How much more time do we give, over the last 19 years we have always been '2 or 3 players away from competing'. This season that is actually the case and despite our financial resources we seem like we are going to ignore 2 glaring weaknesses in the squad which everyone can see needs addressing.
And regarding the 2 spots we in XI we filled internally, Bellerin only came in at RB after Wenger spent £25M on Flops. Coquelin nailing DM down was purely by luck, Wenger himself admitted he was not in his plans anymore. We are not going to get that luck again, Theo could prove to be the answer up front but we have nobody in the squad who can play Coquelin's specialist role. Basically if Coq gets injured we have to play Ramsey alongside Arteta and Cazorla ends up on the bench when he was been pivotal to our turn in form since the turn of the year.
"But now we have better
players...everywhere...with good competition in every position (maybe except LB)"
I'd say I'm more confident in our LB options than at RB. Bellerin has become the most overrated player in our squad recently. If we didn't blow £26m on Debuchy and Chambers, that is a position I'd love to see urgently strengthened.
If we fail to do significant business in this window, we'd have missed a massive opportunity. We have to break the cycle of always being 2 or 3 players away. And that's where we are: 2 or so players away AGAIN.
comment by Bats (U18355)
posted 7 minutes ago
How much more time do we give, over the last 19 years we have always been '2 or 3 players away from competing'. This season that is actually the case and despite our financial resources we seem like we are going to ignore 2 glaring weaknesses in the squad which everyone can see needs addressing.
And regarding the 2 spots we in XI we filled internally, Bellerin only came in at RB after Wenger spent £25M on Flops. Coquelin nailing DM down was purely by luck, Wenger himself admitted he was not in his plans anymore. We are not going to get that luck again, Theo could prove to be the answer up front but we have nobody in the squad who can play Coquelin's specialist role. Basically if Coq gets injured we have to play Ramsey alongside Arteta and Cazorla ends up on the bench when he was been pivotal to our turn in form since the turn of the year.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You know, you are right. Everything you've described is a very real possibility this coming season.
But look around you. Other teams are showing similar deficiencies. It's football.
Chelsea has one good striker.
United has no senior defender of quality.
City has 1 good defender, 1 striker and 5/6 overpaid players they need to get rid of.
Livepool has bought another handfull of mercenaries they don't need to solve problems they don't have.
It isn't exactly greener on the other side. The settled team we've got and the succession planning in every position show's a longterm oriented point of view that no other manager in the league has been afforded. It has counted recently with the cups, but I'm even more positive it will come on leaps and bounds in the future.
comment by Sheriff John Brown - bring back David Dein (U7482)
posted 6 minutes ago
If we fail to do significant business in this window, we'd have missed a massive opportunity. We have to break the cycle of always being 2 or 3 players away. And that's where we are: 2 or so players away AGAIN.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We have all our good players from last year, and upgraded on our keeper.
Surely the "2-3" has reduced to "1-2" by now.
comment by Sheriff John Brown - bring back David Dein (U7482)
posted 10 minutes ago
"But now we have better
players...everywhere...with good competition in every position (maybe except LB)"
I'd say I'm more confident in our LB options than at RB. Bellerin has become the most overrated player in our squad recently. If we didn't blow £26m on Debuchy and Chambers, that is a position I'd love to see urgently strengthened.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I was about to defend my stance before I realized you were arguing my point.
Debuchy and Chambers' signings were hailed by all of us when they happened. Now both players are behind Bellerin (and arguably Jenko) in that position.
Imagine the uproar if Arsene went into last season with Bellerin and Jenkinson as our only RBs.
Debuchy is a very good player, just unlucky with injuries last season. Much better than Bellerin in defence.
Chambers played well at CB and looks like a good prospect. At RB hes is not very good but he was filling in as Wenger didnt trust Bellerin then.
comment by Sheriff John Brown - bring back David Dein (U7482)
posted 10 minutes ago
If we fail to do significant business in this window, we'd have missed a massive opportunity. We have to break the cycle of always being 2 or 3 players away. And that's where we are: 2 or so players away AGAIN.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tottenham did significant business. Liverpool did significant business. Man Utd did significant business every window for the past 5 windows.
Buying players, even high reputation ones, guarantees nothing but hope while you rub your palms together at the prospects.
