Arsenal won't score enough & too easy to score against
By Matty Sadler
August 12 2016
Arsenal transfers are probably one of the more widely discussed football topics on the internet and on social media and don’t really need any further discussion. So, let’s discuss them once more.
2016-17 Season Preview Part 2
As mentioned in Part 1 (see link below) , our squad situation is near-identical to last season, and so is our transfer situation. Last summer we signed one “starting player” in Petr Cech, who was a much needed signing and came in to have a good season. This summer we have signed one “starting player” in Granit Xhaka, a much needed marquee central midfield signing.
So far, that is yet. Yes, we have signed young Japanese striker Takuma Asano, who is set to go out on loan this season, and young centre back Rob Holding, but by neither of these can be classed as immediate “first team signings”. Anyway, last summer’s transfer problems, on the surface at least, seemed to very much be Wenger having too much faith in, and gambling on, the quality of his current squad, as he came out with frustrating gems like “the best way to strengthen other areas of the team is to get the players who did not play a lot last year fit and keep them fit”, followed by “after, if we can still add some quality, we will do it”, before adding no further quality.
He gambled on Per Mertesacker being okay for another season, but he wasn’t and notably cost us in three big games. He had faith in Gabriel’s progression, but he didn’t develop as we might’ve hoped and was a liability at times. He gambled on Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini being adequate backup for Francis Coquelin, but they weren’t. He put faith in Walcott’s ability as a centre forward but he let us down massively and had a very poor season. This summer, on the surface at least, we do actually appear to be trying to get transfers done, with equally frustrating Wenger sound bites such as “we always look for quality”, “we’re active” and “we’re alert”, but, if news reports are to be believed, penny-pinching is an issue again.
Everybody will have their own opinions as to where they think we need to strengthen, but as things stand to two most pressing areas for investment are the long standing centre forward area and the increasingly alarming centre back area. If we do not strengthen these areas it is difficult to see this season being any different from previous seasons. We’ll create a lot of chances because of attacking midfield and flair players. Olivier Giroud will go on a scoring run that will cause many to debate whether he truly is world class, before going on a barren run which will see him panned by fans and pundits alike. What will we do then, throw Chuba Akpom in? Try Theo Walcott up there again? Not exactly ideal. Even with Mertesacker and Gabriel, possibly, fit and Koscielny available, we’re far from a strong side defensively either, and their injuries have just made the situation worse. As things stand we won’t score enough and we’ll be too easy to score against.
Higuain we go again
Apparently Arsenal were used by Jamie Vardy and his agent in order to engineer a new improved Leicester deal, but it wouldn’t be an Arsenal transfer window without us being embarrassed somehow. Of course, the now-annual Gonzalo Higuain rumours cropped up again, though he has since signed for Juventus so I think those rumours are dead and buried for at least another year. Mauro Icardi and the now-injured Alexandre Lacazette are the other forward rumours this summer, but they immediately become hard to believe when you hear the quoted transfer fees.
A rumour for City’s Wilfriend Bony has recently appeared out of nowhere as well. In terms of central defenders, German World Cup winner Shkodran Mustafi has been the biggest rumour, as of the time of writing this, it is being reported by various sources that we’ve agreed personal terms with him and are in discussions with Valencia over a fee, rumoured to be anywhere from £20 to £43 million. Personally, I think he’d be a good signing as he is a good defender, is comfortable in possession and can also play right back, where we probably need another option (more on this below), plus he’d be another mate for Mesut Özil. We’ve also been linked to Jonny Evans, nobodies first choice but a solid defender with Premier League experience, and Fabian Schar, who we’ve been linked with on and off since at least 2014. There have been a lot of rumours about Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez as well, and whilst I wouldn’t be against us improving any position, I just feel we have more pressing matters.
I don’t want to turn this into an article ranting about players we’ve missed out on but, when you consider our desire to do things “on a budget”, there are two players who moved this summer on the cheap and I don’t really understand why we didn’t go for them. Ashley Williams moved from Swansea to Everton for somewhere between £9 – 12 million, while Wissam Ben Yedder moved from Toulouse to Sevilla for about £8 million. Williams is a solid, experienced Premier League defender and would have added some much-needed leadership qualities to our squad, plus his age, 31, would tie in well to the expected development of Calum Chambers, 21, Rob Holding, 20, and Krystian Bielik, 18, and you’d hope by the time he is finished at least one of those would have been ready to step up.
