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The THREE things Arsenal must address

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Let me start off by saying, I’m a huge Arsene Wenger fan. In fact, he’s is one of the main reasons why I support Arsenal. I think it’s fair to say that everybody likes the way the north London club play – even the neutrals.

But the problem with Wenger is that he doesn’t listen to reason. Yes, we can’t compete with the Chelsea’s and Manchester City’s of this world. But he’s also lost the ability to sign great players. I mean, why sign Park Chu-Young or Marouane Chamakh, when you can sign great underdogs like Bobby Zamora, Clint Dempsey and so on.

Along with this there are other issues with the club which is preventing them from taking that one step further and breaking their trophyless run.

I believe there are three things missing, big things at that.

1. Lack of physical presence in the midfield

Look at how Arsenal benefited from Patrick Vieira’s physique in the past, or how City have benefited from Yaya Toure. He is a midfield enforcer who drives the team forward, shields his back four very well, and covers a heel of a lot of ground for his side. Mikel Arteta isn’t like this. Don’t get me wrong, The Spaniard is a very gifted player. He has great positional discipline, which Alex Song lacked, and he’s very good on the ball. Like I said a very good player, but not the ideal defensive midfielder we crave. Abou Diaby offers us the physical presence we’ve been lacking, but will he ever come good? He could be great for us if he can stay fit, but I’m beginning to run out of patience with the lanky Frenchman.

2. We need a top class striker in the side

Let’s face it; Olivier Giroud, Chamakh, Gervinho, and Theo Walcott are NOT world-class strikers. In my opinion, there are so many great strikers in the Premier League who play for the ‘smaller’ clubs that are much better than Giroud. Manchester United signed RVP, why didn’t we try to sign Jermain Defoe or Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who, in my opinion, should have been RVP’s successor! We need a top striker that will keep our opponents defence on their toes. A striker that will fight for the ball and hold up play, is technically gifted, and can pass one or two defenders with some skill. And frankly, this description does not match those names mentioned above.

3. Big enough squad, but not a lot of quality

It’s a season full of injuries and several things can ensue during it that may hinder you from winning something. In my opinion, we do have a big enough squad but its not full of quality. This needs to be addressed urgently.

In addition, Walcott should not be given the striker’s role because he’s too inconsistent. He excites and frustrates you in equal measure. Plus, how do you walk into your boss’ office and demand for a bigger responsibility? Especially when you can’t handle or perform in the role you’ve been given?

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8 comments

  • Amol says:

    well
    chamakh came for free
    n was effective early in his arsenal career

    n chamakh was never a world class player
    he was just a back up for rvp.

    n
    park
    well what u expect wenger to sign in two days

    with the amount of money the board willing to pay

    park was undoubtedly a panic buy

    when given time u saw how wenger brought in cazorla for such a small transfer fee
    which no other manager even noticed or thought

    Thts wenger

  • Mwas says:

    I totaly agree especial when it comes to lack of physical command in the midfield. The hidden reason we loose so many points this season is playing Arteta out of position why? Because we banks all money from Songs sale. Get a world class D.M like Wanyama from celtic coz lets face it we all would love Yaya, M’villa but we all know our manager , right?

  • Louie says:

    Since when were Defoe and Huntelaar known to go round players with skill? Don’t get me wrong Huntelaar is a great player who I would have loved to see at Arsenal ever since his RM days but he is also just a poacher, these days we r not creating like we used to in the past.

  • dboy says:

    “I think it’s fair to say that everybody likes the way the north London club play – even the neutrals.”
    Dude really??? Maybe you mean used to play.

  • Oguntuase Amos says:

    The writer of the article does not need to hide as an admirerer of Arsenal or Wenger, he could just have come clean and take the club and manager to the cleaners. We have good enough players but the fans are the problems with their impatience, abuses, curses and name calling of both players and manager. Some have gone beyond civility to absurdity. The players are not ready to die for a club whose fans are nothing but mad and sadists. Even though the club has not won a cup for 7 years, has the club ever failed to be amongst the best 4 in England and among the elites in Europe? Instead of appreciating the consistency, we resorted to hitting both players and manager below the belt. When the so called super stars like RVP, Nasri, Clichy and Song were at Arsenal, were they not part of the under performers who contributed to the clubs problem by being found wanting when it matters most? Even Walcott with 6 years of poor performance thinks he is now a superstar who must play centre forward and earns big when in fact he does not have the physique, the skill and stamina to do so and also a defensive liability because he does not track the ball whenever he loses it. What I am saying is that we must stop harassing the players as well as stop making heroes of those who left. Success and failure are collective things and you cannot keep players whose minds are no longer with the team or who thought they have grown bigger than the team. To me we need only a striker and a left back. We have players, let’s make use of them especially those who want to make name for themselves. Most importantly stop citicising and abusing the players and the manager so that they can regain focus and self belief which are vital to good performance.

  • Akuve says:

    Man dis is d best comment frm an arsenal fan i’v eva read. U r indeed a tru Arsenal fan lyk me. I kept asking dsame questions like how different was Arsenal wen the likes of Adebayor, Nasri, Clichy, RVP, Cesc n Song were here playing together? It was always 3rd n 4th for 5,6 n now 7 straight yrs. Who was suppose to hlp dem win a silverware? They were givn d responsibilities 2 play n win but they failed n nw all they cn do is hit back @ d club dat made dem. They hav onli succeeded in callin demselves loosers n nt d club cos they cudn’t repeat wat odas hav done 4 dsame club (d club doesn’t play futball u knw, players do).

  • Akuve says:

    I think we hav a gud team but we nid 2 do sum flushin n additions as well 2 make us look competitive. Players lyk Ramsey, Santos, Djorou, Squilacci, Bendtner, Chamakh, Park, Denilson, Arshavin, Rosicky n Giroud (deadwoods) shouldn’t b in Arsenal. Their presence afterall is as good as they r absent cos their impacts r nt felt. Wenger shud bring in 1 more very skillful/creative winger who is good with his both feet lyk cazorla (Lopez/Navas), 2 strykaz who r very fast, prolific goal poachers n possess goal threat in d box n r also gud wit both feet (Benzema/Huntelaar/Llorente/ Lewandowski or Dzeko) a traditional very physical DMF who cn hlp hold d mid-field, brk opponent’s attack n link d ball frm box-to-box (Wanyama/Tiote/ Cabaye), 1 more efficient central defender (Sakho/Mbiwa or Shawcross) n lastly 1 reliable left bak (Baines/Coentrao) n we r gud 2 compete 4 a silverware. Up gunnaz!!!

  • Kunle says:

    Wenger is to blame wit arsenal current downfall of play.Firstly,wenger put aside formation dat won us trophies during d era of henry,anelka,berkhamp,viera.-4-4-2 formation. To my understanding 4-4-2 is more attackin and it treats d defence line.d 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 to me is nt treatin as much.playin to strikers is much treatin than usin 1 striker upfront.secondly,we have a large squad,right selection matters alot,why play ramsey on d right wing when we have walcot,ox,arshavin on d bench.why play gerv in d middle,when his best position is on d wing.wenger and bould needs to educate kosn and thomas how to avoid owe goals.wenger needs to get his formation and selection right.most importantly wenger needs to buy an experience phyiscal dmf by january and he should stop gamblin wit d squad. Arteta needs to be pushed forward nt an holdin midfielder(dmf).i pray wenger plays 4-4-2 formation-mannone-sagna,mert,kosn,thomas(defence),arshavin/ox,arteta,cazorla,walcot(midfield),giroud,podoski(attackers.).wenger needs to change formation

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