Appraisal of our squad and manager

After a two month hiatus, I've decided that I need to discuss Arsenal somewhere and arguing with those with completely different views to my own was more entertaining than talking about football with my myopic Liverpool supporting father and home counties based United supporting friends. So with a new forum layout and a new year it seems like a nice time to return.

I thought I'd appraise our squad (not for any real substance, but mainly because I'm a bit bored and it sounded like an interesting way to spend 30 minutes).

Goalkeeper
Szszesny - quality shot stopper, appalling distribution and also prone to appalling errors that don't look like they're going to be wiped out. De Gea has shown that it doesn't take long to go from 'potential' to 'world class'. Szeszny has had more than enough time and hasn't reached this level. Does Chesney have it? Not in my opinion.
Ospina - who knows, always injured and never picked
Martinez - seems OK for a 3rd choice keeper
Verdict - We need a top quality number 1

Left Back
Gibbs - easily good enough. Would look at home in a title winning team.
Monreal - adequate back up left back
Verdict - up there with attacking midfield as the most complete position at the club

Centre Back
Mertesacker - lacking cover in front of him. Low on confidence given he hasn't had a consistent partner this season. Needs Koscielny there so they can both build their partnership up again. His game is not based on pace so he should be fine for a few years yet. The defensive coaching and DM position is the issue here, not Per.
Koscielny - lacking cover in front of him. The defensive coaching and DM position is the issue here, not Laurent.
Verdict - a managerially inept decision to only have two senior centre backs for a season of football. We need a top quality centre half to potentially replace Per in the long term, and another back up centre half.

Right Back
Debuchy - solid, wouldn't look out of place in a title winning team.
Chambers - looks like he has potential. Being overplayed because of poor management.
Verdict - almost as solid as the left back position (on the assumption that this is where Chambers does actually play, and that Jenkinson and Bellerin also play here)

Central Midfield
Arteta - has never been brilliant. Was never even that good at Everton. Plays because we have no-one better, not because he commands status as a world class midfielder. Should not start for a team with ambitions of winning trophies.
Flamini - like Arteta, he is a squad-man who should be nowhere near the starting XI.
Wilshere - does he even have a best position? Not a great tackler. Not a great dribbler. Not an amazing visionary passer (less assists in all his seasons with us than Fabregas in 20 games this season says it all). Jack of a few trades, master of none. There are better players than him in all our midfield positions (and our current central midfield isn't even that great).
Ramsey - clearly has the potential to be our first choice central midfielder but injury can only excuse him so much. He was poor at the start of the season. If he can't play full seasons consistently at the top of his game then we need someone else to.
Verdict - overhaul required. Only Ramsay is of the required standard. We need a combative top class defensive midfielder to walk into the starting XI. Some fresh blood would be nice to see as well. Flamini and Arteta should be moved on as they don't have the experience of useful older squad players who can pass on knowledge of what it's like to be an integral member of a title winning side.

Attacking Midfield
Ozil - world class. Inept management sees him played out of position. Team should be built around him and Sanchez.
Cazorla - also of very high quality. Disappointingly you can't play him and Ozil in the same team without merely 'accommodating' and carrying the other. We're not a club who should simply accommodate players. We should have quality players in every position playing in their best position.
Rosicky - model professional, but does he really have valuable experience to pass onto youngsters? Happy to sit on bench but are his wages worth that?
Verdict - strongest position in the club, given the other players that can also play here.

Wingers
Walcott - world class on his day. Like Ramsay, injuries can only excuse him for so long. Should we have a first choice winger playing less than half the games a season? He's not reliable and therefore the question is should a club with title ambitions have their first choice winger as 'unreliable'?
Oxlade-Chamberlain - potential to be top quality. Needs to finds his best position (or someone needs to find it for him). Future England star.
Sanchez - world class. Best player we have. Let's hope frustration doesn't drive him to leave the club before Wenger does.
Campbell - who knows, he never plays. Should have been sold in the Summer while his stock was high.
Verdict. We have no left footed quality attacker who pushes to be first XI. Campbell and Podolski should be sold. A left footed attacker should be sought (or Campbell given a chance by the next manager), but not essential given other squad requirements.

