Le Boss has flooded the papers since Saturday with quotes about how proud he is of his players for showing fighting spirit since having their backsides thrashed 3-0 at home by Chelski.
And while this is certainly true (it would have been easy to go the way of Liverpool) the performances since then have been far from convincing in my opinion.
Dire is about the best word to describe Arsenal in the first 45 minutes at Anfield and rather like jump starting the proverbial piece of junk Arsene Wenger had to resort to the hair dryer treatment to get a fine display of football in the second half.
Of course there was the 1-1 at Turfmoor which actually seems like a point gained rather than two lost from the match reports. It appears Burnley were dreadfully unlucky not to bag all three as Arsenal simply did not kill them off after Captain Fabtastic had slotted us into the lead.
The game against Hull was far too scrappy and again the first 45 minutes were dreadful until that goal by Denilson.
We have been racked by injuries certainly and have lost a key player in Robin Van Persie for the duration if not the entire season. But Wenger shouldn’t use that as a cloak to hide behind; we all know he must have a huge stockpile of cash for January by now after selling Toure and Adebayor in the summer for 25 and 15 Million respectively. Senderos seems likely to depart the Emirates for Goodison raking in some more cash.
Peter Hill-Wood said in October that Arsene had £50 Million to spend in January should he wish and with a prospective Billionaire buyer in the wings as well as the little bit more investment from the board (10-15 Million is the usually for January) Wenger could have a maximum of £60-70 odd Million – which I believe he SHOULD spend….all of it.
Again I will stress I write this article as my own personal opinion, for my club (in the county division, just below Isthmian) we have to strike the perfect balance between finesse, height, power, skill, aggression, speed and tactical ability.
Arsenal are about as heavily loaded on one side as the Mary Rose was when it departed Portsmouth (and we all know what happened there).
For those of you who don’t – it sunk.
We have an abundance of players who do some breathtaking stuff on that pitch, Andrey Arshavin, Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Aaron Ramsey, Thomas Rosicky. Robin Van Persie, Eduardo Da Silva, Jack Wilshere etc.
But would you be glad to see any of them at your back in a bar fight? (Possibly excluding the Verminator who I reckon would be an absolute animal, think Patrick Swayze in Road House).
We need some guts, some guile, a bit of strength and height in our tiny ranks. I write this then, with my own thoughts on who the Arsenal should buy in the January transfer window.
My first purchase would be a Goalkeeper without a shadow of a doubt. On a good day, Mr. Almunia is safe, but more commonly he’s a danger to his own goal, his defence and the supporter’s heart rates.
My thinking would be either Hugo Lloris from Lyon or Igor Akinfeev from CSKA Moscow. Both would be between 12-15 Million pounds but would provide height and strength as well as a commanding presence in the box. I’m tempted to go with Lloris as Wenger expressed his interest in the keeper in November and Manure, Chelski and Co have already looked into Akinfeev taking his price from 15 to 25 Million pounds!
Next we look at the defence, now forced to our fourth choice left back in Silvestre I would say it’s a fairly safe bet we need another one of those and £8 Million Van Der Wiel from Ajax is odds on.
Again Wenger has expressed his interest in the very Vermaelen like player who is one of the fastest full backs in Europe! A snip at £8 Million. Although the lad is listed as a right back, I’m sure adaptability is not out of the question.
Next I would buy a centre back, a tall centre back and again since the club showed some interest in the summer I would go with Borussia Dortmund’s 6ft 3inch 20 year old CB Neven Subotic who would fetch around £10-13 Million.
And I would gradually introduce him as a starter to replace William Gallas who normally gets a long injury spell at some point and frequently plays woefully in big games.
The midfield, an area we must fill with strength, an area full of creative spark but no real fighting spirit apart that is from Alex Song who has been fantastic this year. I would splash out for Gokhan Inler who is revered in Europe as a tough tackling, aggressive CDM and for 15-18 Million he’s not quite yet in the same price bracket as Daniele De Rossi.