And we still can do business. Window isn't over. But surely you can see our squad is better than most of our rivals as is.
Go on the city/united/liverpool board. look at their "preferred starting 11 articles". Tell me how many of them are confident with their starting 11 (without putting "Otamendi" in CB and "Pedro?" on a wide position.)
I called it last season that we had the best team in the league, but didn't envision the absolutely disgusting injury crisis we faced. It showed when they all came back how good we were then. A lot of those players are better now than they were at the start of last season. A lot of our rivals are weaker.
Why shouldn't I be confident, injury permitting, we can lift the prem this season?
Why shouldn't I be confident, injury permitting, we can lift the prem this season?
------
Im sure you would like a top quality CF though??? who that is i dont know but i dont think Giroud is top class. Hes a great player to come off the bench though.
comment by Bats (U18355)
posted 29 minutes ago
Over the last 10* years
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Over the last 10 years would winning the prem been anything but a miracle? What with our best players being on every big sides' menu?
With our transfer record staying 13M Wiltord until 2 years ago? With our wage structure making the mighty Mamadou Sakho declare "Arsenal? nah they can't afford me. They have no money".
We've only been in a position to hope for anything other than a top4 finish in 2 of the last 10 years, and should have dropped out to it more than once (Denilson, Song, Ramsey mifield? Djourou/Silverstre defence?)
Give them time.
comment by BO$$™ (U6401)
posted 1 minute ago
Why shouldn't I be confident, injury permitting, we can lift the prem this season?
------
Im sure you would like a top quality CF though??? who that is i dont know but i dont think Giroud is top class. Hes a great player to come off the bench though.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Surely no better striker has moved clubs this season. You could argue 29 year old Jackson but signing 29 year olds haven't really worked out for any team long term.
Chelsea have the best manager, best injury record, and best first XI. I expect them to win the league.
comment by Tu Meke Santi (U3732)
posted 3 minutes ago
Chelsea have the best manager, best injury record, and best first XI. I expect them to win the league.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Our results first eleven to first eleven from last are better. Surely if the argument about them as challengers is based on their first eleven not their squad depth, we can make the claim that with the improvements to our fitness department, and our track record of doing better than everyone else while the first team is available, we can expect to win the league as well.
End of the day I have a strong belief that we are one season without an injury crisis away from winning the prem.
All the stats from the last 2 seasons confirm it. Our fitness situation has much better. Yet very few on here think actually winning the prem is impossible.
but didn't envision the absolutely disgusting injury crisis we faced
I did,most did,why didnt you?
probably the same reason you wont expect it this season,its a condition called delusion
Wenger has an acute case,i say this as the only answer to the reasoning of behind the
" 1 or 2 away" syndrome we suffer year in year out,
give them time?
Arsenal fans are the least fickle and patient fans in world football
Great article . wish more on here had the vision and intelligence to think like this
Some embarrassing comments on this thread.
People who cant see the quality of Bellerin are clueless and/or blind. For the first time we have enough alternative at the back that include RB, LB and CB.
We are short in a type of Coquelin player because neither Arteta, Ramsey or Santi can do what he does so well that is putting the pressure away from our defense and being concentrated on that job only.
Yes a striker is a plus but the type we need is rare or not available. First priority should be the defensive midfielder.
comment by Bats (U18355)
posted 1 hour, 5 minutes ago
How much more time do we give, over the last 19 years we have always been '2 or 3 players away from competing'. This season that is actually the case and despite our financial resources we seem like we are going to ignore 2 glaring weaknesses in the squad which everyone can see needs addressing.
And regarding the 2 spots we in XI we filled internally, Bellerin only came in at RB after Wenger spent £25M on Flops. Coquelin nailing DM down was purely by luck, Wenger himself admitted he was not in his plans anymore. We are not going to get that luck again, Theo could prove to be the answer up front but we have nobody in the squad who can play Coquelin's specialist role. Basically if Coq gets injured we have to play Ramsey alongside Arteta and Cazorla ends up on the bench when he was been pivotal to our turn in form since the turn of the year.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You love Carzola but even he can have a run of bad games. He went awol a few times last season and can do again. Our entire season doesnt depend on Carzola playing every single game he will dip in and out of form just like everyone else
comment by Joey Joe Joe Shabbadoo (U6955)
posted 4 minutes ago
but didn't envision the absolutely disgusting injury crisis we faced
I did,most did,why didnt you?
probably the same reason you wont expect it this season,its a condition called delusion
Wenger has an acute case,i say this as the only answer to the reasoning of behind the
" 1 or 2 away" syndrome we suffer year in year out,
give them time?
