Something needs to change next season

CliffyG

CliffyG

CliffyG

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I think it's pretty safe to say our season is now over. Our first team can match anyone but in the modern game that just doesn't cut it. With all the games that are played we need a strong squad and this has been our downfall (penalty decisions aside!).

Almunia

Sagna Toure Gallas Clichy

Hleb Cesc Flamini Rosicky

RvP Adebayor

The lineup above looks great but how often have we had that. We are having to rely on 2nd rate players and it's had a massive effect. Bendtner just can't score, he's been given countless chances this season but can't cut it. Senderos at fault for 2 more goals last night and countless others all season. Eboue playing in midfield, he is a defender. We have no left sided midfielder apart from a sick note. Adebayor has had a good season but ultimately he is not a good player, his control, passing, composure and decision making has cost us many times. When Cesc or Hleb is out we have no one who can come in and do a similar job. With the injuries we've had our subs bench has looked shockingly inexperienced and to be fair not very good.

As much as i admire Wenger i think his major shortcoming is his refusual to spend money on established players. I don't mean spending 30/40 mil on 1 player but we need to spend 10 - 20 mil on 3 or 4 players. We have the money and we are in desperate need of an injection of quality. The problem is i have serious doubts Wenger will ever do that.

I know it looks like a knee jerk reaction to last night but this has been building for a couple of months now. The same thing happened last season too, Wenger needs to take stock of the current squad and replace certain players / enhance it with a couple of extras.
 
Could not agree more!! The last few months as an Arsenal fan has been extremely frustrating (even beating AC Milan away, just drags it out even more lol!!)
The depth of our squad is almost non-existant nowadays, I like Tommy gun but I'm not convinced he is first team 11 quality that we need. In major need of another goal scoring striker, oh my god and we have to get rid or replace Senderos!!!
Walcott is like a yo-yo, last night for instance - a flash of pure class that not many in this world could do, and then other days he is pretty drap :(
So that's a decent experienced central defender (more cover for our 2 at the back) a dangerous winger and a 20+ goal scoring maching! :D

Oh but I am very happy at how well Sagna, Clichy and Flamini have turned out this season!! Great stuff!
 
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5 penalty decisions that could easier have gone the other way and we could be sitting pretty at the top of the league, and in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

Considering may people expect us to finish about 4th or 5th, it's not been bad, so yes it's knee jerk.

Yes Eboue needs to go, no goals and one assit is hardly any good. Walcott may not be the answer on the right, but he is far better than Eboue.

Adebayor has costs us?! Pull the other one, where would we be without him? Still young, at the same age Drogba was signing for the mighty Guingamp. He works hard, runs for 90minutes, and pulls defenders about out of postition. He drops deep a bit too much for my liking but he's a class player.

Next season we have several youth players who could really leave a mark. Carlos Vela and Fran Merida, possibly Randall and Gibbs too.
 
i'd have to agree with everything said flamini,sagna and clichy have been amazing this season i also think rosicky been really good when he's been fit senderos has to go been saying it all season senderos is this generations cygan. walcott need to been given time though last night we saw a glimmer of his true potential his run was very reminisce of henry imo , he just needs time he's only what 18-19 if he's still not there at 20-21 start complaining.
 
no sorry, something does need to change, this season has gone better than I expected for you due to your brilliant start but as most people predicted you really have fallen away and you can say what you need about penalty decisions but over the last month or two you've just looked tired and uninventive compared to earlier in the season.

Wenger needs to realise that not spending money is only good if you actually win stuff. if you'd strengthened your squad by another 2 or 3 players in the summer you'd still be right up there now.


*edit and you could still finish 4th if you don't get your act together.
 
I would look at the teams morale, some of he displays by Arsenals players this season has been shocking, Adebayor and Bendtner, Gallas perfomance at Birmingham game. Wenger needs to sort the players out but this season he has been living in a fantasy world.
 
Last night and penalty aside, Arsenal should be winning that game, they don't have enough legs and need 3/4 good, experienced players to come in this summer.

First of all, the 2 full backs are absolutely tremendous and I'd go so far as to say that both Sagna and Clichy are both top 3 in the EPL at RB and LB respectively. However, Senderos is not good enough as has been revealed, Arsenal need another CB along with Toure and Gallas.

Also a new GK wouldn't be bad, Almunia is decent but he isn't title winning quality.

As you said above, the first choice midfield is probably the best in the EPL, but Rosicky can't be relied upon and Cesc/Hleb have burnt out big time. Arsenal need to invest in a good CM player and a good winger. With a decent option on the wing Arsenal will find themselves a lot more dangerous, somebody who can take people on like Walcott I suppose, who I hope will be ready next season, but he still looks a little unpolished.

Up front, RvP can't be relied upon either, and Adebayor isn't good enough for Arsenal. He has a horrible first touch and isn't nearly deadly enough. Eduardo is the closest Arsenal have to a stone cold goal scorer and we all know his story, this leads me to believe they need another player of Eduardo's mould, someone who will just score and is deadly.

Hopefully next season will see Walcott's breakthrough and Eboue will be 2nd choice RB and out of the starting line-up altogether.