Finally the striker, again another must have as I believe we actually don’t have one! Even RVP said before his injury, ‘I’m not a predator like Drogba or Torres; I’m not a natural striker.’
I really think Edin Dzeko would fit well into our system, from what I’ve seen of him in the Champions League he’s a skilful striker with a good head for the game. Speaking of head, he’s not too bad in the air either scoring two headed goals against United over two legs!
All in all with Dzeko added on you’re looking at over Sixty Million which is a bit eye watering and I don’t think for a second that Arsene will spend anywhere near this amount of money. But I think at least one or two of these players are essential to keep our waning title ambitions alive. So, my ideal starting eleven would be:
Lloris
Sagna Subotic Vermaelen Clichy
Song Inler
Arshavin Fabregas Van Persie
Dzeko
Subs: Walcott, Nasri, Rosicky, Eduardo, Van Der Wiel, Gallas, Gibbs, Denilson, Diaby, Ramsey, Almunia, Vela.
The spine of our squad would be a monster with GK (6ft 2inch), Subotic (6ft 3inch), Inler (6ft) and Dzeko (6ft 3inch). A huge platform for our talented wing players to aim for and play off with.
So, what would be your staring elevens? Who would you buy, sell etc? What do you think Arsenal’s greatest weaknesses are?
Article written by Super Cesc.
43 Comments
December 22, 2009 at 3:54 pm
You sir, are a fanny.
December 22, 2009 at 4:02 pm
I agree with some of what you say, we need a keeper definatly, Almunia seems a nice guy but does not command his area and is far too uncertain in goal,we also need a powerful striker, with RVP and Bendtner out we are far too lightweight up front with no one to hold the ball up. however i do not believe we need a defensive midfieler because song is absolute quality and keeps getting better, i also believe gallas is a key player for us and how many teams have four left backs? we played silvester who has not got the pace for this position anymore but is clearly competent in the CB position. clichy troare and gibbs are very good players, why buy a fourth choice for 8 million! it would be a waste of money. I think wenger will bring in one player in january and that will be a striker
December 22, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Well said!
After the Lyon Pool game Le boss said, the only reason Lyon got a result was due to an exceptional keeper! We’d better strike quick though as Manures scouts have been seen lurking in the terraces. As for Almunia I’d get rid altogether, along with Mannone and have Szenesy (spelt wrong undoubtably) on the bench when he’s back from Brentford (where he has a clean sheet record of 50% at 19!)
Only omission I’ve noticed is Yaya Toure. He’d be approx 15-20 mil and has a proven record.
My bets are we buy nobody, get a random on loan with the usual crap about the youngsters needing a chance, and winning nothing but column inches re our beautiful football…
December 22, 2009 at 4:09 pm
We need 3 players and thats even if Cesc leaves all….Lloris/V.deWiel/Subotic! When we already have the likes of Lukasz, Djourou, Gibbs, Traore, Song, Ramsey, Denilson, Diaby, Wilshere,Walcott, Nasri, Vela, Bentdner all under 23-24yrs of age and all proving themselves worthy, why does Wenger need to splash the cash so much? Add the experience of Gallas, Sagna, Vermealen, Rosicky, Arshavin, Eduardo, Van-persie we have a very, very exciting squad!
December 22, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Newmy a reply-
Van P,Djourou,Gibbs,Bendtner are injured
Ramsey is Cescs apprentice
Diaby isn’t consistent
Wilshere is going out in loan
Vela isn’t good enough (yet)
The article is re strengthening for THIS season! I for one am bored of the next year approach, were 6 points behind with a game in hand, it’s there for the taking! We just need to shore up what we’ve got. Almunia is pants and Songs gonna miss most of Jan (unless he gets injured at acon, knowing our luck he will) we’ve no defensive cover after the Manure reject and no strikers.
December 22, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Load of old pony.
December 22, 2009 at 4:45 pm
almunia
sagna gallas vermalaen clichy
song cambiaso
fabregas
arshavin van persei
dzecko
sub: floris, diaby, eduardo, nasri, hangellan, wilshere,eboue
December 22, 2009 at 5:03 pm
You forgot we should also buy Zlatan, Lescott, Rooney, Scott Parker, Carlton Cole
i mean we need cover right? are you absolutely insane?
what do we do with all of these players when everyone gets back from injury?
