Following Sunday’s final submission of any hope of a title run in, you could tell in Arsene Wenger’s eyes that 3 seasons of falling away in the last quarter of the season had finally taken its toll on the Frenchman.
They say the only way to start therapy is to admit there is a problem in the first place. I think now Wenger has finally admitted to himself that maybe things weren’t quite right.
The players, he believed would prove ‘project youth’ to be right and true, had succumbed again to a last minute panic. Arsenal had passed Bolton to death but, as has happened too many times this season, all that precision hadn’t led to the required bulge in the net.
The team, he set-up to allow Cesc Fabregas to display his undoubted talents, had finally shown that it was to the detriment of others, and that all the youthful exuberance and skill needed to be complimented with experience and good old grit and determination.
Don’t get me wrong, this is in no way an anti Wenger rant. The Frenchman knows the way and a damn sight more than I will ever know. However, maybe the Frenchman now realises that all is needed is a slight realignment!!!
So, with that all being said, here is my humble opinion. I believe we need 4 players and a slight tweak to our current formation to compliment ‘project youth’ and push the team into becoming serious title contenders.
Per Mertesacker
To play alongside Thomas Vermaelen. The German is a tall, no nonsense, imposing defender, who can bring calm and resolve to our defence, as well as cure our unbelievable weakness both defensively and offensively at set-pieces. Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka are other options, but even if you have the money would you want to spend £25m on either?!
Javier Mascherano
The Argentine is struggling to hold down a place in Barça’s first-team. Mascherano knows the Premiership inside out and would add that desperately needed steel to a predominately lightweight Arsenal midfield.
agree with u totally.
but at the same time, i feel sad becos we can only fulfill ur wishes in championship manager. eden hazard will either stay in france or move to a citeh or barca or chelski where money is a school boy allowance. as u mentioned, mascherano knows epl well n he will not be stupid to join this club given the ambition of the frenchman (second is not a disaster).
frankly, a samba or cahill is already a gift from god.
what i really hope is a gk. safe hands to hold the fort down before we talk about the laughing stock defense we have, or the back four that can actually handle a set-piece nightmare.
lets talk about who will go, what money is reaped, who is leaving, then cross our fingers about how unheard of this french “starlet” or 19 year old ukranian, african, bosnian, earthling can do.
mark my words, with arsene, it will be one one those.
gunners for life, no matter europa cup or champions league.
True we can read wenger like a book we’d be lucky if he brought 1 known player but a known premier or 2 would be a miracle for Mr know it all or maybe he will bring back an old defender for cheap/free like gallas or Campbell in one way losing to bolton put me out of my/arsenal misery, I would’ve been crazy had we gone to the wire then lost the league to under 3pts or less with all them stupid pts dropped this season TOT 5 , Newc 5 , L’pool 4 , blackb 2 , 16 I could go on but it’s much , wenger had the chance in Jan so how can arsenal fans believe in him anymore he put he’s ways before the club , why does not try a plan b or c ? Everyone knows howe will play & the same 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 I miss 4-4-2 but think it depends on the team your playing.