Ben Yedder, on the other hand, had been a consistent scorer in France for years and years in a poor Toulouse side, and would’ve provided that alternative to Giroud we desperately need as a short, fast, skilful flair player. Personally, I just think that, for a combined fee of around £20 million, these could’ve been two shrewd moves.
In terms of outgoings, Yaya Sanogo was completely left out against Lens, and left out of the US and Scandinavia tour squads, so you have to assume he is going to depart either permanently or temporarily. Gedion Zelalem and Serge Gnabry, who is doing excellently at the Olympics by the way, both need loan moves, while it also doesn’t make sense for Ainsley Maitland-Niles to return to youth football after a full season of Championship football, so you have to assume he will go back out on loan as well.
As mentioned above, it has already been said that Asano will go out on loan this season, as will Nigerian youth signing Kelechi Nwakali. Mathieu Debuchy doesn’t want to be here anymore and, in normal circumstances, nobody would stand in his way, but given how short we are at the back you feel we’ll probably keep him at least until Carl Jenkinson is fit again. That being said, Jenkinson’s future here is no guarantee either. After one excellent season on loan to West Ham, the following season he was inconsistent before his loan move was cut short due to injury. The right back spot is one we’ll probably have to revaluate next summer.
At the risk of oversimplifying things, in my opinion there are two tiers of “top sides” in the Premier League. There is a “top tier”, which contains Chelsea, Man City and Man United, and a “second top tier” which contains Liverpool, Tottenham and us, and I guess sides like Everton, Leicester and West Ham have to be included in that group now. Although it will be harder this season than ever before, I feel our current squad, on its day, is perfectly capable of finishing in the top four, but further additions are needed. We need to finish the reinforcement of our spine. Even before Mertesacker and Gabriel’s injuries, we needed a better centre half, but we now we find ourselves down to the barebones. We still lack quality in attack, and have done since RVP left in 2012. I guess what we do in the remainder of this transfer window will be the biggest indicator as to whether we are a top side who want to challenge for the biggest trophies, or pretenders who are happy with coasting in the top four every year. If Wenger pulls something out of the bag in the remaining weeks of the transfer window, the “madness” Arsenal fans on Twitter have hyped about, I’ll happily hold my hands up.
I wanted a central midfielder, a striker and a centre back this window. I still dream of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. It is just a shame these deals weren’t sorted earlier. Also what Arsenal does in the remaining weeks of the transfer market could also play a very big part in whether Ozil and Alexis, and even Koscielny, choose to extend their contracts here.
It is a shame that the club is re reactive, rather than proactive.
Part 1 of Season Preview. Here
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016:08:23:21:28:32 by Padre Pio.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016:08:12:14:50:05 by alanp3.
Quote:alanp3
long and boring.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
The problem, however, is that we're not looking to buy for the sake of it, we want to improve the team. Gabriel is out for two months, after the international break it would be one month, and you don't go and sign a player because you have one player injured for one month. Koscielny, Gabriel, Holding, and Chambers are better in my opinion than Baily, Smalling, Jones, and Blind. It's true we can do with a top class defender to partner Koscielny, but I think Wenger is not convinced that Mustafi is that person, especially for the fee rumoured that Valencia is demanding for him. This would explain why we're now being linked to another defender from Athletico Madrid. I think Wenger is looking for options in that position.
Clubs who have money have not been able to get for themselves a top class defender for several seasons now. Chelsea has continued to extend Terry's contract; Mancity has bought Savic, Nastic, Mangala, and Itamendi in the past 5 years, and only Itamendi has had one good season, the other three were massive flops. So when you see how top clubs with bottomless pit of money are failing to in their bid to add top quality, then you would begin to appreciate why Arsenal, a club that can't afford such gamble, are taking their time to find the right quality. Look at Gabriel, what if we had spent 40 million pounds on him and he turns out to be who he is now (not so good), then from where would we have the cash to do another gamble? So, like you said, the name of the game is prudence, and to be prudent in a mad market takes more time.
The other players you're dreaming about are not available for transfers. It's difficult, almost impossible, to get quality in this transfer, which is why we have to give Wenger more time.
As things stand now, we may not score enough like you said, but we certainly won't be easy to score against. Kosn Holding, and Gabriel are three very good centrebacks, but the midfield in front of them is the strongest in the league. Xhaka and Coquelin in front of our defence will bring stability to the team. Things are not as bad as people think.
