Arsenal had the second best defence in the league last season and have barely conceeded any goals in our last 15-20 games. The villa result aside our defence have been very good. We could potentially use another defender for depth but with Flamini able to cover RB and Sagna developing into a CB it isn't as bad as everyone makes out. We are all still hoping for a striker to at least give Giroud some competition though.
If the Arse want to bury their heads in the sand and believe that signing Ozil will solve their problems, let them do so. Most other people seem quite able to identify their weaknesses (lightweight midfield, no defensive midfielder who can tackle, lack of a top drawer forward despite Giroud's recent form, a top goalkeeper and another quality CB). Ozil's a great player, but he'll be the difference between beating Spuds 1-0 and 2-0, not battling to come back into a game when behind or when trying to hold onto a lead and under pressure. Still, they're all happy to finally have a big signing. Doesn't matter where they play.
who knows... since he got injured apparently he didn't recover hence where he ended up.... kind of a borini have they announced ozil? nice buy to go with the other nice midfielders.
I don't mind if they're excited. It pulls the wool over their eyes and blinds them to their real needs. Yes, Ozil is a fantastic player, probably the strongest player coming to England this summer. But the midfield position was fine for Arsenal in the first place. Their current midfield is a strong one and they really could have done without - since this cannot be a depth signing. Ozil will play almost every game this season, meaning one or two of Wilshere, Ramsey, Arteta, Rosicky, Flamini, and Cazorla will be unhappy. I'm assuming they will play a 4-5-1 in that case, or a 4-4-2. This leaves Walcott, Giroud, Podolski, Ox fighting for one or two spots, and leaving others unhappy. Of course there are tons of matches to be played - but most will want a spot up front. However their defence is completely vulnerable - Koscielny and Vermaelen are top players but they have Mertesacker, Gibbs, Nacho, Jenkinson and Sagna fighting for the other two spots. That's not enough since at least one of these players will get injured with their record. Not a chance, he was good but not fantastic for Fiorentina last season. Sure he helped them to 4th but that wasn't all him. They balked at paying 7m euros for him at the end of the season, so to pay that for a backup keeper at Arsenal? They could do better. I mean as a second choice he's better than what they have but he isn't anything better than Sczeszny.
They have signed Ozil for £42.5 m and they will finish in the top 4 again, so it will between you and Man c who finishes 4th.
Viviano is being signed as a 2nd keeper, not to replace Sczc who most Arsenal fans are happy with. He just needs genuine competition to keep him on his toes (which seems to be the same with other young keepers like Hart). As for the Ozil signing upsetting our other midfield players - not a chance. They will be happy to be playing with such a good player. Flamini and Rosicky status in the squad is as squad players (Flamini is on 40k a week) and they won't expect to play week in, week out. Cazorla will now play as our LWF meaning Arteta/Ramsey/Wilshere/Ozil fighting for the 3 midfield spots in the first 11. Over the course of the season and with injuries all of the players mentioned will get plenty of game time. We still need to bring in another forward player and maybe a defender for depth. Our defence is pretty solid these days but i agree we could do with some extra depth at the back. However you look at it signing a player like Ozil is a huge positive for Arsenal. It shows we can afford to buy the top players, pay top wages and attract top talent. It improves our starting 11 and gives us a world class player. Whether it is the single best position for us to strengthen is beside the point - if a player of Ozil standard becomes available you go for him.
I said yesterday that I consider Ozil to be in the second tier of player (the first tier contains just two; Messi and Ronaldo) and I am a little gutted to see Arsenal get him but also happy to see him coming to the Premier League. However, although he will without doubt improve the Arsenal first team because he is a better AM than what they already have including Cazorla, he is not going to strengthen their team a lot more, certainly not as much as a top defender and/or DM would have done. Demba Ba on loan could be good for them too but still, its not the defensive player they need.
For midfield players who need to do defensive work we have Arteta, Flamini and Ramsey. If Flamini plays like he did against spurs for the rest of the season and Arteta returns from injury and continues his form from last season then we should be ok. We have a very hard working midfield at the moment which seems to be covering the need for a big beast of a midfielder. Our defence is good at the moment but lacks a little depth. Sagna can cover Cb and Flamini can cover RB but an injury to Sagna and one of our CB's at the same time would leave us very thin. We could use a defender for squad depth.
Loads and loads of midfielders for Arsenal. Its a quality signing but not exactly where they need it most.
I saw this comment but chose to ignore it, clearly a wum attempt which I should have probably deleted but I thought it was funny so left it there
What Bow said As I said above, Ozil is a quality player. I would take a straight swap with Real for him and Suarez I rate him that highly but (and I said this with Suarez too but got laughed at by Arsenal fans who thought I was wearing my Liverpool tinted glasses) he is not what Arsenal need IMO. He would be perfect for Man Utd ATM but no Arsenal. However, Wenger could surprise us all and sign a defender and DM too yet
With Viviano and Ozil our squad looks something like: ---------------------Sczc/Viviano-------------------- Sagna/Jenkinson----Kosc/Verm---Mert-----Gibbs/Monreal ---------Arteta/Flamini-----Ramsey/Wilshere--------- Walcott/Oxocube------Ozil/Rosicky-------Cazorla/Podolski -----------------------Giroud----------------------- A striker and defender are the two areas that need attention now. If we can't get a big money striker i'd be happy with a loan deal for Ba as a short term fix to give competition for Giroud until we can bring in a top striker in January or next summer. And the defender is for depth. But if any TOP quality player is available regardless of the position i hope we go in for them since we can now afford to. If a player can improve our first 11 they are worth going for.
And that's a great team for dominating weaker teams. European teams will eat you up unless you think any of those deeper lying players (as good with the ball as they are) will protect your back four from the leading attacking midfielders in Europe...?
I think Ramseys engine in midfield combined with Arteta or Flamini in a defensive role is a good combination to deal with most attacking midfielders, particularly if we continue the more disciplined way of defending as a team we have had since beating Bayern 2-0.
Oh come on now - let's have a little reality! Arteta as a DM will put as much fear in opposing attackers as a Noddy. Remember we've watched him perform for more years than he's been at Arsenal so we know. Ramsey isn't a DM. He can't tackle, loses his cool and fouls too much. Flamini could have done a job for you 5 years ago but from what I hear time hasn't been too kind to him
Arteta is a poor man's Xabi Alonso IMO, he can play that role but is more of a ball player the tackler
