Scattering my eyes across the Sundays and the general theme hasn’t changed much: there’s the rustle of keeper talk and a persisting link to Everton’s Phil Jagielka. The latter story has been lingering long enough that the fee is now being quoted at a very un-Arsenal-like £15m. At that price, I can’t see us getting involved.
As for the keeper talk, well it appears to be a case of ABA – Anyone But Almunia. Akinfeev? Stekelenburg? James? You can never second-guess Wenger but I think we might still shop within the Premier League, on the basis that we cannot afford a costly bedding-in process. On that basis, do all roads still lead to Schwarzer?
As for our attacking options, it was noteworthy that Wenger said we wouldn’t be replacing the departed Eduardo. If this is true, then we will essentially have three central strikers (van Persie, Bendtner, Chamakh) and a substantial array of wide or deep attack-minded players to back them up (Arshavin, Rosicky, Nasri, Walcott, Vela, Wilshere).
I can see why he thinks that might be enough, especially allied to the goalscoring prowess of Fabregas. But if that is to be our lot, it’s worth returning to a theme I picked up at the tail end of last season – the need for more goals from those wide men.
We all know that van Persie has a good 20 goals in him, and Bendtner at least 15, but Chamakh, at least until we can judge him, remains an unknown quantity. Given the injury records of the first two of those, we need more from elsewhere.
Arshavin is exempt from the criticism about to come. With 12 goals scored despite playing up front on his own at times last season, we know he can pack a goal or two.
But look at the record of the others: Rosicky, Nasri, Walcott and Vela scored just 14 goals between them, of which only nine came in the league.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect better contributions from all four of those. For the two younger players, Walcott and Vela, they at the right age and cannot now hide behind the excuse of youth. They will also have Wilshere breathing down their necks (and both Diaby and Eboue can play wide too).
Nasri – ditto Walcott – should be hungry following their World Cup snubs and Rosicky will be fighting for his future.
To them all I say: More goals, chaps.
Good post! Regarding Chamakh: He works hard, he will hold the ball up, and he’s a real team player and will undoubtedly bring others into the play very well. I feel he can be a sort of ‘rich man’s Heskey’ for us, with the quality and skill set that he has. I think he will be key to the midfield men (Rosicky, Nasri, etc) getting on the scoresheet more often. Unfortunately however, it’s not the attacking department where I find us lacking…
we all know all too well that most of our ‘wide’ men would rather ply their trade in the middle of the park, arshavin, rosicky, nasri et al, heck even vela and walcott desire to play as STs. AW should get us real wingers instead of playing these talents out of posn.
end of rant.
I fully expect Nasri to have a great season. That leg break in preseason last year was hard to fight back from. Fingers crossed he doesn’t play for les blues tho.
good post……….. the other sights on arsenalnow are sometimes a complete waste of time.making stories up about who we are going to buy or sell
I agree with Tomas, we have no real wingers at Arsenal. It’s often like we have 4 attacking midfielders; even this post calls them ‘wide or deep attacking minded players’. The out and out wide play will be from our full backs. I think our old way of 442 was more suited to real wingers.
I think what we need this season is not primarily goals from these players, but match winning performances. As you said only Wiltshire is young enough to need more time, the rest should be there. Hard games where things aren’t flowing, someone (not just the captain) needs to step up and win us the game. We know they have the ability.
Fair point Stephen – the goals will probably come if the workrate notches up. There are a lot of players with points to prove so we’ll see how that pans out.
Weren’t we all saying the same thing last season to , about the wide mean needing to weigh in with more goals? I’m a huge fan of Arsenal and a believer in his work and methods, but are we finding ourselves with the same set of problems that we were all discussing last year and wishing to see resolved over the course of the season. The same goes for last season being a ‘make or break’ season for theo walcott. Sometimes being an arsenal fan is like being in a bizarre football version of groundhog day…
»»Arsene Knows««
I propose that Arsenal fans World wide post letters once a week for the next four weeks to UEFA & FIFA complaining about Barcelona FC’s ‘tapping up’ of Cesc Fabregas. Also post a letter just once to Arsenal FC requesting that they formally complain to UEFA & FIFA. I have drawn up 3 template letters that I will email to willing participants. All you need to do is type in your own Name & Address before printing off & posting. Momentum will be boosted by you forwarding the email to every one of your Arsenal FC fan family & friends, encouraging them to participate.
The aim of repetitive letters is to create an Admin headache for UEFA & FIFA with thousands of letters received from all over the world & display the strength of feeling from Arsenal FC fans. The purpose of the single letter to Arsenal FC is again to display the strength of feeling from us fans.
My email address for this campaign from where I will email you the letter templates is …….. ArsenalFansHateBarcelonaFC@gmail.com
There is one more option upfront in the mould of JET. The kid is huge, fast, Holds the ball up well and has an amazing footwork. Wenger should give him a shortat it ones in a while as he can do a job.
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Dont Forget the JET