Anthony: There are some positives for Arsenal this season….
Trying to look at some positives at a very negative time! by Antony Armstrong
As a disappointing season comes to a close, we come to the time of year where we look backward in order to look forward. We had a real chance for glory this year with Carling Cup and Premier League trophies well within our grasp. Unfortunately we have completely buckled under the pressure and ended up with nothing. Are there any positives to take from this season?
Jack Wilshere
Where would we be without Jack and his precocious talent? It is frightening how good this kid is and how influential a player he is becoming. His skill and reliability have meant he has completely shown up the injury prone Diaby and master of the sideways pass Denilson. I just hope Wenger manages to conjure some sort of faux injury so that Jack doesn’t play for the under 21′s in the summer. He has become too important to us for him to knacker himself out and come back tired next season ready to pick up an injury. I can see Jack developing into our captain and play maker in years to come.
Theo Walcott
Some may not agree, but in my opinion Theo has come on leaps and bounds this season. His finishing has become a lot more clinical and his runs are a lot more intelligent. I would give him a run as a striker in the Carling Cup next season as his pace and finishing could really do some damage in the middle of the park. In saying that, he has improved as a winger. I remember reading a quote of his where he said that David Beckham gave him some tips on getting the ball in the right areas and letting it be his team-mates problem whether they are there to meet it or not. He certainly has been whipping the ball in to some dangerous areas but we just haven’t had the players willing to get in the box to meet it. We need to keep Theo fit for a whole season.
Beating The Big Boys
I was so sick of being beaten on the counter attack and then hearing those smug and contrived pundits spilling out clichés of Arsenal being unable to beat the big teams. Well this season we beat Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City. Suck on that Allen Hansen.
The question is: How can we take these positives forward whilst eradicating the silly mistakes that have littered our season? I think it will only take a few key signings for us to be a real force for the entirety of a season without fading out. Though it’d probably cost in the region of £40m to £50m, half that could be raised by selling players.
OUT
Denilson
Rosicky
Arshavin
Almunia
Although I think Arshavin has quality to contribute to the team, his years are numbered and it may be best to capitalise on him whilst we can. The others are just deadwood at the moment.
IN
Given
Scott Parker
Vertonghen, Cahill, Jagielka or Samba
Ashley Young or Hazard
Given is itching for first team football as he only has a few more years of his career left. Perfect then for him to come to Arsenal for a few years whilst Szczney develops himself into our first choice for years to come. Scott Parker can come in and do a job. He can hold the ball, make tackles and add some strength to midfield whilst making Song work for his place. We need a central defender to partner Vermaelen and in my opinion Vertonghen should be the man as they have already established an effective partnership and would take no time at all to settle in together. Then again maybe English is the best way to go? If we are to capitalise on Arshavin then we will need someone to fill the little Russians void. I would love to see us spend a bit of money to bring in Ashley Young before Manchester United or Liverpool grab him. Can you imagine the pace we would have with Young AND Walcott on the flanks?
My squad would look like this: (in order of preference)
GK
Given
Szczney
Fabianski
CB
Vermaelen
Vertonghen
Djourou
Koscielny
Squillaci (we need more than 4 defenders)
WB
Sagna
Clichy
Gibbs
Eboue
DM
Parker
Song
Frimpong
Diaby
CM
Fabregas
Wilshere
Ramsey
AM
Nasri
Walcott
Young
Vela
STRIKERS
van Persie
Chamakh
Bentdner
Comments?
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good article…but squillaci!!!man it’s squillaci!!!SQUILACCI!!!! COME ON
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First off all fu*k squillaci, bendtner and diaby! They all can leave! Plus the team you just picked here wont win sh*t without a new striker, a goal a game scoring machine! Falcao
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Good Article,agree with most of what you say.My three new additions to the Squad would be.
Samba.
Joey Barton.
Jermaine Defoe.
Would not keep Vela,nice enough guy,but not up to Arsenal’s Standard.
