This transfer window has seen Arsenal acquire the services of : Alexis Sanchez, Calum Chambers, David Ospina, Mathieu Debuchy and, the newly recruited, Danny Welbeck.
However, although it might seem that Arsenal have been quite active this transfer window, we made the least amount of signings in contrast to other clubs on the BPL. As well as this, Arsene Wenger failed to strengthen the team and buy the players needed in order for us to compete with the likes of City and Chelsea even Man U,Everton and Liverpool. Even Leicester has proven difficult for us.
We failed to replace Vermaelen and acquire a quality CDM and CF.
However we have increased our depth but I fear that out larger squad lacks quality in certain areas. While our defence seemed impenetrable last season injuries have made our defence look weak with us conceding 4 goals in 3 games. Due to injuries our attack lacks a clinical finisher(not that we had one prior to that but Giroud was pretty close) . We have only managed 5 goals in 4 matches 2 in which ended as draws.
Well with the transfer window shut I can only hope that the addition of Danny Welbeck can bolster our attack and lead to more goals. However I fear that this transfer window hasn't been much of a success in completing our team.
Tuesday 2 September 2014
Wednesday 20 August 2014
Besiktas vs Arsenal (Champions League Qualifier Match) Review
First and foremost, the positives. Calum Chambers once again proved his 12 million pound price tag tonight, as he showed to be very capable as a centre back. He showed his vast potential as a future England/ Arsenal senior player. He handled his Champions League début very well, not fazed by the pressure put on him to deliver. Monreal also showed glimmers, during the match, of how good he can be with enough game time. this provides a testimony that should cement his position in the squad. And the one other positive I can draw from this match, except from Szcezny's great keeping skills, is that the game ended as a 0-0 draw and not a loss on our part, which could have been the case.
Tonight, we lacked passion and the will to fight out a positive result. Although, on sheet and on field, Arsenal have the more talented and technically gifted squad, Besiktas had more possession than us and had more shots than us. Off the back of a great pre-season, we should not be struggling to find results against teams of Besiktas calibre. Our defence was worked to the bone as we were left open on the right side due to Debuchy being to far up field. However that is not to say Debuchy is a burden, as his offensive and defensive capabilities are much needed, its just his offensive abilities leaves our defence open to counter-attacks.
Like during the game against Crystal Palace, we struggled to keep hold off the ball and the accuracy of our passes were poor.
But how does Arsene solve these issues to ensure we do not lose points against Everton and do not get knocked out of the Champions League by Besiktas.
Well, with the return of Mertesacker to the heart of our defence, stability, communication, solidity should return. With the return of Ozil to our midfield, should mean less stray passes and an increase in possession and creativity.
Our possible team against Everton: Sczezney, Debuchy, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal, Flamini, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla/Ozil, Sanchez, Giroud.
Possible team against Besiktas: Sczezney, Debuchy, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal, Flamini, Ozil, Wilshere, Cazorla, Sanchez, Giroud.
The defence, in my opinion, is perfectly fine and even if there any injuries I feel that Chambers and the possible addition of Manolas will be suitable enough cover. The midfield, on the other hand, could be improved.After watching Matic against Burnley and Fernando against Newcastle, I realised that Arsenal need a box to box midfielder that is ready to sit in front of the defence and disrupt the opponents play. There are not many players like this available on the market right now I can only think of Schneiderlin, Khedira and Carvalho. They would all be perfect buys in my opinion. Finally we need an additional striker. Strikers are very rare in this transfer window and I hope if the rumours of us bidding for Cavani are true then he would be the perfect addition.
But how does Arsene solve these issues to ensure we do not lose points against Everton and do not get knocked out of the Champions League by Besiktas.
Well, with the return of Mertesacker to the heart of our defence, stability, communication, solidity should return. With the return of Ozil to our midfield, should mean less stray passes and an increase in possession and creativity.
Our possible team against Everton: Sczezney, Debuchy, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal, Flamini, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla/Ozil, Sanchez, Giroud.
Possible team against Besiktas: Sczezney, Debuchy, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal, Flamini, Ozil, Wilshere, Cazorla, Sanchez, Giroud.