The only thing we need to buy is a target man. We can focus on buying defenders if Senderos decides to leave or if Gallas doesn’t sign an extension.
We are not light years away.. we are thrid in the league with a game in hand with half our squad injured. So please Relax a little and let’s wait for january..
wholly christ my fellow gooners are knows nothing about the game!!!
December 22, 2009 at 5:27 pm
I agree timmy
December 22, 2009 at 5:32 pm
We don’t know anything?
At least that’s what I believe your implying.
Ok, so we stick with Manuel in goal, Eduardo and Arshavin up front (great height there for all the high balls in the box) hope Gallas and Rosicky don’t walk on a free the end of the season, hope Theo works out how to pass and that suddenly Denilson (statistically the worst tackler in the Premier league) is good enough cover for Song at the ACON…
Yeah, WE no nothin, well said….
December 22, 2009 at 5:44 pm
We are closing on Chelsea how exactly are our title hopes waning?and how
many leftbacks do you think we have? We’d have 4 if we bought another and gallas and verminator can both play there. They can’t all be injured forever lol in fact traore and clichy are not far off…
December 22, 2009 at 5:51 pm
i dont mean you dont know anything but i do believe you may underestimate the quality we have, i agree we need a new keeper and another physical striker, but outside of that i believe we are very strong. granted if players leave they will have to be replaced. players like denilson are good players who can do a job and in the future will be exceptional, diaby is starting to prove himself and will perform well this season. we are very close as a team to greatness
December 22, 2009 at 5:58 pm
I agree with both points.
Keeper yes please and Tall prolific striker!
It’s funny how all us fans think and say the same, but whenever I see a transfer rumour it’s another link to a winger/youth player.
That’s my worry, I’d love to see Fab, Song and Yaya in the middle with Arshavin left RvP right and a world class striker up front! Then it wouldn’t matter how many Manuel the clown cocks up.
December 22, 2009 at 6:06 pm
We should Spend £60m,are u insane!? For all d talks abt arsenal not having enough depth we have like 8 important players out and we’re still very much in the title race. All we need in january is a center defender that will cover for either gallas or vermelean when injured or rested,then hopefully bendtner will come back early enuf n eduardo will regain his predatory instinct. sm1 mentioned how arsenal needed 2 buy inler,and dzeko partly for height(6ft plus),i didnt knw bendtner n diaby were 4ft’s! Pls! Give le boss a break,i dnt doubt that you know there’s nobody anywhere that desperately want arsenal to win a major trophy more than he does!
December 22, 2009 at 6:08 pm
I think we should sell some of our players that dont really cut it at Arsenal standard. Its time we got a little aggressive and demanded performance from the players or showed them the door.
Every season we seem to carry shed loads of injured players, and these same players are out so long, they need as much time to get back into their stride, some still havent dont so, and once they hit it, they get injured again, e.g. VanP.
Eduardo is scared of the ball, Vela just isnt upto scratch, arshavin is hit and miss, rosicky plays a bit of a game, then is off for a couple etc etc etc
People have talked about what happens when players come back from injury, well the answer is, they play shit.
December 22, 2009 at 6:11 pm
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December 22, 2009 at 6:13 pm
We do not inler neither do we dzeko,if u’ve watched him enough you would’ve seen that he has so much in common with a player we already have,NB52. Mark this page wenger will buy a center back in january and another promising youngster nothing more!
December 22, 2009 at 6:14 pm
tunde do you believe almunia is good enough? RVP is great but does get injured alot and bendtner is not quite there we clearly need a back up. i think wenger is the best manager in the world and he has come out and said we need another striker, so we are not giving hima hard time just stating facts
December 22, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Where did you get all this info that Wenger has bags to spend ? He already said the other day that Dzeko is too pricey for Arsenal’ range. When we write articles that may be read by a lot of people, we have to be reasonable and sensible, instead of day dreaming. While I agree that Arsenal needs a decent goalie, centre back (who can also play defensive midfield) and a striker (all of which must be 6 foot and above) even I know that will never happen in a million years as long as Wenger is the manager – even if you were to offer him £1 billion in transfer funds.
