Amazing the run we had recently which was a combination of hard work and luck but yesterday seemed to emphasis what is under the surface which is a limited squad which is being overplayed. How is it that Newcastle (Cisse), Fulham (Sigurdsson) and Swansea (Pogrebniak) were ambitious enough to bring in real quality to their teams in January but Wenger chose not to?!?!? Even Spurs brought in Neilsen and Saha to add a little extra to the squad What's even more baffling is he brought in Henry for 6 weeks? So he must of had a need to add someone but not long term? There was no one out with an injury, Gervinho was off at the ACO but was hardly on fire before he left RVP has been unbelivable this season and is often played for the full 90 mins so it's understandable he's becoming burnt out. Even having a loan full back in January might have added 3-6 more points for us Our options upfront are pathetic, I'd argue that our back up strikers are the worst in the league...a Cisse or Pogrebniak could have made the difference for us between 5th and 3rd/4th and just like las year with no centre backs brought in Wengers stubbornness could hurt us
If Arsenal had signed Saha and Neilsen I don't think it would have been a popular decision. Sigurdsson is a very good player but, again, would you really want a guy who was playing in League 2 not very long ago and is only at Swansea to get some games after a long injury?
we need a real back up striker for next season (podolski), because chamakh and park aren't good enough. bendtner would be, but he's said he doesnt' want to go back to arsenal. i would also sell song and get a new DM (m'vila). he plays well sometimes, especially with his amazing chips to VP, but yesterday i think he was mainly to blame for the goals. the first one, as a DM, he should be in a position to stop a fairly slow pass going right down the centre of the pitch to the striker. he wasn't and we paid the price. the second goal, he should, as a DM, track any midfield runners. diakate was free, and i couldn't even see song in the camera shot.
Hang on. Stop right there - it is completely impossible to find anyone in January. No one is able to do it.
It may not be immpossible to find players in January but finding quality players Is very rare. I doubt you would be satisfied with the players mentioned above.
To be honest we just needed a solid Full Back on loan - not someone who even needed to stick around next season. We played mid fielders and CB's at the full back position and paid the price. If other teams can sort out their affairs and get the players they need, we should be able to too. Suggesting we couldn't do anything is just another excuse for Wenger and the board - who incidentally made the very same error when TV was injured last year.
Really with our squad size it would have been crazy to sign anyone in January. A loan option could have been on I suppose but who to get ?? Who could we bring in that would be happy to play for a mere 1-2 months while our first choice fullbacks recover? Next Season we have to meet the 25 player squad limit so need to trim down the squad as it is. Then add the fact that Wenger has his eyes on bringing in Podolski (and possibly others) as well as giving Walcott, Van Persie and Chamberlain new deals. Then on top of that prices are greatly inflated in the January Window
It all depends on the transfer policy of the club, Pardew said that Carr had been tracking Cisse for over two years but the price wasnt good enough Same with Cabaye (although not in january) Wenger was interested but got quoted 12millon, yet a year later part of the contract clause said we could get him for 4! If you have the right players in mind, you can get great deals in January, but sometimes you can waste money if it is rushed.. cough.... carrol and torres!
Sigurdsson, Pogrebnyak, Saha and Nelsen would've been hilarious signings , I'm glad we didn't panic buy in January tbh- it's hardly come back to bite us in the arse as we've won 7 of our past 8 games.
While our recent form has been encouraging I would put forward the notion that most of us on this board would have been pleased if Saha was brought in. He's a very useful attacking player, knows where the goal is and would have gone some way to easing the fear that has been festering under the surface all season: "what the hell do we do if RVP get's injured?" Also when we need something different from the bench, our back up strikers cut a very depressing image: a shower of no-marks.
Don't even want to think if RvP were to break a toe nail. We are where we are because of those people who run our club. I think there are those in my siggy should perhaps be shipped out in the summer with thanks naturally ....
Saha could no way pull off the Van Persie role and while I agree we've been incredibly lucky to not have RVP getting injured, the signing of Saha would be kinda stupid for us. He's far too injury prone so couldn't provide an adequate amount of cover- especially not as a main attacking threat for us. Although you're right in terms of how bad our back up is, making it even more important we sign Podolski in the summer. I just think signing Saha would be a bit of a waste of money for not too much difference.
I think the depth of our squad or lack of it says it all, we chasing a game, need a goal, we bring Chamakh on, a striker who has not scored in years! Like someone said, injury to RVP, then the season is well and trully over!
Just imagine if we had of got a FB for 6 weeks - they might have done as well for us as Henry did at the other end of the pitch. We'll never know now because we tries nothing and history tells us it was an error.
This. We did not need more bits and bobs players floating around the squad. What happened with the full backs was a freak. Buying or loaning someone to cover for a few games would have been a panic move. Imagine have our 4 full backs and one other full back from some other club for the rest of the season. Overkill.
