Just Arsenal News

Do Arsenal need more steel in their side? by FD

I was reflecting on a recent comment by Wigan Chairman Dave Whelan, in which he’s quoted as saying that he thought Arsenal were “a wonderful club to play”. He was probably referring to the overall experience at the Emirates, rather than just the actual match, but it had me wondering how other teams might consider the experience of playing against the modern day Gunners.

There can’t have been many players, other than, perhaps, Roy Keane, who relished the prospect of facing Patrick Vieira or Emmanuel Petit in their physical prime. And ex Gunners such as Sol Campbell, Tony Adams and Steve Bould wouldn’t have provided many pleasant memories for opposing forwards. .......Read the full article here

The former Arsenal and England striker Alan `smudger` Smith has been writing about his memories of the Gunners and his thoughts on the current Arsenal team. Smith left Arsenal shortly before Arsene Wenger took over in 1996, but he has always followed the Gunners and has suggested that the Frenchman is at a pivotal period in his Arsenal reign and could maybe do with being a little more flexible in his methods.

The Skysports pundit recognises that Wenger has done marvelous things for the club, including keeping them in the Champions League with hardly any money for the past eight seasons. He does think, however, that Wenger needs to be more open to new ideas if Arsenal are to achieve great success again. He is friends with Wenger’s assistant Steve Bould and the subject of Bould’s influence in training came up again. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal must sort out the defence by JG

The big debate now is the problems with our defence, after a demoralising performance in Europe, in this portion of our team.

Vermailen does not suddenly become a bad player, and you do not play for Germany over 40 times and remain first choice, as Mertesacker has by being a poor player. Koscielny has also played well for us in the past, and has great speed of foot and mind. The whole problem is the protection of the back four and confidence in the whole defensive regime. .......Read the full article here

The former Arsenal manager George Graham is backing Arsene Wenger to prove his critics wrong and get the Gunners back to playing the exciting, flowing and attacking football that he made famous when he joined the club. Graham believes that Wenger needs to use another of his skills to do it, though. Le Prof has unearthed some real gems in the past, and he will need to do it again in the January transfer window to appease the increasingly frustrated and belligerent fans. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal had a fantastic result against Man Utd today, but it should have been the game that won them the title. f they hadn’t thrown away so many points in the last two months the title would have been sewn up long before this, but the usual collapse at the end of the season put paid to Arsenal’s chances to win anything.

Arsenal were without their captain Cesc Fabregas today, and the Arsenal legend Emmanuel Petit thinks that even with Cesc in the team, Arsenal are lacking that final piece of the jigsaw, a leader and a winner.

Petit said: “It is not as though Arsenal do not have good players. They do. .......Read the full article here