Wenger has already said, ” you can’t kill the kids”, so we should brace ourselves as the nearly men come May 2010, just as it was 2 seasons ago. Wenger said if we are lucky we will get a decent striker. He has already shown so much negativity about buying anyone, so the chances are that he will not spend.
I would like to see a follow up of this article come May, when injuries and a young squad will be the usual excuse for not winning anything again.
December 22, 2009 at 6:19 pm
One-two jst like messi played shit after comming back frm injury huh? Lyk iniesta is presently doing? Get your facts straight these players are human,they will get injured and no sane club that is interested in holdin on to its best players will its players d door coz he is not back to his best after getting injured.joe cole is still getting his chance somewhere across london.
December 22, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Many fine footballers have been listed above in the posts and I want to add another name to the list, Eden Hazard. Again, he is a winger and a must buy. I hope Mr. Wenger wins the battle of EDEN with Sir Alex and I have no doubts over the current financial capabilities. But, Mr. Wenger doesn’t need a winger right now, he needs a Target Man, like a Drogba or an Eto’o. On the other hand Sir Alex needs a winger.
Lets see what happens. We have to trust Mr. Arsene over his decision.
December 22, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Jo i believe he should be allowed to be in goal atleast till d end of d season seriously aluminium can be catastrophic at times(if not most times) but he’s not worse-off than d ‘biker’ at chelsea or spencer(vds) at old shitford.besides Lloris n akinfeev will not be eligible to play in d UCL, maybe we should leave all talks about a new keeper till summer.
December 22, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Jo i believe he should be allowed to be in goal atleast till d end of d season seriously aluminium can be catastrophic at times(if not most times) but he’s not worse-off than d ‘biker’ at chelsea or spencer(vds) at old shitford.besides Lloris n akinfeev will not be eligible to play in d UCL, maybe we should leave all talks about a new keeper till summer,u got better idea?
December 22, 2009 at 6:41 pm
you are probably right because we wont get a world class keeper till the summer, which is a shame because he will probably be the difference this season, our back line is good but his indesiciveness makes them look bad. fabinanski should be given a run in the team he could be better. as for a CB we only need one if senderos goes. vemalen and gallas have been quality this season a good pairing so any buy would be a backup
December 22, 2009 at 6:55 pm
RoyVasey..
you are painting the devil on the wall.. i am not saying that Almunia is the best thing since sliced bread nor that we do not need another Striker, but guys lets make the right decisions. Buying tons of players and keeping them all on the bench does not make sense. Before we buy a keeper let’s give Fabianski a run of 10games to see what he can do. Ps do you think Lloris would come in and dominate? the guy doesn’t speak english, it will take him time to settle in, look at Gomez for tottenham, they guy was outstanding in PSV but for tottenham he has been horrible..
Most of you guys seem to want to go crazy and just buy players left and right, getting the right players that also fits in with the team is hard. The one player i would love for us to buy is Carlton Cole and that is it. He is just what we need! I think him, Bendtner and RVP could be a force upfront to combine with our creators behind them. It was a shame that Nikki B got injured cause i think he was playing really well this year.
super cesc.. For you to even mention that you want us to buy a fourth choice left back clearly shows that you ahve no idea what you are talking about. Silvestre can do the job untill the young guys gets back from injury.
Let’s have some faith for crying out loud.. also remember that Chelsea will get worse as the season goes, they are older then us and tend to pick up injuries late in the season. With Drogba out for a month, we can easily take back those 3 points.
We are right in it lads, so let’s keep out heads up and support the troops!
the only signing we need, with the money Wenger would like to spend is in my opinion mr Cole.
best,
Timmy
December 22, 2009 at 7:42 pm
We will be lucky to get one player worth over £10m at all in January. I think Inler might be a good choice as Song will be away in January but it’s difficult to tell whether he would fit our style of play.