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what is this Diaby clichy squillaci Chamakh they don’t deserve to play arsena team
wht a friampong go 2 the religation teams
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Well, a very fair selection but instead of Bentdner i would prefer Falcao and another additional striker to make it 4 like Gervinho and added to the mid filed is Eden hazard to replace Vela and also a samba or gary cahill to replace Squillaci.
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@anthony there nothing positives this season apart from wilshere and scezney next season is going to be the same do you think merlin is gonna come down put his stick on the team sholder and all of a sudden we will win the league this will take a lot of time can you tell me who will replace sagnia if he has aproblem .eboue who can replace rvp if he get injured ..our defence have fears in them we need man at the back not child or dfender like schilachi .wenger is adead man walking every body in footballknow this is coming and for me it a shame he will have to go that way he did that to himself because he is more clever than every body
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Thanks for ths article its trying to be positive and we really need it at the moment.
Additional things
1. hire a coach who can teach the team the dark arts of football
2. get the defence to drill and practice set plays and corners, or even long throwers we dont seem to realise this is a weakness
3. make the team nasty, so they will do anything to win
4. stop Arsenal being everyones favourite second team
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We need to sell Squillaci and acquire someone with height as we have conceded a lot of goals from set-pieces. What I fear is that A.W wont sign this summer.
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Out: Asharvin, Rosicky, Bendtner, Diaby,
In: Eden Hazard, Douglas ‘Costa’, Salomon ‘Jose Roland’, Lessana Diarra
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Diarra? been there seen it and wore the unimpressive tshirt. How many clubs and managers have had him and he has not held down a first team spot other than at portsmouth. Basically not good enough he is about as good as reo-coker or song. We need something better torsten frings or vieira both available on frees and either parker flamini or Inler, just selling denilson and rosicky would cover the cost of those changes. Hazard yes or Ashley young selling arshavin an diaby should cover the cost of either. Up front by selling bendtner Vela and chamakh we could probably get benzema and Gaimero or possibly falcao.
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@Anthony u rite about Theo, Baines shld come in for Clichy, I dn’t mind Squillaci rocking d bench, Eboue shld go, Bendtner or Chamakh 4 a Makeshift deal with Porto,Young(arsenal fan)/Hazard, Given ‘ll b cool only if he’ll b rotated with Szczesny cos I dn’t wanna c dat guy’s dev’ hampered, Cahill shld come in,Parker or Rodwell.
Given*
Baines
Cahill
Young/Hazard
Parker/Rodwell
Falcao
Dunno if AW will wanna add/remove dis mch bt a team like dis ‘ll win a lot
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In my opinion the team need a complete overhaul:
out should be Almunia, Squillaci, Diaby, Denilson, Rosiscky, Arshavin, Bendtner and Vela as certainties. I have 3 more debatables in Fabianski, allready surpassed by Szczney, Koscielny, a peanlty-maker machine which is really bad in a tough league like PM and Fabregas….The man is gonna split as soon as he can and why not pitch clubs like Real Madrid, Milan and Barcelona in a bid-war for him. We have 2 young midfielders that are both becoming good enough to “replace” him in Wilshere and Ramsey. Besides we are gonna need the money for new players.
To replace these players I would like us to get Given, Cahill, Vertonghen, Parker, Hazard, Young, Falcao and another striker. I know this amount wont replace all the players I would like to see gone, but for the first half season it should be enough. If we need a player or 2 more then get them in the january transfer-window.
It will do 2 really improtant things for the team. It will become more No nonsence attitude wise and also, hopefully become more manly and mature..U cant win with players that crumples under pressure and a young team tend to be more prone to do that than an older team.
This probably wont be a championship team in the first season but in the long run it has more potential than the current squad
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Syzney
Sagna djoru samba vermelen
Kos song
Wilshere
Walcot rvp
Falcao
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As much as everyone wants everyone, knowing how things work at Arsenal, i am certain we will only have 1 or 2 additions to the squad. I am fine with that provided we clear the dead wood in the team, i dont care if we dont win anything again but we dont need players who are a surplus and in some cases, players who dont value their Arsenal shirts.Cesc fabregas can leave, he aint interested to play for us so why do we want to hold on to him so much??? Rozza, Arshavin’s time up, denilson, diaby, eboue, squillaci, bendtner are just not good enough to play for us. So i would rather have a team which can just concentrate on the league ang give it all there than have a “squad” who try to win everything and end up with nothing.
