View From The Sphere

Have Arsenal ‘missed the opportunity’ to gain ground on rivals?

|
Image for Have Arsenal ‘missed the opportunity’ to gain ground on rivals?

ClickWengerArsenal legend Martin Keown believes the Gunners have ‘missed the opportunity’ to steal a march on their title rival this season after a lack of transfer activity this summer.

Arsene Wenger and co. had been heavily linked with a number of high-profile players including Karim Benzema, Edinson Cavani and Gonzalo Higuain but ended up only landing Petr Cech from Chelsea for £10 million, leaving them the only club in Europe’s top five leagues not to sign an outfield player.

The Emirates faithful, pundits and former Arsenal stars urged Wenger to strengthen the defensive midfield and striking departments in order to mount a serious title challenge this season, but the Frenchman stubbornness shone once again, leaving those involved with the club disappointed and frustrated at the same time.

And because Wenger was reluctant to splash the cash, Keown believes Arsenal’s hope of winning the Premier League title are ‘unlikely’:

‘I feel it’s a missed opportunity – because the Premier League, without Manchester City there, is almost there for the taking.

‘If you could put it together now and go on a run, then you can do something. Arsenal might go on a run anyway, but it’s probably unlikely.’

Keown finished off by adding that the Gunners have lacked ambition in recent years:

‘When I left Arsenal 10 years ago, they were dominating the Premier League.

‘We went unbeaten through a whole Premier League season. The fans got used to seeing trophies coming through.

‘There’s a frustration now because they had to lower their expectations because of the expenditure on the stadium – now there’s no excuse in those terms.

‘But the top players don’t seem to be available, or Arsenal don’t want to spend those fees on those players.’

Has Wenger and co. missed the opportunity to close the gap on their title rivals by not spending on the areas that needed addressing this summer as Keown stated?

Let us know what you think below

Share this article

6 comments

  • Sean Williams says:

    Wenger always talks as if he is the only person who understands football. Of course other managers do too. Hence how Wenger is so beatable. But supporters do know too, and we know that had Wenger have bought two quality players, such as Kondogbia or, Schneiderlin, Carvalho or Imbula, and a striker, then the squad could have won the league. Sadly Wenger has a disturbed inner dialogue and this stops him doing what everyone else knows needs to be done. He really has let the supporters, club and directors down. If he wakes up from his nightmare he will step-down. He helped the club to get the Emirates, but now he is seriously harming the club.

  • .. says:

    Arsene biggest fault is having faith in average player.plus why would u leave real Madrid to come to arsenal he need to be getting the best from smaller teams then Arsenal..

  • Mat Bola says:

    Pundits and supporters are free to have their own opinions. As a matter of fact, Mr. Wenger is the manager and he is accountable for his action or inaction. The motivation now must be greater for the manager and his squad of players who many have labelled as “unlikely to be good enough” to win the league. There is no guarantee that adding a marque striker signing would guarantee success. There is is also a possibility that Mr. Keown will have to eat his words.

  • Wexler J Saror says:

    The season has just began, and apart from MC who’s at the top of the table, Arsenal are not in a bad position. Only 4 games gone, 34 to go. Unless we’re writing off all these stars in Arsenal, we’ve got to put hope alive. No one has told us which player was willing to come and who could have stepped up the team that Arsene didn’t go for. All these write -ups aren’t helpful. Goooners, keep hopes alive.

  • clockendjim says:

    The obviously glaring deficiency in our squad is a guaranteed finisher. Charlie Austin scored 18 goals last season in a poor QPR team. Having proved his PL efficiency, at something like £15m and not the outrageous £50m+ sums for the likes of Cavani, Benzema etc, Charlie would have been a bargain. So why not take a not very hazardous chance and sign a real goalscorer.
    Instead of which our top scorer to date is some chap called OG – pitiful isn’t it.
    While we had a lovely new stadium to pay for, the fans gritted their teeth for the day when the funds were there to challenge for the top. Having reached that happy state, Wenger still sits on his cheque book and unless we have some great success this season, a lot like me will lose their patience.

  • Alias Babu says:

    Yes, Arsene missed the opportunity to sign an exceptional striker. An exceptional striker would have been the missing piece to the title winning team.

    Our current squad is quite good enough, but i doubt the its ability to challenge the EPL or UCL titles.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *