While I agree playing a big target man is pointless unless you have the right kind of service, I'm still glad we play a more technical attacking style than the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea etc.. Wenger's best teams were more about pace and athleticism. I hope the signing of Podolski is a sign that we are going to play a little more directly again.(not too direct just with more pace and purpose) Sit back a little more and attack on the counter with pace and aggression. I think to do that though we maybe need to either drop song back into a DM role or buy a top quality defensive player like M'Villa. The biggest issue though for me is the defence. I think they are too lightweight and too attack minded. If you play an attacking style at the top level your defence have to be TOP class because they will get exposed. Whereas a team like Stoke does'nt need quite the same level of quality a the back because the whole team is defensively minded.
I think most would agree our defence needs a lot of work. In term sof Wengers style, the main reason it worked in the late 90's early 00's is simple. We had the players... Bergkamp, Overmars, Petit, Vieira, Henry, Anelka, Wright, Ljunberg, Pires, ... as well as a brilliant defence effectively managed by Adams. Today we simply dont have the players to play Wenger's style - and win. Th eplayers have changed but Wenger has not adapted - he has been stubbornly persistent with a style that does not fit the players.
Junior Hoilett has apparently signed a 4 year deal with Borussia Monchengladbach. We got linked to him a lot and surprisingly he has not stayed in England. Probably their replacement for Reus.
That's not really accurate though. We played four four two with the players you mentioned, and Wenger got them working in that formation. Remember, Henry was a left winger before he came to Arsenal. We now play four three three, with a lone CF and two wide, so he's not persisted with the same style. If anything, I think we've still got room to play four four two at times.
You ever get the feeling caughtoffside hate us? http://www.caughtoffside.com/2012/06/03/chelsea-plot-ambitious-move-to-sign-arsenal-pair/
I was taking about Wengers style of play, not the system/formation. He has always relied on through balls to create chances as opposed to the more hit and miss of crossing. Crossing the ball from out wide is a lower percentage way of creating goals which we seem to shy away from, preferring to create clear cut chances - this has been the same all through Wenger's tenure. It worked when we had the talent in the team to create enough through the middle - or with more intricate play out wide. It does not work as well today for us. Defences have actually got worse over the last few years, but Arsenal's goal scoring has remained pretty flat.
precisely why teams figured us out years ago. We are not hard to plan against. When we've had fast raiding ball carriers - like Arshavin, Walcott and more recently Oxo and Rosicky defences can get disorganised and we have real chances. With so predictable sideways passing and rare through the middle balls, teams can normally cope well against us. We don't deliver crosses, and too often rely on exceptional skill from RVP to bring the ball under control from over the top feeds from guys like Song. We don't have much else in the armoury.
Exactly - when Bendtner came through I was hopeful we could get more goals from crosses, but unbelievably Wenger played him out on the wing . Wenger has a style that he uses regardless of the players, when it should be the players that dictate the style. Wenger is one dimensional and has been found out at the top level.
We have two key strengths going forward - RVP's ability to control the ball under pressure, create and score, and Walcott's ability to time runs behind the last defender. Thats about it. We dont even break very quickly anymore, and our passing is not as good as it was. Down the flanks we are dreadful, more often than not stopping as soon as a defender is in sight, and passing it backwards, then sideways. I am hopeful that Wilshere will be played more forward next year, as that is his natural position - he will create chances for us, but overall Wenger needs to find more ways of unlocking defences.
Some Lucas Biglia stories. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4355132/Arsenal-in-8m-Big-battle.html http://www.express.co.uk/football/view/324581?
He's alright, but again this is all starting to reek of a massive come-down from our original targets at the start of the summer...
Barca in bid for Vermaelen. http://thearsenalblog.com/barcelona-want-to-poach-vermaelen-from-arsenal/1738?utm_term=%23Arsenal&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/arsenal/transfer-talk/news/barca-to-bid-for-vermaelen_29844.html
Got to agree with you there, we've gone from being linked to M'vila (admittedly I think he's overrated), Hazard and Kagawa to Biglia and Affelay within a space of a few weeks
Edin Dzeko may leave City if Tevez stays. Could we afford him? Would his wages be the stumbling block? I think he's just the type of player we need - a no thrills finisher with a bit of technique and power.
http://www.turkish-football.com/news_read.php?id=3019 He was touted as one of the more promising youngsters. Oh well.
