a different direction than the Emirates faithful expected. The real smack in the face was allowing Clichy to leave to rivals Manchester City for peanuts.
I repeat I have nothing but admiration for Wenger whose faith in youth has to be applauded. But the cracks began to show with his summer signings. Oxlade-Chamberlain and occasionally Mikel Arteta aside none of the players Wenger signed have impressed at all. There are those who will say Gervinho or Mertesacker but honestly would they get into most Premier League sides. Even Jenkinson just hasn’t stepped up to the required level.
For to long Arsenal have been fighting against the financial tides and have been out priced by Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United. It is due to this that Wenger has to keep coaxing former stars, players that he knows back to the Emirates. And this season alone Wenger has lost out on enough decent players through simply refusing to pay the going rates.
Arsenal could of matched United’s bids for Ashley Young and Phil Jones as well as Chris Smalling from last season. They to could have acquired Gary Cahill. Scott Parker was another player they could have signed. Seb Larsson, John O’Shea and Jose Enrique are all palyers who could of given Arsenal something more than their actual signings have.
Now there is probably only two decent centre backs in the league who would possibly be available right now. Chris Samba and Phil Jagielka. If the Arsenal board are serious about keeping Wenger as their manager then they must give him the required £30m to bring these two together.
With the two Manchester clubs and Tottenham and Chelsea seemingly pulling away from Arsenal, they will face a tough test next season to keep the likes of Liverpool, Sunderland, Newcastle and Everton behind them. So Arsenal fans, don’t jump on Wenger’s back to quickly. His record speaks volumes and warrants him the chance to stick to his “guns”. But Wenger you must also realise that the signings of Samba and Jagielka could make the difference between a decent season next year or not.
Comment on who you think Arsenal should sign
Written by Wesley Hillier @armchairstato.blogspot.com
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Stop Whining. How many times have you seen Jenkinson play to pass a judgement on him? I bet you said the same stuff last year around with Koscielny.
Enough with the whining. Someone please stop the idiots from blogging. Freedom of speech gone too far!
And how can you say ‘Jenkinson just hasn’t stepped up’… The guy had played 8 games for Charlton in League one before he signed… i think he had done pretty damn well before injury!
I agree with you Vishal, this guy is clearly a plastic fan, or one, as Bergkamp says ‘only likes Arsenal with trophies’.
Hahahaha. PMSL How old are you?
I don’t get the thinking behind articles like this.. possibly because there is none. We are struggling defensively in the full back areas, so your suggestion is that we buy more centre backs!!
and don’t forget…John O’Shea
Crap..none of the players mentioned are better than what we already have..
Hi Wesley,
I have read your article and while i agree to a certain extent i think you are missing quite a few ‘facts’.
Wenger did indeed match the bids of Smalling and Jones. Smalling decided that he wanted to move to Manchester United in order to learn from Rio and work under Fergie, while Jones didn’t want to leave the North West.
Wenger didn’t bid for Young because it wasn’t clear that Nasri was going to leave, and Wenger truly believed he would stay. Also he left right at the beginning of the transfer window.
How you believe signing John O’Shea would have added anything surprises me. He has done nothing at Sunderland and what message would it have given out signing another Man U reject, after the Silvestre Debacle?
I don’t know why you are clambering on about Samba, the reason he wasn’t signed is simply because he n not very good with the ball at his feet, would have wanted a starting role, and when Koscielny and Vermaelen are fit, they are one of the best pairings in the premiership.
I understand the sentiment about Parker, and i believe that we should have signed him as well, despite the promise shown by Frimpong.
Wenger wanted Gary Cahill but Bolton were greedy and wanted 16 million. So we signed an international centre half with 75 caps, who has played well in his first season. Adapting to the premiership is not easy. Look at Koscielny, and now i would assume you are his biggest fan?
I am a season ticket holder at the emirates, and was at Highbury, and it amuses me that you haven’t mentioned what an asset Santos was prior to his injury. He was a huge improvement on Clichy with his dynamism, and was a huge part of our attacking threat.
Couple that with injuries to wilshere, sagna, jenkinson, and gibbs, i think you will find that any team would struggle.
If you are a real fan you should analyse and criticize, and also ensure that you have your facts right.
We also big 25 million for M’Villa..did you put that one down?
This reads like an article that someone started writing last summer and then quickly finished it off by filling in the names last week. Yeah, things have gone a bit off over the last few weeks but towards the end of 2011 we were the form team in the Premier League. How quickly people turn on the team after a few bad results. Our dodgy start was always going to handicap us and not really allow for another dip, which we’re now having, but it’s hardly Wenger’s fault that all 4 of our first team full backs are crocked. Jenkinson only had a handful of games before getting injured so how you can write him off I have no idea. I agree that Mertesacker hasn’t really shone but Arteta as been quietly orchestrating a lot of our better play, as has been highlighted by his absence lately. Gervinho is adjusting but still looks like he could come good if he can improve his finishing. It might be going too far but I honestly see glimpses of and early days Henry in his play.
