Arsenal’s smoke and mirrors approach needs to work this time

The January transfer window has been made into a form of torture for Arsenal fans over the years, with all the speculation the summer one has, only without the actual signings.

But this time it will be different, we think. This time Mr Wenger HAS to spend money on quality players. Does this mean this January will be exciting? No, it means it is even worse….

Two words: Andrei Arshavin. 6th in Ballon D’Or voting, star player of the Euros and last season’s Uefa Cup, I’m sure you all know the one I mean by now eh? In the last week or so we have had confirmation of a bid, been informed that Zenit will lower their asking price, Wenger keeps hinting away, Arshavin himself has said he would like a move to the Emirates, and is even willing to help pay for his own transfer fee according to todays reports in Russia.

Yet are we all confident of an immediate transfer before moving onto another target? Can we begin to draw up possible formations that could incorporate the potent attackers of Fabregas, Nasri, Van Persie, Adebayor, Walcott and the diminutive Russian playmaker? No.

While other clubs proceed to bid £12m for the world’s most average left back and those jokers down the  buy their own player back at a £7m+ loss before trying and nab a Honduran international we rejcted for £2m 18 months ago for £15m, what do we think is an acceptable starting offer for a player with twice the talent that the aformentioned Bridge, Defoe and Palacios put together? £10m. That’s like going into a Ferrari dealership and offering a Toblerone, a half eaten Big Mac and £50 in two-pence pieces for their latest supercar.

Well, this time there’s no room for error. We need at least two quality players and with half a month already gone we need to compromise a bit of our reluctance to spend before it’s Febuary and we’re stuck with a team that carries less fear factor than a newborn kitten.

Arshavin’s agent says something will be sorted out early next week. Mr Gazidis, time to earn your money.

How to resurrect our season – Part 2

Time for the second part of my article looking into the current Arsenal team and analysing what we really need to have a title winning squad at the Emirates once more. Having looked into the goalkeepers and defence, it is now the turn of the weak midfield and the strikers to pass under the microscope.

 

Wingers: Samir Nasri, Theo Walcott, Tomas Rosicky, Emmanuel Eboue, Abou Diaby

 

Now a massive part of our problems have been blamed instantly on the centre of defence, and the lack of a defensive midfielder. But I am starting to believe in another source of our problems. Under Wenger we haven’t always had the most reliable defenders, especially when you consider the Champions League run we had in 2005/06 with the record breaking defence that consisted of Flamini at left back and two very young Swiss centre backs alongside a young and erratic Eboue. So maybe, just maybe, it is our offensive and defensive midfielders that should take the blame. Remember that back four I mentioned had Pires, Reyes, Ljungberg and Hleb to take possession and push the opposition backwards constantly.

Nowadays we only have three (already) quality players in Rosicky, Nasri and Walcott but when you factor in Rosicky’s awful injury-hit career, and Nasri and Walcott’s inexperience and inconsistency there is definite room for improvement which could help other areas of the pitch as well.

 

Rating: 6/10 – Another experienced, high quality signing in this area could push us on massively. Arshavin please….

 

Central Midfield: Cesc Fabregas, Denilson, Alex Song, Abou Diaby, Aaron Ramsey

 

The list above, bar Fabregas, reads like a list of potential midfield stars. But that isn’t enough for us at the moment and there is no doubt a partner for Fabregas needs to be found. However, with Fabregas’ injury one central midfielder is the minimum requirement for January in my opinion. Denilson has been pressurised into being a partner for Fabregas when they are too similar and he wasn’t ready for regular football at Premiership level, and this has battered his confidence. Diaby has no consistency or footballing maturity, and Song could be a great partner for Fabregas – in 3 years time.

 

Rating: 4/10 – We need an ageing stop gap measure and a competitive, energetic midfield battler – players in the vein of Jimmy Bullard and the midfield-playing twin of Bacary Sagna is what I’m hoping for.

 

Forwards:

 

Finally a more positive area of the field to talk about. Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie have scored 21 goals between them already this season and unbelievably the Flying Dutchman has even managed to keep fit thus far. But even if the worst was to happen and another forward needed to step in, Carlos Vela has looked fantastic in the games he has got this season, scoring 4 goals in just 5 starts, and on his day Bendtner is more than capable of linking play and providing a challenge for defenders.

 

Rating: 9/10 – Definite improvement needed to be as good as the other top four defences.

 

 

 

So looking through the 2 part analysis of our team, I have created a shortlist of what we need and would like to become as good as the sides we once had.

 

We NEED:

 

1^st – Defensive Midfielder – Energetic with a competitive spirit

2^nd – Creative Midfielder – Able to play wide, experienced and clever

 

Ideally we also WANT:

 

1^st – Central Defender – Someone who can battle in the air and is a reliable performer.

2^nd – Central Midfielder – A great pro with real experience to fill a gap for a while and provide cover when Cesc returns.

 

In the next few days I will create a run down on all our possible targets analysing how well they’d suit us, where they’d fit in, their cost and whether we will actually buy them.