The defence, in my opinion, is perfectly fine and even if there any injuries I feel that Chambers and the possible addition of Manolas will be suitable enough cover. The midfield, on the other hand, could be improved.After watching Matic against Burnley and Fernando against Newcastle, I realised that Arsenal need a box to box midfielder that is ready to sit in front of the defence and disrupt the opponents play. There are not many players like this available on the market right now I can only think of Schneiderlin, Khedira and Carvalho. They would all be perfect buys in my opinion. Finally we need an additional striker. Strikers are very rare in this transfer window and I hope if the rumours of us bidding for Cavani are true then he would be the perfect addition.
Monday 23 December 2013
Today
Today is the day most arsenal fans have been looking forward too. Today is a showdown between Arsenal and Chelsea at the Emirates.
In my previous post, i gave forward the team that i would have loved for arsene wenger to pick and the team that i felt could beat chelsea. However the team picked by Wenger is very similiar yet the differences could lead to a catastrophe.
Instead of moving Sagna into the CB role, made available by Koscielny, Wenger has opted to put Vermaelen in that position. Although Vermaelen is an outright CB, his performance recently has shown that when facing a team with a great attacking force his performance can prove to be below expectations.
Also instead of starting Carzola and Flamini, who i think could have helped us wrap the game early, Wenger chose to start Rosicky and Arteta. Although Rosicky and Arteta are great players, i feel that they would have more of an impact to the game coming of the bench towards the end of the match. Rosickys high work-rate would be great utilised to start of creative plays to get past a tired defence. Arteta could have come on to help protect the defence with flamini while walcott came off as a sub so as to not increase the chances of an injury.
Although i have these concerns, i hope theseplayers especially Vermaelen prove me wrong and have a wonderful game and win at the Emirates.
I believe in you Arsenal
In my previous post, i gave forward the team that i would have loved for arsene wenger to pick and the team that i felt could beat chelsea. However the team picked by Wenger is very similiar yet the differences could lead to a catastrophe.
Instead of moving Sagna into the CB role, made available by Koscielny, Wenger has opted to put Vermaelen in that position. Although Vermaelen is an outright CB, his performance recently has shown that when facing a team with a great attacking force his performance can prove to be below expectations.
Also instead of starting Carzola and Flamini, who i think could have helped us wrap the game early, Wenger chose to start Rosicky and Arteta. Although Rosicky and Arteta are great players, i feel that they would have more of an impact to the game coming of the bench towards the end of the match. Rosickys high work-rate would be great utilised to start of creative plays to get past a tired defence. Arteta could have come on to help protect the defence with flamini while walcott came off as a sub so as to not increase the chances of an injury.
Although i have these concerns, i hope theseplayers especially Vermaelen prove me wrong and have a wonderful game and win at the Emirates.
I believe in you Arsenal
Sunday 22 December 2013
Keep or Boot Jack Wilshere
The little terror. The loyal worker. The respectable player. Once the next great prospect to emerge from the youth ranks...... The liability ?? Jack Wilshere!
When this 'little terror' got injured the whole Arsenal community were very concerned about how arsenal would fare without our hardest worker in the midfield; our talisman boosting the morale of the other players. When he came back the community was overjoyed, elated of the return of their special one but now, a few months after coming back from injury, he is becoming more and more of a liability. He makes rash tackles increasing the risk of him being injured or even suspended. He runs into situations that he knows he cant get past more and more often , always losing possession. Apart from losing possession, he is putting himself in situations were he could possibly get injured. Most of jack wilsheres actions off and on the pitch tend to be leading to him being either injured or suspended, therefore making him useless to the arsenal squad and in turn stunting our progress. How does he do this even though he is just one player among many? Well by him getting injured or suspended he is reducing the amount of players arsene wenger has available to him in his arsenal ( mind the pun). He is disrupting the jelling process of our midfield by being an inconsistent part of their set-up.
With barcelona already knocking on our doors with an offer to take jack from our squad, do you think Jack Wilshere is an essential part of our squad? Well even though on his good days he does create majestic plays worthy of praise, we do have many players that can replace him.
For one Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain can easily fill in the boots left by Jack. Alex is a recognized left winger, which is a position that needs to be utilised to the fullest at Arsenal. He is very successful when he makes runs at defenders unlike Jack.
Also people like Rosicky, Podolski, Miyaichi, Gnarby and even the on loan Joel Campbell can finally get a clear chance to break into Arsenals starting 11.
Also with the money that enquiring teams would pay for Jack, which i feel should be around 15-25 million, should be enough to buy a better and more adept player. For example Griezmann.