Mind you. I think Paul pretty much summed it up. We’re lacking full backs and you want Wenger to buy centre backs. Surely, if we need anything it’s another quality striker to assist Van Persie?
I do not think that Arsenal need another center back now. What the team needs now is a fullback, a creative midfielder and a striker. I will also prefer a full back that can play on both side. The problem we have in our defence is as a result of lack of natural fullbacks. We need Sagna and Gibbs back asap because we cannot afford to continue to defend narrowly and Chamberlain should maintain a starting position for now.When you observe the goals conceded against Man United, Vermaelen and Djourou kept on drifting inwards allowing space for the opposition wingers to run into.They tend forget their role as fullbacks.
an Arsenal fan should always always support his team through BAD more than good . so plz for those who call themselves Fans do it .. Arsenal need support now not boing you shld start motivate ur team and with motivation a 16 years old pal will make BIG IMPACT .
Wes, I’m having difficult day at work and need a good laugh now and then; have you written anymore stuff like this? If, not, please write something about Walcott’s football brain.
I wonder how u people pass your judgment on player!Arteta,oxo,per& gerv,perform below expectation?what else did u need frm these guys,when things are wrong its
We definitely don’t need both of them. Vermaelen and Koscielny could be a fantastic first-choice pairing for years to come. The problem is back-up where we have quantity rather than quality, but you can’t expect a top top player to come and be 4th or 5th choice.
I’d like to see one centreback come in (probably Vertonghen, although Jagielka’s versatility would be good too). And I wouldn’t say no to an established world class left back. I’ve nothing against Gibbs but he’s not (yet) in the same class as Sagna.
In any argument you always have to look at what the club could have done better that was within their control and what factors are outside of their control. It is never as simple as the media like to paint it that it all falls purely within one bracket or another. Our options at right full back are Sagna, Jenkinson and Yennaris. At left full back is Gibbs and Santos. At centre back the first 3 choices would be Vermaelen, Koscielny and Mertesacker with Djorou, Miquel and occasionally Song backing up this. The numbers for each position are enough so just throwing more into the mix isn’t necessarily the answer and it was not AW’s fault that the defensive injuries ocurred in the way and at the time they did. This was outside of his control. What is within his control is the quality of player brought in. At right back Sagna would be hard to improve upon and I actually think Jenkinson and Yennaris offer good back up. At left back there is a question mark. Would we have been better with Enrique or Bains over Santos? The other thing here is that with Gibbs injury record you are pretty much entering the season with one left full back and as much as I feel for him and want him to prove he is world class the club has to protect itself and cannot indefinitely view him as 1st/2nd choice full back if he is never available. Another left back would spell the end for Gibbs in my view and is this situation a case of AW’s famous excessive loyalty to players and not wanting to kill their career. At CB I actually don’t think Samba would improve a Vermaelen / Koscielny partnership which for me is our strongest line up but the question is whether Samba would have been a better option than Mertesacker. Having just bought him this will not be changed now so I think another centre back is not on the cards.
The biggest mistake Arsenal and AW have made is that the players brought in were at the last minute and not 3 weeks before the start of the season. This was basically negligence. For me this has cost us 6-7 points and these points would see us in a healthier position now. If we had these extra points the frustration of the fans would not be as obvious, and now every slight mistake or under par performance has become a powder Keg moment. The booing was not because of that one isolated incident it was the cumulation of all the other stupid things the club and AW did that were avoidable, the worst being the timing mismanagement of our summer purchases. I think if we had 6-7 more points on the board and were in third and only 3 behind Spurs most fans would have viewed Sunday with more balance and would have sympathised with our injury crisis and that we have been on the wrong end of some bad decisions in games we lost by one goal (Spurs, Man City, Fulham and Swansea). If we miss the top 4 it will be down to how late we brought in the players and the points we dropped then, not whether Samba is slightly better than Mertesacker or Bains than Santos. I think most fans secretly know this and are aware that we shot ourselves in the foot unecessarily.
Actually it’s not the players responsible for the current problems.Arsenal should have a proper
system of defence. Wenger was lucky to inherit the gunners backline.
Since Adams and company have gone,Wenger has struggled to get his defence into shape.I believe Clichy when he said the gunners didn’t practise defence drills.
Until this is sorted out there could be more of a defence in crisis. Clichy’s words could yet come back to haunt the FM,especially if the cl berth is missed through defensive inefficiency.
Wenger has not fixed the defence to the quality required of a top team challenging for trophies.It has been like that the last seven years. He was saved by the English backline.
His philophy of attacking soccer is to be appreciated. However it can be turned on its head by a defence that has not learned how to stop leaking goals.
Until this is sorted out,Arsenal will only be a top four to seven team .This is not befitting the stus of a rich club.