"A club is a union between players, supporters and directors". - Wenger.
Arsene wenger has done an absolutely masterful job within the constraints he has... Every single year, he has outperformed our spending every single year he has been manager. It is extraordinary. -Gazides.
Quote:De Times
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The other players you're dreaming about are not available for transfers. It's difficult, almost impossible, to get quality in this transfer, which is why we have to give Wenger more time.
Wenger had the whole of summer to sort out what the team needs to improve but he didn't.
Quote:De Times
As things stand now, we may not score enough like you said, but we certainly won't be easy to score against. Kosn Holding, and Gabriel are three very good centrebacks, but the midfield in front of them is the strongest in the league. Xhaka and Coquelin in front of our defence will bring stability to the team. Things are not as bad as people think.
This is Xhaka's first season in the BPL. He will take time to get used to the BPL and his team mates. The defence is essentially the same as last season. Same for the attack. No improvement.
I said at the end of last season that in this transfer window, as a minimum, I wanted a top central midfielder, a first choice centre back and either a top centre forward, or a better alternative to Giroud than Walcott. Waiting until three games into the season, after we'd only picked up four points from a possible nine, to get them all over the line, isn't exactly ideal, but with Granit Xhaka, Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez, I've got what I wanted and can't complain too much, especially when you also throw in Rob Holding, who has looked decent so far, and foreign youngsters Takuma Asano and Kelechi Nwakali, both of whom will spend this season out on loan.
I spoke previously about the quality and depth of our central midfield after our recent additions/ departures. Whilst it is too soon to speak about the quality, as we don't yet know how quickly Mustafi will adapt to English football, how well Holding if forced to play a whole Premier League season, or if Gabriel will progress and develop after returning from his injury, I think depth-wise we're looking very strong in defence, which makes a change.
At left back we have Nacho Monreal and Kieran Gibbs, with Francis Coquelin, Gabriel and Rob Holding among the players who can fill in if we're desperate. At centre back we have Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi, Rob Holding and young Krystian Bielik, with Gabriel and Per Mertesacker on their way back from injury and Calum Chambers out on loan. At right back we have Hector Bellerin and Mathieu Debuchy, who I felt we may hang on to at least until Jenkinson is back, with Carl Jenkinson on his way back from injury, Calum Chambers out on loan and Francis Coquelin, Gabriel and Rob Holding as players who can fill in if we're desperate. Good numbers in defence I feel, so hopefully we'll be equipped to deal with the inevitable injury crisis.
Up front I'm not so sure as I've never seen Lucas Perez play. On paper he looks like he offers similar teamwork and link-up play qualities to Olivier Giroud, but is more mobile whereas Giroud is more of a physical presence. If he can provide a better alternative to Theo Walcott upfront, then I'll be happy. Plus we have Danny Welbeck on his way back from injury, Chuba Akpom as a reserve, and Alexis who has provided mixed results up front so far this season. New signing Takuma Asano will also be on loan to Stuttgart this season, so we'll all be watching him intently.
In terms of departures and players who remain... Joel Campbell going out on loan is a disappointment for many of us, but unfortunately he doesn't count as home grown so Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were always going to get the nod. Hopefully Jack Wilshere's loan won't leave us short in midfield and will hopefully give his career the boost it urgently needs, ditto Calum Chambers in defence. Serge Gnabry's departure is very disappointing. Young duo Gedion Zelalem and Ainsley Maitland-Niles haven't gone out on loan yet so it looks like they, along with Jeff Reine-Adelaide, will be tasked with filling in for those three departing players and supporting the first team squad. Isaac Hayden joined Newcastle permanently and has made a good start to life there, while Tomas Rosicky, Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini were all released having overstayed their welcomes. Glen Kamara has left on loan as well. As mentioned above, Mathieu Debuchy not departing doesn't come as a surprise to me, but I'm amazed Yaya Sanogo hasn't gone anywhere as I can't see him getting any game time, though I believe he may be injured again.
I know many on here aren't particularly fussed about this, but it is an area I have quite a lot of interest in, one big criticism I have is the lack of recruitment at youth level, particularly defensively. We're struggling at the moment at U23 level and very short of defenders. I sense we're going to take an absolute battering this season.
Now it is down to Arsene Wenger to make it all come together on the pitch...
(This has been made a feature and put at top of board for discussion)
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2016:09:01:09:06:55 by Padre Pio.