Also I’m quite sure Wenger ruled out or at least hinted we will not be getting Dzeko. Gallas has been a gem this year and he should not be replaced, however if Sendoros goes we should use the money from that to get a new CB. Wenger will not have more than 4 fit centre backs, he has said this many times.
I think Gignac would be a great buy for us and very affordable. Also we do not have £50m to spend or whatever you suggested, I believe we have around £20m.
December 22, 2009 at 8:50 pm
There is absolutely no denying the fact that we need a natural finisher. Size is preferable given the lack of within our front line (aside from bendtner). Other then that we are solid in other positions. We have depth in the middle because Ramsey isn’t going out on loan and I believe the kid will use this chance of a depleted squad to prove himself. It’s injury struck times like this that allow talented young players to prove themselves to the manager, especially with the WC around the corner. That being said, Vela has a long, long, long way to go before he can be a starter for us in premier games and champs games. With all this in mind, my ideal signings would be: Adriano (big powerful striker, fit or not he can hold the ball up which is all we need, as arshavin has tried, but failed to do. He’s also a free transfer with champs league eligible) or Toni (over 30 so why not offer him a 1 year contract. Would be an ideal replacement til Bendtner is back to full health and if he’s bad, just cut him) and the last signing should be Akinfeev. One of our players has to get thrown on the chopping block and my vote is Almunia. His England dream is over and I believe he mentally has lost the desire to prove something to the world. Again these are just my opinions and I have no doubt that if we get 2/3 of the players mentioned above, we will win the league. There are no guarantees when it comes to Champs league and FA cup so I’m going to let the squad pleasantly surprise me when it comes to these 2 tourneys.
December 22, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Timmy you want the Chelsea reject?
Lloris wouldn’t fit in coz he doesn’t speak English?! Gallas, Clichy AND Sagna are French too, so there’s that argument over.
I’m not asking for much, a keeper to replace Almunia, fab can warm the bench, Chelski at home last season anyone….. A striker as we currently have Eduardo whose terrified of the ball, Vela who isn’t first team material (yet) and then the injured Bendtner and RvP. Theo is blatently a winger.
So, I ask you, where’s your youth to fill these gaps in the team NOW, not next season now.
Yeah yeah our youngsters (who are another year older) will be good in another 5 years time, but then that’s 10 years and whose to say Arshavin Cesc etc won’t get pissed off and leave.
Before the season started AW promised to buy, which he did The Verminator then sold TWO instantly weakening the side. Promises to get us season ticket holders to renew, later broken, again. …
December 23, 2009 at 12:21 am
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December 23, 2009 at 3:31 am
ROYVASEY denilson the worst tackler of the league? get ur facts right,since viera no one had a chance with u guys this lad is so under rated its just amazing.
December 23, 2009 at 4:12 am
I cudnt agree wit u eny more tbh mate, u’ve covered all the essential areas we’ve been lacking in I know wenger has so much faith in our team already, but this team realy needs some tough/tall players along side all our flairish players
December 23, 2009 at 4:27 am
To be perfectly honest im shocked by the reaction of some on here, i know this is all abot opinions but how deluded are some of you?
I love this club, i’ve loved it since the first time my uncle slapped the blue JVC away shirt on me and took me to highbury at the age of 4.
But we are no where near a title winning ide, we’re too weak, too small and have almost no passionate players.
As i SAID, i don’t think for a moment Wenger will spend £60 Million. But I would! Opinions!
This is what i think. This is what i would do. I have no objection to people arguing against me, healthy debate and all that, but simply saying – you’re a fanny….very clever! New breed plastic gunners!
