I know this is a bit early because the transfer window is still open and we might still sign more players, so it's not easy to fully judge the quality of the squad, but to me it seems like we are nearly there, so with that mind what is your expectations for the upcoming season? Mind is simple enough, beat our points tally from the previous season and finish in the top two for the first time since 2005, get past the last ****ing 16 of the Cl, retain the FA Cup and win the league cup for the first time under Wenger's management. So what's your expectations for this squad?
We should be competiing in the League and aim to either win it or a close second. Maybe grab a domestic cup and get to the quarters of the Champions League. Priority for me is the league and we should be able to sustain a full campaign. Injuries should not be an issue as we have a full squad except proper DM cover, which will be the fault of the management should Coqs get injured. But we have a very good first 11 to challenge and challenge well.
I think, providing we pull our head out of our *** and we avoid one of the top 2 sides early on, then we'll get past the quarters in the CL. The league will depend on injuries and our start, but I reckon 2nd, if we have a few players who show the improvement Coq and Bellerin did last season then we could well win it regardless of injuries. It'd be nice to say we'd win the FA Cup and we've obviously got the squad to do it, but 3 times in a row is a big ask for anyone. So I'd say win the League Cup.
I find it strange that in the 19 years that Wenger has been Arsenal manager, he hasn't won the League Cup at all. Anyway, with regards to the expectations for this coming season, I'm not really bothered about winning a trophy this season having won two in the last two years. It would be nice to win another one but, for me, we need to try and sustain a title challenge all the way until May. And please, oh please, can we just get past the last 16 in Europe for the first time in what would be six years? It really doesn't seem like too much to ask for.
It is weird, especially with how many great youngsters Wenger used to play in the comp and how close we got to it.
I think with our current squad we will get 2-3rd. Decent title challenge but I doubt we can match the efficiency of Mourinho's Chelsea. However IF we add a TOP striker (Benzema/Cavani/Higuain/Lewandowski/Lacazette) I could see us winning the title.
As you stated, it's hard to make an accurate prediction whilst the transfer window is still opened but if things remain as they are: Premier League: I can see us fighting for 4th place again. It's great that we signed Cech but so many times we drew games at the start of the season due to our lack of ruthlessness in front of goal. All those 2points we missed out on really came back to haunt us. Our defence has improved greatly despite injuries and inexperience but we have that covered now. The emergence of Coquelin really turned our season around but we can't rely on him the whole season. If we were to only make one more signing this season then it would be a world class striker. I doubt it will happen but if we did sign one, I'd put my house on us winning the league. Champions League: again, we are light years behind Bayern, Barcelona and Real Madrid. To be honest, I don't feel any BPL team can realistically compete in the competition with the aforementioned teams. I can see us all making it out of the group stage but I'll be surprised if any english teams make it to the semi finals. Luck plays a huge part but that seems to account for nothing when it comes to Arsenal. We had the easiest last 16 draw and we still went out. The mentality needs to change when it comes to the Champions League. Again, as it stands, I can't see us progressing past the last 16. FA Cup: our only realistic silverware for the upcoming season. We've not had an easy run in our last two wins. I can see our energy being focused on this trophy if we once again get dumped out of the CL and lose ground on the PL by March.
I find that a fair few posters still have under expectations of our squad, what we should be saying is the squad should be challenging to win, not get runners up or less in the league. We now have 3 top world class players and a whole host of top players. People talk of strikers, but we have 3 forward players - Giroud, Walcott and Sanchez, all capable of scoring over 15 goals plus in the league. Ozil, Ramsey and Ozil are all getting better and chipping in with more and more goals. Wilshere can only perform better after a long injury plagued few years. Even if Giroud doesn't totally fire, our goals will come from a lot of different areas. Yes a top CF would help, but we have enough quality there to sustain and maintain a full league campaign. It's also abut time that Walcott ups his game and stakes claim for the CF/secondary striker/right wing spot. He is a proven goal scorer and capable of scoring over 20 in a whole league season. Dare I say, even Welbeck is capable enough to chip in 5-10 goals. Attack isn't the problem for me but the DM area. Can Coqs sustain a high level of perform as last season? Will he get injured? Will Wenger get backup? We seem to be on an upward curve and with the added signing of Cech, a real DM in Coqs and a relatively injury free squad. Also we have a whole load of players who are getting better, coming back from injury or have something to prove (eg. Wilshere), can only make us better. With or without the CF or DM, I am quite upbeat that we will do well next season.
I agree with you on the Champions league, the overall quality of the EPL has significantly gone down which is why all the teams are getting swept aside by the rest of the Europeans. We will do better this time round but we are still a way off from being the finished article. I do believe we are good enough to win the league but to really compete in the Champions league, we require a top, clinical CF. Giroud is a very good player but when you come across the elite of Europe, you need that elite striker that puts away the few chances you get. In the league its different, we will always make loads of chances to which Giroud and the rest will get plenty of assists. This soon dried up when you get into the upper echelons of the Champions league. We should get to the quarters of the CL, but if we come up against the big guns, we will lose. But we will make it respectable.
I find that a fair few posters still have over expectations of our squad, what we should be saying is the squad should be trying to maintain top four status, not win the league. We have exactly the same squad as last season apart from a better goalkeeper. People talk of strikers, and we only have 3 forward players, two of which play on the wing - Giroud, Walcott and Sanchez, only Sanchez capable of scoring over 15 goals plus in the league. Ozil, Ramsey and Ozil are only two players that I've written Ozil twice for no reason... both of which are getting slightly better and chipping in with a few goals but they're not improving anymore than other teams top players are. Wilshere is always injured so we've no real idea of how good he can be. When Giroud inevitably doesn't totally fire, our goals will have to come from a lot of different areas but we'll pretty much rely on Sanchez. Yes a top CF would help, and we have don't have enough quality there to sustain and maintain a full league campaign. It's also abut time that Walcott ups his game and stakes claim for the CF/secondary striker/right wing spot but he's always injured. He is a proven goal scorer in spells and would be capable of scoring over 20 in a whole league season, but I can't see it happening. Unfortunately Welbeck is utterly incapable of chipping in with even 5-10 goals. Attack is one of the problems for me but also the DM area. Can Coqs sustain a high level of perform as last season? Will he get injured? Will Wenger get backup? We seem to be on a plateau, getting nowhere in the CL or near winning the league... and even with the added signing of Cech, a real DM in Coqs and a relatively injury free squad, without additions I can't see it happening any other way again. We have a couple of players who are getting better, coming back from injury, couple getting older and worse and a couple with something to prove (eg. Wilshere), and does this make us better? No evidence for that yet. With or without the CF or DM we are in need of, I am quite upbeat that we will get top four again so that we can make it the last 16 of the CL again in 2016/17.
It's strange that as the money in the Prem has grown to eclipse all the other leagues in Europe, so our competitiveness in the CL has decreased (and even in the Europa to be fair).
And that's why Barca won. When Messi was quiet, Neymar stepped up. When Neymar was quiet, Suarez stepped up. Real Madrid and Bayern also have a wealth of potent options upfront. I really like Giroud. I want him to stay at Arsenal. I have no vendetta against the guy. His finishing has improved and his hold up play gives our wingers plenty of room when we are counter attacking. The problem is, this style of play is neutralised against teams set up to defend, evident every time we play Chelsea, who we haven't scored one goal against in TWO SEASONS. And this is much more prevalent in the Champions League where defence is emphasised as one goal can make all the difference in a tie. I don't get it when people think we are using Giroud as a scape goat as a reason for Arsenal's lack of progress. We all know he can't do it alone.. no player can. I'm just pointing out we need quality as well as depth. Wellbeck is not quality enough as Plan B (but he has potential). As you stated, the further you get in the CL, the more small margins of error cost you. We need to be more focused and more clinical in these competitions or expect a repeat of our home game against Monaco.
I don't think even the most ardent Giroud fan can argue against that. I've complemented Giroud for upping his game last season and I have no doubt that he will do as well or a little better. Add this and the rest of our forward players, then we should have enough to sustain and challenge in the league. Remember we can still win the league by not beating Chelsea once, providing we don't lose too many against the top teams. The bulk of the points will come from teams outside the top 4, teams that Giroud is more than capable of scoring against or proving assists. The Champions league is different and the expectations are higher. I don't believe that Wenger will settle for Giroud and he is ultimately planning on buying a world class striker. We seem to be on a trend of getting a WC player every season and this season it was Cech. I don't think we will get another top player this season, but If the Wenger target becomes available this season then yes, otherwise he will get one next season. He will replace Giroud sooner or later, but he will use Sanchez and Walcott to supplement the goals tally.
From 05-12 (except 2010) there was an English team in every CL Final. We have fallen so far behind as a league. I don't think the PL regressed, it's the other clubs who progressed in terms of their style of play and quality. Especially La Liga. You can see it across Europa too. These so called "mid table" teams would and have eaten ours for breakfast. There's this fallacy that the EPL is the most competitive but there have only been three diffetent winners in the last ten years. I can't see this changing in Europe for a while. The Spanish teams will continue to dominate for a while.
True. But a lot of times last season, we had to settle for a draw because teams were happy to defend against us the whole game and hit us on the counter. This happened so many times I was surprised there wasn't a Plan B. I know a lot of Arsenal fans have screamed at Wenger to change tactics or make a sub at 70minutes when the deadlock hasn't been broken. It's the most frustrating thing to watch. Wenger is a world class manager but as of late, he has become tactically stubborn. When I see managers like Pep, Maureen or even Simeone make drastic changes when things aren't working, I scratch my head at why Wenger rarely takes a risk when that could be the difference between 1 point and 3
Well he won't have any excuses if he has an injury free team to use. We have players like Walcott, Sanchez, Oxo, Welbeck and Gnabry who all have pace and can provide a plan b. As long as we can keep Walcott injury free this coming season then we have options.
Guys, this all seems like groundhog day again. Every Summer we are optimistic that we will challenge for the title and that we have options in abundance to help us score goals, but we either get lots of injuries in key positions, the players/manager don't perform, we don't reinforce in the areas we desperately need to and then other sides who us as fans underestimate end up getting better results than we think. Now, I know that we are in a better position now than 10 years ago, but even with the additions of world class players, we suffered the same problems until the end of 2014 when Wenger was forced to bring Coquelin back into the side. Think about the pattern of the last 10/11 years though. 2005: "we win the title, maybe not this season, but next season" 2006: "we win the title, maybe not this season, but next season" 2007: "we win the title, maybe not this season, but next season" 2008: "we win the title, maybe not this season, but next season" 2009: "we win the title, maybe not this season, but next season" 2010: "we win the title, maybe not this season, but next season" 2011: "we win the title, maybe not this season, but next season" 2012: "we win the title, maybe not this season, but next season" 2013: "we win the title, maybe not this season, but next season" 2014: "we win the title, maybe not this season, but next season" 2015: "we win the title, maybe not this season, but next season" Surely even the most positive and upbeat fan can understand why us "negative and pessimistic" fans aren't setting their hopes too high for this season. Because whenever we do, we end up getting disappointed repeatedly.
I was one of the "negative and pessimistic" fans too, but I see a tide of change in the club. We are getting some genuine World Class players in and fixing some of our problems areas - defence, DM and keeper. We are also playing a lot more smarter nowadays and aren't as open to the counter like we were years back. We now have a proper squad with genuine quality back ups in most areas. Yes we could do with a top CF and DM, but it shouldn't stop us aiming for the title, a team that I think is good enough to achieve. Whether or not it can we will have to see. But we have the best team we've had in ages and this should make next season something to look forward to.
For the record, I don't consider myself to be negative and pessimistic, but to a lot of posters on here, I assume I would be deemed as such! I agree with most of what you're saying here, but the fact remains that when we have been expected to challenge for the title, we always end up crumbling or falling short. Could this season be different? There is some evidence which suggests that it could be, but there is also plenty to suggest that it could be more of the same. However, above everything, I think what it comes down to most is the manager's tactical and man management skills and unfortunately, I just don't think Wenger's managerial attributes are better than Mourinho's. That's one reason why I personally feel we won't win the title. Then there's both Manchester clubs who are splashing the cash, with United sorting out their midfield problem with some quality additions, and City buying a good young English talent (even if he was overpriced) but looking to add more to their side. I would love, more than anything, to be proven wrong but I just feel we will have a very similar season to the last one.