lets be realistic here – we aint gonna spend £20 million on a player apart from hazard as wenger has made it public that he likes this player regulary, so wenger might spend the £20 million on him
defensively your spot on about mertesacker and i fink he would make a great partner for either koscienly, vermaelen and djourou
I wouldnt want mascherano – he is a dirty player in terms of running up to the ref waving his hand to get the opponent booked
I would look to see flamini back at arsenal, his work rate is so missed compared to the lethargic song and denilson. I would also give ramsey a chance to play in that role aswell
we defo need a striker that is gonna spear head the attack, but why not give theo a chance, the way we play we dont need a big tall striker, we need a quick, agile striker so why not theo – wenger has been banging on about theo will be a striker – well its 5 years now so lets put up top for rvp, cesc, nasri to play through balls to him
i would also like to see the player leave as they are clearly not good enough: denilson, eboue, almunia, rosicky, bendtner as well as the likes of armand traore, randall, murphy
i would also like to see lansbury replace eboue (lansbury can play right back if required), JET replace Bendtner, Frimpong replace denilson
also hopefully ryo will get his work permit and he could replace rosicky
I would also cash in with arshavin while we still can – there is something wrong, stats say he has done well however his overall contribution has been poor (again he probably is playing in the wrong position)
But would i would like to see is a change of formation when playing @ home as most teams park the bus against us so why not go 3 at the back if they play 4-5-1
——————Szczency————-
—-Sagna/Koscienly-Mertesacker-Vermaelen
Nasri/—-Cesc—Flamini—Wilshere—–Clichy/
Hazard Ryo
————Theo———RVP————
With this formation we can also add the likes of lansbury who can play across the whole midfield, ramsey and frimpong can play anywhere in the 3 centre midfield spots, the same as song who could also play at the back
also nasri, hazard and ryo are all able to play either wing and clichy could be a threat with his pace down the left however he would have to improve his technique with the ball
JET could give us height upfront if required
this formation could be changed more defensivly if required by forcing flamini and wilshere to sit infront of the defence or turn it more attacking by telling cesc and wilshere to push on and just have flamini sitting back
With sagna’s physic i dont see why he couldnt play as right sided centre back
the only problem is I have never seen wenger start with 3 at the back so this will probably never happen – which is a shame as i think this could work
when we are away then ok go back to the 4-5-1 formation
Leighton Baines in for Clichy, Darren Bent in for Bendy, Gokhan inler in for denilson, just dump Denilson, Rosiky, Squibb. Fabregas and nasri are off any way so Promote Ramsey and Landsbury.
u know what wenger need the most?
INCEPTION .. da da~.. da da~ ..
the world need wenger to change his mind and break up his useless team.
Stu mate if wenger wasn’t so stubborn he might actually try something like you said 3 at back when a team is playing for a draw at home blackburn,L’pool,s’derland
believe in that myopic fool wenger, then you must believe in fairies!….He is like a one-trick pony, bereft of flexibility and versatility. He should run on rails he is so rigid.
He isnt fooling many of the fans now, which hopefully will mean he HAS to not only deliver but have the intent to deliver.
Ive watched/supported Arsenal for 40+ years..and can honestly say ive never been so traumatised by this feeble, unspirited, unimaginitive, tippy-tappy passing crap wenger believes is good football.
IT ISNT GOOD FOOTBALL!!
its like opposing fans say “iTS A SHIT BARCELONA”.
4-4 NEWCASTLE was the hallmark of a team that had wenger’s stamp all over it.(NO BRITISH BULLDOG SPIRIT!!!)
He HAS TO GO, before he takes us further down with his failed project cheap OR young and invariably french. (no disrespect to the french, but the point being; why are they all french or french-speaking?)
I think that is what wenger should be doing but i would prefer song to masherano. Would be great to attract the likes of Higuain though!
If I were him I would invest in a three defenders, a two midfielders and a striker.
I would first off either buy Cahill, Mertesacker or Samba. I personally would go for Cahill. I would off load Clichy and Sagna and bring in Baines and van der Wiel.
In the Midfield department I would get either De Jong or Mascherano as a defensive midfielder. I think Arsenal should buy Hazard know matter what.
We need a top quality striker, so I think we should attempt to sign Sergio Aguero.
So my team would look like:
Szczesny
van der Wiel Cahill Vermaelen Baines
Mascherano/De Jong
Fabregas Wilshere
Hazard Walcott/Nasri
van Persie/Aguero
My team layout came out a bit strange on top, so it would read:
Szczesny
van der Wiel
Cahill
Vermaelen
Baines
De Jong or Mascherano
Wilshere
Fabregas
Hazard
Nasri or Walcott
van Persie or Aguero
stupid title ~
if anyone was Mr Wenger …
he/she would have done, will be doing EXACTLY the same things.
think about it!