So i ask you true, loyal Arsenal fans...Is Jack Wilshere an essential part of our squad or can we afford to sell him overseas?
When this 'little terror' got injured the whole Arsenal community were very concerned about how arsenal would fare without our hardest worker in the midfield; our talisman boosting the morale of the other players. When he came back the community was overjoyed, elated of the return of their special one but now, a few months after coming back from injury, he is becoming more and more of a liability. He makes rash tackles increasing the risk of him being injured or even suspended. He runs into situations that he knows he cant get past more and more often , always losing possession. Apart from losing possession, he is putting himself in situations were he could possibly get injured. Most of jack wilsheres actions off and on the pitch tend to be leading to him being either injured or suspended, therefore making him useless to the arsenal squad and in turn stunting our progress. How does he do this even though he is just one player among many? Well by him getting injured or suspended he is reducing the amount of players arsene wenger has available to him in his arsenal ( mind the pun). He is disrupting the jelling process of our midfield by being an inconsistent part of their set-up.
With barcelona already knocking on our doors with an offer to take jack from our squad, do you think Jack Wilshere is an essential part of our squad? Well even though on his good days he does create majestic plays worthy of praise, we do have many players that can replace him.
For one Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain can easily fill in the boots left by Jack. Alex is a recognized left winger, which is a position that needs to be utilised to the fullest at Arsenal. He is very successful when he makes runs at defenders unlike Jack.
Also people like Rosicky, Podolski, Miyaichi, Gnarby and even the on loan Joel Campbell can finally get a clear chance to break into Arsenals starting 11.
Also with the money that enquiring teams would pay for Jack, which i feel should be around 15-25 million, should be enough to buy a better and more adept player. For example Griezmann.
So i ask you true, loyal Arsenal fans...Is Jack Wilshere an essential part of our squad or can we afford to sell him overseas?
Saturday 21 December 2013
Arsenal vs Chelsea
This game is going to determine whether arsenal are really title contenders or whether we just had a stroke of luck in our previous fixtures. Defeats to Manchester United, Manchester City, Napoli and Chelsea in the Capital one Cup has lead some to doubt whether Arsenal can overcome and win the Premier League.
Recently, Wenger has announced that Podolski is available tolay against Chelsea. So apart from Koscielny, who has 70-80 percent chance of playing , and Wilshere, who is suspended, evryone is available to play against Chelsea.
But what team should Arsene play against a very strong Chelsea side ?
Well here is my opinion:
Szcezney
Jenkinson-Mertesacker- Sagna-Gibbs
Flamini
Walcott-Carzola-Ramsey-Ozil
Giroud
Subs: Fabianski,Rosicky,Gnarby,Arteta,Monreal,Podolski,Vermaelen
In my opinion this team has a chance to beat Chelsea atleast 2-0. Hopefully wenger is on the same wave length as me.
Recently, Wenger has announced that Podolski is available tolay against Chelsea. So apart from Koscielny, who has 70-80 percent chance of playing , and Wilshere, who is suspended, evryone is available to play against Chelsea.
But what team should Arsene play against a very strong Chelsea side ?
Well here is my opinion:
Szcezney
Jenkinson-Mertesacker- Sagna-Gibbs
Flamini
Walcott-Carzola-Ramsey-Ozil
Giroud
Subs: Fabianski,Rosicky,Gnarby,Arteta,Monreal,Podolski,Vermaelen
In my opinion this team has a chance to beat Chelsea atleast 2-0. Hopefully wenger is on the same wave length as me.
We must improve
As the season progresses, the flaws in our current arsenal team is beginning to show. The injuries are starting to pile up again and our lack of depth is plaguing our trophy hopes. The contract saga, in which Sagna is involved, and the injury facing Koscielny has made our back very vulnerable and as we have seen, Vermaelen is not capable of filling Koscielny's boots.
Our midfield, the only area in our squad that doesnt need reinforcement, has begun to wane in physical and mental strength due to the good form the have produced early in the season and the two important defeats we faced against Napoli and Manchester City. Ozil, our talismanic signing during the summer transfer, has been superb however his inconsistency has made him to fall short of the expectations we had of him. Our formation,4-5-1, has also made it hard for our team to play to its full potential. With this said i can move on to our forwards or in Arsenals case forward; Giroud. Giroud is in need for some cover. He has played every game since the begininning of the season and fatigue has begun to take its toll. Also the lack of another fantastic striker has put a lot of physical and psychological stress on giroud. Bendtner, Sanogo and Park Chu Young lack the cutting edge that arsenal demand from a striker.