Striker
Giroud - adequate. Scores in fits and bursts. Rarely troubles the top teams. Would he be happy as backup and spend most of his time on the bench though? Will never be world class.
Welbeck - adds little to the team. Take out the hattrick in the CL and he has 4 goals in 19 games. Squad-man who also should be on the bench and offer pace late on in the game. Would alternatively be ideal for a manager who had a style of play to press from the front (like Mourinho). Otherwise, he's just a hard working, honest and likeable Heskey.
Podolski - who knows, AW clearly doesn't rate him anymore.
Verdict - already stated that Podolski should be sold. We still need a top quality goal scorer. Neither Giroud or Welbeck are that.

Manager
Wenger - a world class 00's manager unfortunately stuck in the wrong decade. Slowly tarnishing his legend with many supporters. Stubborn, tactically outdone by many modern managers, loyal to the point of negligence. Manages to achieve top 4 every year and attract some class players. Given the money and players at his disposal, one FA cup in 10 years is poor return. Little to no evidence that he should be managing a club ranked one of the top 10 in the world.
Verdict - this should be his last season.


In my opinion, we're in a dangerous position. We clearly need some players urgently in quite a few positions, but I also don't think they'll improve our fortunes. We simply need them right now so we can have more rotation in certain positions and not rely on 19 year unproven youngsters. Our fortunes in the long term rely on a new manager. Our current one is taking us nowhere other than what we've seen already for the past decade. The board have had a long time now to source a new manager so there's also no excuse that the replacement needs to be found 'in the proper way'. We've already had plenty of time. We should already have someone in place to take over this Summer. But have we? Hmm, who knows.

I fully expect us to finish 4th this season. United are looking like they will be more consistent than us to take 3rd and be a good 5-10 points ahead. 4th will be down to Spurs and us and I think it will be close. Rather than who will be the best, it might more be a case of the least cr@p getting it. Anyway, there is little to look forward to this season. The league is gone. The CL games against Monaco should be good fun but AW is in a no-win situation there. If he wins, it's 'just Monaco'. I can't see him getting any credit unless he also wins a QF against a top quality team. And the FA Cup? If we have a fortunate draw of home ties like last year then certainly. But any away tie against any good team and it would surely be curtains.

Mwah.
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It was an interesting read, though I don't think it needed the digs at wenger during the player appraisals, you could of saved it for him, but I agree with a lot of the points you've made on individuals.

We really do need another CB and a proper DM type.

Your line though about the FA Cup I think is a little unfair, we had the luck to get home games but we also had the most difficult route through the competition in terms of the teams we faced.

 

Can't disagree with much of that, also welcome back mate.

 

They call come crawling back in the end .... not606 is like an addiction.

In all seriousness though, this is a good forum and one that has a multitude of views. Let's try and make this year one where we respect each other's different opinions instead of turning the board into one big slanging match

Agree with most of your player assessments, although Arteta was a brilliant player at Everton but he was played further forward then. I think he's done a decent job as a holding midfielder but I agree that we need a proper robust DM in there now. Flamini and Coquelin are not good enough for me.

Wilshere I think can still be a world class player, but injuries are hampering his career and stunting his development, the next couple of seasons will be crucial for him, as they will be for Walcott.

Also I don't agree about inept management on some of your points, especially with regard to Ozil, he IS the type of player that can drift in and out from the wings to the centre, but I do agree that with Cazorla in the team we struggle to find a best position for them both.

The players will still need hasn't changed for me. We need a DM (hopefully we'll sign Carvalho) and a CB (a loan move may have to suffice in Jan) then if, and it's a big if, we get our injured players back in the squad, we have a team who are capable of challenging.

As for Wenger, I've made it clear that I'm not opposed to him being replaced with a manager who is better. But I disagree that the club have had enough time to seek out his successor and should have somebody lined up this summer, I think that is in the realms of wishful thinking at best and I would be disappointed with fans who start slating the club come the summer if they don't replace him based on this premise.

 

They've known for a long time that Wenger isn't taking the club forward. They've seen the worst start to a PL campaign ever this season. Not having enough time to find a successor is a frankly laughable idea. The fans have been debating and throwing ideas around for literally years as we've watched Wenger time and again fail to address the problems he's created at the club.