Arsenal fans are the least fickle and patient fans in world football
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Because we didn't have 16 first team players like the start of the earlier season. We had bought 5 players, so I imagined we'd be able to cope with all but the worst injury crisis.
Yup...it was the worst injury crisis in the past 5 odd years. And signing 2-3 others wouldn't have stopped our midfield from being awful when we lost 7 first team midfielders at the same time.
Thats clearly not true though is it,we started short and everyone knew it,apart from you then as it seems,add to this that even if some of that shortfall was added at the start of the season then more additions in jan we would have competed not just last season but over the last 10,everyone knows this,at worst people say that wenger had no money to do this(also false) but everyone acknowledges that with just a few quality players would have vastly improved us
hence the 1 or 2 away chat every season after the annual foreseen injury crisis
Not quite sure I understand the "we've got depth" argument. We have 3 potential first-team wide men in Walcott, Sanchez and the Ox. That's three players gunning for two roles, which isn't quite enough. Furthermore, the argument goes ahead and includes Walcott as an alternative to Giroud and an injury-prone Welbeck upfront.
Both Walcott and the Ox can't be trusted to stay fit past October, and Sanchez may need a few weeks to readjust when he comes back on Monday. This leaves us at least 2 top-class attacking players short. Wenger's aggressive loaning of players doesn't help matters either.
There is also a case to be made for similar structural shortages in midfield.
Sign in if you want to comment
Give them time.
Page 1 of 5
posted on 4/8/15
How much more time do we give, over the last 19 years we have always been '2 or 3 players away from competing'. This season that is actually the case and despite our financial resources we seem like we are going to ignore 2 glaring weaknesses in the squad which everyone can see needs addressing.
And regarding the 2 spots we in XI we filled internally, Bellerin only came in at RB after Wenger spent £25M on Flops. Coquelin nailing DM down was purely by luck, Wenger himself admitted he was not in his plans anymore. We are not going to get that luck again, Theo could prove to be the answer up front but we have nobody in the squad who can play Coquelin's specialist role. Basically if Coq gets injured we have to play Ramsey alongside Arteta and Cazorla ends up on the bench when he was been pivotal to our turn in form since the turn of the year.
posted on 4/8/15
Over the last 10* years
posted on 4/8/15
"But now we have better
players...everywhere...with good competition in every position (maybe except LB)"
I'd say I'm more confident in our LB options than at RB. Bellerin has become the most overrated player in our squad recently. If we didn't blow £26m on Debuchy and Chambers, that is a position I'd love to see urgently strengthened.
posted on 4/8/15
If we fail to do significant business in this window, we'd have missed a massive opportunity. We have to break the cycle of always being 2 or 3 players away. And that's where we are: 2 or so players away AGAIN.
posted on 4/8/15
comment by Bats (U18355)
posted 7 minutes ago
How much more time do we give, over the last 19 years we have always been '2 or 3 players away from competing'. This season that is actually the case and despite our financial resources we seem like we are going to ignore 2 glaring weaknesses in the squad which everyone can see needs addressing.
And regarding the 2 spots we in XI we filled internally, Bellerin only came in at RB after Wenger spent £25M on Flops. Coquelin nailing DM down was purely by luck, Wenger himself admitted he was not in his plans anymore. We are not going to get that luck again, Theo could prove to be the answer up front but we have nobody in the squad who can play Coquelin's specialist role. Basically if Coq gets injured we have to play Ramsey alongside Arteta and Cazorla ends up on the bench when he was been pivotal to our turn in form since the turn of the year.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You know, you are right. Everything you've described is a very real possibility this coming season.
But look around you. Other teams are showing similar deficiencies. It's football.
Chelsea has one good striker.
United has no senior defender of quality.
City has 1 good defender, 1 striker and 5/6 overpaid players they need to get rid of.
Livepool has bought another handfull of mercenaries they don't need to solve problems they don't have.