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@Anthony u rite about Theo, Baines shld come in for Clichy, I dn’t mind Squillaci rocking d bench, Eboue shld go, Bendtner or Chamakh 4 a Makeshift deal with Porto,Young(arsenal fan)/Hazard, Given ‘ll b cool only if he’ll b rotated with Szczesny cos I dn’t wanna c dat guy’s dev’ hampered.
Given*
Baines
Cahill
Young/Hazard
Parker/Rodwell
Falcao
Dunno if AW will wanna add/remove dis mch bt a team like dis ‘ll win a lot
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everyones fine, but BENDTNER!!! HELL NO!!! No one can take another season of his bragging and arrogance!!
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@Mike
Though Eboue made a huge and costly error against Liverpool, I do think he is adequate to play second fiddle to Sagna. As for cover for van Persie, I did think about including a new striker in my line-up but let’s be honest, there are more pressing matters and only so much money we can spend. Plus, it may not be popular at the moment but I have faith in Chamakh. If we can just start encouraging him to shoot more, I think he will be good backup for van Persie and even a good partner on occasion.
It’s not the doom and gloom the media is making it out to be. We were incredibly close this season. In my opinion, the signings I mentioned could push us over the edge.
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dear fans of arsenal arsen wenger can buy the prayers like:
given of man city to add same experience GP
defender:G cahill, or c samba,baines.
def midf:eden hazard,scott parker
striker:falcao,diego milton
and sell:arshavin,denirson,chamak,diaby,squilaci,aluminia..
these team can win premiership even uefa champions legue
starting:given
sagna,thomas v,samba,baines
song,wilshere
hazard /walcott, nasiri
fabregas/nasiri
v persi/falcao
subs:
djouru
coscienly
aron rams
scott parker
sczny woj
gibbs
milton diego
bendtner….
sub
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I agree that it’s more likely we will only bring in a couple of players over the summer. If I could pick the two? Vertonghen and Given. I think they are the most pressing issues.
If we can only have two new players then I would only like to see Almunia and Denilson out. The others may not be our first choice players but we need a big squad to compete in 4 competitions.
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Thats like saying west ham had a good season because scott parker won plater of the year
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good squad but i will like to include a winger and a striker to make it complete and create competition.
squillaci,diaby,bendtner,chamack can step up.i can remember falcao was not up there when farias was banging.
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Some of you guys are dreaming! Long lists of players he is going to buy or should.
AW has never bought more than six in an entire year! Its usually one or two in the summer. Thus isnt fantasy football. Historically, Only about 40-45 percent of his signings turn out to be successful in any sense of the word. So lets say he goes wild and buys three we can count in one of those working out and less than a half chance in the second. Look at last summer Kos ok / good perhaps, Squisshelny rubbish.
There are no east fixes here. Its not FIFA 2011.
By the way AW gets too much credit for signings. Viera was signed two months before AW shiwes up, for example.
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And look at his last press conference — same balls different day he ia going to “TRY” to find players.
Nothing he or anyone at the club that has been said suggests any chamge from the past.
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Positives? Its like saying well, we entirely lost the Vietnam war and were utterly embarassed in the process, but we did win one or two battles on the way and designed a couple of shiney new fighter jets for next time.
When the emergence of Theo (how many years have we been hearing that?) is the upside for the season we are sunk indeed.
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@Damian in LA
No it’s not like that at all. That’s a stupid, stupid analogy.
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Personally I don’t see how squillaci can survivethe cut. I never seen such a useless player since Pascal segan. Apart from the capilar difference, they are siamese twins connected by brain. Koscielny is good enough as back pending he adapts. You’re overestimating how much you will get out of the sale. Sale fabregas and give room to nasri and jack
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