 

There is no reason to keep him other than not finding a suitable alternative. And there is no reason not to have found a suitable alternative by summer time. June 2015 will have given the board several years of mediocrity to have found someone else.

Wishful thinking is assuming things will get better when our injured players come back or that Wenger will have us achieving something he hasn't before.

 

Good assessment Cini and welcome back. I was having a conversion with my gooner mate at work and we were talking about our injury problems and went onto the topic of Walcott. I'm starting to wonder what on earth is happening with this guy, why hasn't he been playing when he's been fit for a while now? Also has Gnarbry dropped off the face of the earth? Wenger really needs to be more proactive with his players and move players on quicker if it's not working out for him. Not putting Walcott in this bracket as he's definitely a player that brings a lot to the table, but persisting with certain players is unnecessary, especially when he's old and running out of time. He needs to show more urgency.

 

Realistically we know the board haven't been spending several years looking to replace Wenger, sorry but that is wishful thinking.

The board have always stood behind him because he has delivered exactly what they needed to get the club into the off-field position they wanted. He has fulfilled his job role in there eyes through the difficult financial period. The. With the financial restraints lifted he had a good season last year and added another two trophies. Having stood byWenger through the trophy less years there is no chance the board decided to offer him a fresh contract on the back of a good season only to immediately begin the search for his immediate replacement.

So the only way the board are already looking for someone to replace him by the end of the season is if they have written off this season. And our board have hardly shown themselves as the type to quickly chop and change things, rather than have patience and faith that they are doing things the right way.

I think the club will have began to work on replacing him at the end of his contract but to think they already have someone lined up, or will have been trying to ready for summer is just not reality.

 

cini65, I think I could not have summed it up better myself.... constructive and concise without too much doom mungering.

 

Fanciful to suggest that the Arsenal Board could have solved the problem of how to get a new manager. The chances of you getting someone who is actually better than Wenger at the first attempt are almost non-existent. He is in the top 10 managers of a top-flight English club in my life time and such talent doesn't grow on trees.

 

Won't digress on to a Wenger slander but your comments are right, except for the fact HE WAS one of the .......

 

you dont think he'll get it right?

 

I would pretty much agree with most of that except I would say on our midfielders..

Wilshere - Underrated by many Arsenal fans. He's versatlie, can carry the ball in tight spaces, good passer and can tackle. Not quite hitting his potential but Im convinced Wilshere can be one of the best midfielders in the game. On his best position I think its a deep lying Box to Box in a 4-2-3-1. He has to stay fit though.

Arteta - The fact is he's one of the best passers in Europe. Regularly getting well over 90% passing accuracy. The problem is he is being played as a DM and that's not really his position. He is not athletic or aggressive enough for that role. He's a solid player though.

 

I think Arteta has adapted to the holding role. Problem is his legs are starting to give out. Imagine Arteta from 5 years ago as our holding midfieldr that could also play centrally or as CAM. I think one of Wenger's biggest regrets is signing him too late

 

Do you Arsenal fans think it'll be similar to MUFC where the first manager after the long-serving legendary one has a really tough job, and then only once that manager gets the boot can the next one have a good chance to succeed?

I know it's different as SAF ended on a high and also their trophy record was different, but a new manager would still have a lot to live up to in terms of the way that Arsenal play football, success on the pitch (imagine not getting CL qualification) etc.

 

Not really.

We don't really win trophies.

We don't play particularly great football anymore.

What is there to live up to?

The only challenge to match AW is to finish 4th. And with the funds at his disposal, not to mention some of the already brilliant players we have (our squad is in a far better state than United's when SAF left), I can't see that being too much of a challenge. All they'd have to do is finish higher than Liverpool and Spurs to get 4th.

 

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Fair enough, I guess 4th is the only real benchmark for a new AFC manager, except I doubt hoof-ball will be appreciated (but with your technical and relatively small players it wouldn't be an option)!

 

Got to say I totally disagree with this whole post, sorry.

 

So you think we do regularly win trophies and do play great football?

The trophy point is a fact. You can't argue with that. The only thing you can disagree with is the style of play. If you enjoy our current style of play then fair enough... your opinion.