From this brief analysation of our current squad, it is best to say that when the january window opens, we should look for a striker and a defender to increase our squad depth. Also the formation we play needs to be revised so as to bring the best out of our current squad.
Although there are a lot of world class strikers strikers being associated with a january move to the Emirates, we have to take into account that we need a striker that is not cup tied as we have and ill-favoured champions league cup tie against( last years champions) Bayern Munich. This therefore means that players such as Lewandowski, Dortmund; Martinez, Porto; El Shawaary, Ac Milan; Benzema and Di maria, both Real Madrid and Diego Costa, Athletico Madrid are all out of the running to be the next world class player joining Ozil at the Emirates.
So with this said, which world class striker is available to play in the Champions League and is good enough to play in the Premier League ? Well i could only think of three: Radamel Falcoa, Mario Gomez and Giuseppe Rossi.
Radamel Falcao- 27 years old, plays for AS Monaco. Has scored 9 goals in 13 appearances. He would cost arsenal around 40-69 million to get him to sign for us. He is very strong so he would fit in perfectly into the premier league.
Mario Gomez- 28 years old, plays for Florentina. Has scored 2 goals in 3 appearances. He would cost roughly 20 million to pry him from Florentina and he would most likely join in search for champions league football.
Giuseppe Rossi- 26 years old, plays for Florentina. Has scored 14 goals in 18 appearances. He would cost 30million to sign him. He plays a different style of football to Giroud and therefore brings a different style of play to arsenal.
Defenders arsenal could possibly buy as cover up for Koscielny and Sagna are: Ginter, Uchida, Micah Richards or Coleman.
Arsenal shoud also play a 4-4-2 system if a striker is bought playing Carzola,Flamini,Ozil and Walcott in the midfield.
Our midfield, the only area in our squad that doesnt need reinforcement, has begun to wane in physical and mental strength due to the good form the have produced early in the season and the two important defeats we faced against Napoli and Manchester City. Ozil, our talismanic signing during the summer transfer, has been superb however his inconsistency has made him to fall short of the expectations we had of him. Our formation,4-5-1, has also made it hard for our team to play to its full potential. With this said i can move on to our forwards or in Arsenals case forward; Giroud. Giroud is in need for some cover. He has played every game since the begininning of the season and fatigue has begun to take its toll. Also the lack of another fantastic striker has put a lot of physical and psychological stress on giroud. Bendtner, Sanogo and Park Chu Young lack the cutting edge that arsenal demand from a striker.
From this brief analysation of our current squad, it is best to say that when the january window opens, we should look for a striker and a defender to increase our squad depth. Also the formation we play needs to be revised so as to bring the best out of our current squad.
Although there are a lot of world class strikers strikers being associated with a january move to the Emirates, we have to take into account that we need a striker that is not cup tied as we have and ill-favoured champions league cup tie against( last years champions) Bayern Munich. This therefore means that players such as Lewandowski, Dortmund; Martinez, Porto; El Shawaary, Ac Milan; Benzema and Di maria, both Real Madrid and Diego Costa, Athletico Madrid are all out of the running to be the next world class player joining Ozil at the Emirates.
So with this said, which world class striker is available to play in the Champions League and is good enough to play in the Premier League ? Well i could only think of three: Radamel Falcoa, Mario Gomez and Giuseppe Rossi.
Radamel Falcao- 27 years old, plays for AS Monaco. Has scored 9 goals in 13 appearances. He would cost arsenal around 40-69 million to get him to sign for us. He is very strong so he would fit in perfectly into the premier league.
Mario Gomez- 28 years old, plays for Florentina. Has scored 2 goals in 3 appearances. He would cost roughly 20 million to pry him from Florentina and he would most likely join in search for champions league football.
Giuseppe Rossi- 26 years old, plays for Florentina. Has scored 14 goals in 18 appearances. He would cost 30million to sign him. He plays a different style of football to Giroud and therefore brings a different style of play to arsenal.
Defenders arsenal could possibly buy as cover up for Koscielny and Sagna are: Ginter, Uchida, Micah Richards or Coleman.
Arsenal shoud also play a 4-4-2 system if a striker is bought playing Carzola,Flamini,Ozil and Walcott in the midfield.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)