It isn't exactly greener on the other side. The settled team we've got and the succession planning in every position show's a longterm oriented point of view that no other manager in the league has been afforded. It has counted recently with the cups, but I'm even more positive it will come on leaps and bounds in the future.
posted on 4/8/15
comment by Sheriff John Brown - bring back David Dein (U7482)
posted 6 minutes ago
If we fail to do significant business in this window, we'd have missed a massive opportunity. We have to break the cycle of always being 2 or 3 players away. And that's where we are: 2 or so players away AGAIN.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We have all our good players from last year, and upgraded on our keeper.
Surely the "2-3" has reduced to "1-2" by now.
posted on 4/8/15
comment by Sheriff John Brown - bring back David Dein (U7482)
posted 10 minutes ago
"But now we have better
players...everywhere...with good competition in every position (maybe except LB)"
I'd say I'm more confident in our LB options than at RB. Bellerin has become the most overrated player in our squad recently. If we didn't blow £26m on Debuchy and Chambers, that is a position I'd love to see urgently strengthened.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I was about to defend my stance before I realized you were arguing my point.
Debuchy and Chambers' signings were hailed by all of us when they happened. Now both players are behind Bellerin (and arguably Jenko) in that position.
Imagine the uproar if Arsene went into last season with Bellerin and Jenkinson as our only RBs.
posted on 4/8/15
Debuchy is a very good player, just unlucky with injuries last season. Much better than Bellerin in defence.
Chambers played well at CB and looks like a good prospect. At RB hes is not very good but he was filling in as Wenger didnt trust Bellerin then.
posted on 4/8/15
comment by Sheriff John Brown - bring back David Dein (U7482)
posted 10 minutes ago
If we fail to do significant business in this window, we'd have missed a massive opportunity. We have to break the cycle of always being 2 or 3 players away. And that's where we are: 2 or so players away AGAIN.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tottenham did significant business. Liverpool did significant business. Man Utd did significant business every window for the past 5 windows.
Buying players, even high reputation ones, guarantees nothing but hope while you rub your palms together at the prospects.
And we still can do business. Window isn't over. But surely you can see our squad is better than most of our rivals as is.
Go on the city/united/liverpool board. look at their "preferred starting 11 articles". Tell me how many of them are confident with their starting 11 (without putting "Otamendi" in CB and "Pedro?" on a wide position.)
I called it last season that we had the best team in the league, but didn't envision the absolutely disgusting injury crisis we faced. It showed when they all came back how good we were then. A lot of those players are better now than they were at the start of last season. A lot of our rivals are weaker.
Why shouldn't I be confident, injury permitting, we can lift the prem this season?
posted on 4/8/15
Why shouldn't I be confident, injury permitting, we can lift the prem this season?
------
Im sure you would like a top quality CF though??? who that is i dont know but i dont think Giroud is top class. Hes a great player to come off the bench though.
posted on 4/8/15
comment by Bats (U18355)
posted 29 minutes ago
Over the last 10* years
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Over the last 10 years would winning the prem been anything but a miracle? What with our best players being on every big sides' menu?
With our transfer record staying 13M Wiltord until 2 years ago? With our wage structure making the mighty Mamadou Sakho declare "Arsenal? nah they can't afford me. They have no money".
We've only been in a position to hope for anything other than a top4 finish in 2 of the last 10 years, and should have dropped out to it more than once (Denilson, Song, Ramsey mifield? Djourou/Silverstre defence?)
Give them time.
posted on 4/8/15
comment by BO$$™ (U6401)
posted 1 minute ago
Why shouldn't I be confident, injury permitting, we can lift the prem this season?
------
Im sure you would like a top quality CF though??? who that is i dont know but i dont think Giroud is top class. Hes a great player to come off the bench though.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Surely no better striker has moved clubs this season. You could argue 29 year old Jackson but signing 29 year olds haven't really worked out for any team long term.
posted on 4/8/15
*29 year old strikers*
posted on 4/8/15
Chelsea have the best manager, best injury record, and best first XI. I expect them to win the league.
posted on 4/8/15
comment by Tu Meke Santi (U3732)
posted 3 minutes ago
Chelsea have the best manager, best injury record, and best first XI. I expect them to win the league.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Our results first eleven to first eleven from last are better. Surely if the argument about them as challengers is based on their first eleven not their squad depth, we can make the claim that with the improvements to our fitness department, and our track record of doing better than everyone else while the first team is available, we can expect to win the league as well.
posted on 4/8/15
End of the day I have a strong belief that we are one season without an injury crisis away from winning the prem.