December 23, 2009 at 4:33 am
And one more thing from reading the comments. As i said i got the info on what wenger has to spend from our chairman Peter Hill-Wood who said Arsene has £50 Million to spend. and that was in October-November before kronke’s serious flirtation with our club so…
December 23, 2009 at 6:22 am
wat u said is absolutely correct..
but wenger feels his current squad is big enough for him to challenge the title..
so i think he wont spend a penny on winter transfer..its not going to happen..never in this transfer
December 23, 2009 at 7:17 am
Almunia has to be replaced but he wont… Why? because he has a good repoire with the manager and the players..
Most likely will stay as keeper for the rest of the year at least.
Gallas offers a lot of experience in the back but his time is almost up. Unlikely to leave before end of season but Van Der Wiel from Ajax is a likely prospect considering arsene will let Senderos go..
RVP wont be playing before the end of season and Bentdner will be coming back soon !
Carlton cole would be nice but i dont think Mr Wenger wants to spend more than 12-15 mill on anyone… (unless he thought they were crucial – ala arshavin ) still unlikey and chamakh will fit in and only because he would be worth half the price at least..
We wont be buying a defensive midfielder or attacking either..we already have song , diaby in defense and too many attacking midfielders.
So there u have my opinion…
I central defender and a striker at best !
All up will cost the club no more than 16 mill pounds if arsene goes with the Chamakh option or up to 26 mill if he chooses the Carlton Cole option ..
December 23, 2009 at 7:21 am
Chamakh – Van der Wiel option or
Chamakh – Cole option that is !!!
December 23, 2009 at 10:05 am
I correct myself again..
Van Der Wiel – Cole option … lol
December 23, 2009 at 12:24 pm
I’m happy u said this ws ur own opinion cos if u make 8 buys in Jan u 4get they’ll need time to blend and this is not a risk that should b undertaken in jan. Mine is that we should get Dzeko(16-20m) as our point striker, Sahko(5m) to replace Senderous and maybe Matuidi(5m) to cover 4 Song when he goes to the nation cup.
December 23, 2009 at 1:52 pm
pmj, sakho is a good shout, he’s a huge defender who arsene wenger has been very complementary about in the past.
Realistically matuidi probably will come in but i dont think he’s the calibre of Inler.
But yeah, i dont expect arsene to make anywhere near that amount of signings but i do think we should pay for Dzeko.
December 23, 2009 at 1:55 pm
timmy the gunner, i did not say we shoudl buy a fourth choice left back so clearly you have no idea.
We are DOWN to our fourth choice left back and the drop in class from Clichy to Gibbs is huge at the moment.
If Sagna were to get injured we have a real problem on our hands with Eboue and Silvestre having to stand in.
£8 Million isnt a great amount in the world of football, and usually if you pay peanuts you get monkeys but Arsene is a great one for spotting cheap talent.
December 23, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Is there a very obvious reason, eg. once mugged Arsene Wenger (or was once mugged by Arsene Wenger) known to all but me as to why Craig Bellamy hasn’t surfaced as a surprise candidate? Okay, his relatively diminutive stature is at odds with what we apparently want but his strength on the ball is surely second to none (certainly more than a match for most of our current players). This is otherwise someone affordable and available and not even cup-tied who really will HIT the ground RUNNING given half a chance.
December 24, 2009 at 12:18 am
Dean0002 good shout again. Bellamy has been City’s best player this year in my opinion and has already had a bust up with Mancini.
But in terms of Wingers Arsene has his eye on 19-20 year old Eden Hazard from Lille. Supposedly the next Cristiano Ronaldo.
December 27, 2009 at 8:42 am
It’s great that we all have our opinions on new signings. And I agree that we are all entitled to express those opinions.
But I also feel that there is a huge difference in identifying the positions that require strengthening within the squad and identifying the personnel to fill those positions.
I think that most of us agree that we urgently need a striker to replace Van Persie. But to list off shortlists and quote prices is foolish in the extreme.
For starters, none of us have studied a potential signing even remotely as much as our scouts have. And I would imagine that by the time we hear of a player (“hitting the headlines”) at the age of 21-25 our team of scouts have probably noted the same player before his 18th birthday.
Demands to purchase player x or y, citing form extending 18 months in the German/French league really signals a total lack of an understanding of the recruitment purpose imo.