With a little strengthening I can see Arsenal matching Man Utd for the entire next season, rather than just the 5 months at the start.

I think this team was good enough to win the EPL, but they're not machines and they were always going to burn out sometime. Hopefully this season has added some vital experience.


EDIT - I think that in 2 years Diaby and Walcott are going to be brilliant players, but can Wenger afford to wait that long.
 
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For me Arsenal have improved this season.

A couple of shocking ref decisions apart and Arsenal should be in the semi final of the CL and that would have been a massive improvement from last year imo.

Also, in an ideal world no one would have got injured and that might just have given the squad the required depth to succeeded in the league or CL this year.

Now onto the future...

As much as I like Rosicky and RvP as players, let's be honest they are crocks. You can't rely on them to play week in week out because they just cannot stay fit.

This is where the big money should be spent for me, a left winger to give them width and an out and out goal scorer (a fox in the box). To a lesser extent I'd also say a keeper and a dominate center back (a Vidic type) as it's quite clear that Senderos can't cut it.

Another player I think that should be shipped out is Eboue. I've never seen a more wasteful player in my entire life, he can't shoot, cross or pass.

In an ideal world I'd like to see Arsenal spend a good £40M on 3 or 4 players in the positions I've mentioned above. As for suggestions on which players, Ben Arfa (Left Winger) has been heavily linked in the past few weeks. Not seen much of him in real life but on FM2008 he always turns out decent. Sounds like a natural left footer who hugs the touch line, could be someone to improve the squad most definitely. On the subject of wingers I can see Quaresma moving on this year as well.

Up front I'm not sure who Arsenal could attract. The player I'd spend money on would probably be David Villa.

I agree with jakeke about Diaby and Theo, so much potential but can Wenger wait that long for them to develop?

That's my thoughts as a relative neutral on the scheme of things at Arsenal at the moment.
 
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Personally I think it's going a bit OTT.

Senderos has his moments, but in defensive terms he's still young, and completely shut AC Milan out of the game when he wasn't even expecting to play, after Toure was injured.

Adebayor has shown how prolific he can be and I think he'll only continue to improve.

The main person I think needs to leave is Eboue. He really is just rubbish.

Bring in someone like Quaresma, who has been linked apparently, to run up and down the wing, whilst also banging in a few would certainly be useful.

If Carlos Vela comes back he could be the extra depth with need in the strikers.
 
If I were Wenger I would buy a decent centre back and left winger and replacements for Gilberto and Jens leaving. I would also consider Rosicky's position at the club due to his persistent injuries.

I would be tempted to sell Eboue but as mentioned keeping him as backup for Sagna in place of Hoyte who I don't think is good enough could be possible.

I think the turning point of our season was the Birmingham game, but in addition to that I don't Cesc and Toure have been on form recently. We also need a creative alternative for Cesc, when hes off form he still plays or when we need to try and break and team down we don't really have another method than to still play through him.
 
There really is a touch of worrying knee-jerkiness about the thread.

Diaby has a good game and suddenly he's going to be a fantastic player? Did I imagine all those other, largely forgettable games he's had prior to this one?

Senderos is useless because he made a mistake for one goal, and failed to stop one of Europe's best strikers from scoring a wonder goal? I suppose Gallas and Toure haven't made a mistake all season have they? Neither of them were at fault for any of the 4 Man Utd put past us, or the 5 Spurs did, or any of the other (far too numerous) goals we've conceeded this season. Nah, it's all Phil's fault!

Adebayor is rubbish? 25 goals this season, and third highest scorer in the league isn't good enough for you? He's had a dip in form, but don't go forgetting what he's already done for us so far. Eduardo gets injured before he suffers any kind of blip in form, and he's now the best thing since sliced bread?

I agree, we could probably do with a few changes, but some perspective is needed. We've still technically improved on last season, so I'm going to have a bit more faith in one of the best managers in the coutry before I get all ansty.
 
Eduardo looked useless on the left every time i saw him play there. Admittedly he didn't do it a lot and was new at the club but i dont see him being good enough there full time. He should be playing off defenders shoulders providing he recovers fully.

I know Adebayor has scored a lot for us but he could have scored so many more goals. It's like there's 2 versions of him, at his worst he is like a pin ball machine with no control whatsover and at others he looks awesome. With RvP out we were relying on him and he wasn't consistent enough.
 
I agree with Weebull pretty much.

At the start of the season I'd been of the opinion if we get Champs league football again next year it's been an alright season, I'd have taken 4th before a ball was kicked.

I don't believe that Arsenal will be at their peak till 2010/2011 season, at the moment theres still a fair amount of learning and growing to be done, last year I'd have said get rid of No16 the goal machine but even the thought of him leaving now is crazy, yet hes been at the club for 5 years? Same with Clichy to a lesser extent and hes been wonderful, there have been to many examples of clubs buying big named players for them to take a year or two to settle into the team, if at all.

Our main problem is squad depth, with our biggest position up for grabs currently being the right wing. I'd be surprised if we brought in anymore than one "first team quality/big name" player in the transfer window, I think we will see 3-4 players in, most of who will be younger players for cover, which again I think is all we need.

Build a squad not buy a squad.
 
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