All the stats from the last 2 seasons confirm it. Our fitness situation has much better. Yet very few on here think actually winning the prem is impossible.
posted on 4/8/15
but didn't envision the absolutely disgusting injury crisis we faced
I did,most did,why didnt you?
probably the same reason you wont expect it this season,its a condition called delusion
Wenger has an acute case,i say this as the only answer to the reasoning of behind the
" 1 or 2 away" syndrome we suffer year in year out,
give them time?
Arsenal fans are the least fickle and patient fans in world football
posted on 4/8/15
-of
posted on 4/8/15
Great article . wish more on here had the vision and intelligence to think like this
posted on 4/8/15
Some embarrassing comments on this thread.
People who cant see the quality of Bellerin are clueless and/or blind. For the first time we have enough alternative at the back that include RB, LB and CB.
We are short in a type of Coquelin player because neither Arteta, Ramsey or Santi can do what he does so well that is putting the pressure away from our defense and being concentrated on that job only.
Yes a striker is a plus but the type we need is rare or not available. First priority should be the defensive midfielder.
posted on 4/8/15
comment by Bats (U18355)
posted 1 hour, 5 minutes ago
How much more time do we give, over the last 19 years we have always been '2 or 3 players away from competing'. This season that is actually the case and despite our financial resources we seem like we are going to ignore 2 glaring weaknesses in the squad which everyone can see needs addressing.
And regarding the 2 spots we in XI we filled internally, Bellerin only came in at RB after Wenger spent £25M on Flops. Coquelin nailing DM down was purely by luck, Wenger himself admitted he was not in his plans anymore. We are not going to get that luck again, Theo could prove to be the answer up front but we have nobody in the squad who can play Coquelin's specialist role. Basically if Coq gets injured we have to play Ramsey alongside Arteta and Cazorla ends up on the bench when he was been pivotal to our turn in form since the turn of the year.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You love Carzola but even he can have a run of bad games. He went awol a few times last season and can do again. Our entire season doesnt depend on Carzola playing every single game he will dip in and out of form just like everyone else
posted on 4/8/15
comment by Joey Joe Joe Shabbadoo (U6955)
posted 4 minutes ago
but didn't envision the absolutely disgusting injury crisis we faced
I did,most did,why didnt you?
probably the same reason you wont expect it this season,its a condition called delusion
Wenger has an acute case,i say this as the only answer to the reasoning of behind the
" 1 or 2 away" syndrome we suffer year in year out,
give them time?
Arsenal fans are the least fickle and patient fans in world football
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Because we didn't have 16 first team players like the start of the earlier season. We had bought 5 players, so I imagined we'd be able to cope with all but the worst injury crisis.
Yup...it was the worst injury crisis in the past 5 odd years. And signing 2-3 others wouldn't have stopped our midfield from being awful when we lost 7 first team midfielders at the same time.
posted on 4/8/15
Thats clearly not true though is it,we started short and everyone knew it,apart from you then as it seems,add to this that even if some of that shortfall was added at the start of the season then more additions in jan we would have competed not just last season but over the last 10,everyone knows this,at worst people say that wenger had no money to do this(also false) but everyone acknowledges that with just a few quality players would have vastly improved us
hence the 1 or 2 away chat every season after the annual foreseen injury crisis
posted on 4/8/15
Not quite sure I understand the "we've got depth" argument. We have 3 potential first-team wide men in Walcott, Sanchez and the Ox. That's three players gunning for two roles, which isn't quite enough. Furthermore, the argument goes ahead and includes Walcott as an alternative to Giroud and an injury-prone Welbeck upfront.
Both Walcott and the Ox can't be trusted to stay fit past October, and Sanchez may need a few weeks to readjust when he comes back on Monday. This leaves us at least 2 top-class attacking players short. Wenger's aggressive loaning of players doesn't help matters either.
There is also a case to be made for similar structural shortages in midfield.
posted on 4/8/15
Exactly
Page 1 of 5