---------Sczezney-------- Sagna-----TV---Kosc----Santos -------------Song------------ -----Wilshere------Ramsey----- Walcott-------RVP------Gervinho Subs: Flappy, Mertesacker, Vertonghen, Arteta, Hazard, Arshavin, Tevez Oh how nice it is to dream. 3 signings and we could be looking a title challenging team once again. Vertonghen for the back. Hazard for the middle. Tevez for the front. Completely unrealistic and most definitely not what we will do in January - but individually these are all transfers that could potentially materialise. (Should the board be willing to dish out a little on an individual player). More the point of this is to show that we are not as far off as some pople think to having a really strong team and being right back in amongst the top boys. We have looked very good with what we have and imo we are back to the ever familiar position of needing to add a couple of world class players to go for the title (maybe not this season, but next season). We have some good depth with Miyaichi, Oxocube, Rosicky, Gibbs, Jenkinson, Diaby, Frimpong, Coquelin, Chamakh, Park not being mentioned above and Campbell hopefully getting a work permit next season. So i genuinely think we are back to a point where with the right signings we can be back on for the title race next season. We have a solid squad and will get top 4 this season. Can AW and the board tempt the right players is the big question - and hopefuly we will see some sort of movement in January and then some exciting changes next Summer.
Whilst Tevez is a pretty good player, he comes with ALOT of issues. Also he isn't the kind of player we need upfront. Actually us being linked to Podolski could prove to be a rather cunning piece of business. Podolski is a very good finisher, and the creativity behind him (RVP, Ramsey, Arteta, Wilshere) will give him plenty of chance to prove that. We need someone like Podolski that is literally going to stay up field all game, work his way into the box, and look to receive the ball there to shoot. Hazard could prove effective, although Id of much rather had Mata (and he really does look the part as well). Vertonghen is a solid player, could definately mix it up with the CBs and in the case of an injury would be a worthwhile asset in January not just for next season. Although Subotic would be preferred its tough to see him coming to Arsenal, unless we can get to the CL Semi-Finals (which we can do) this season. We have a lot of decent looking youngsters, OXO and Miyaichi being the two who seem most outstanding. However there is a lot of competition in those wide areas, BUT the inclusions of these people may see Arshavin and Walcott take more central (preferred) roles.
I think realisticaly top 4 should be our aim this season and try to win a cup I just want to chuck some lovely positivity around so people can realise we are not in a horrific position and our squad is actually pretty good. So we should be enjoying this season and not getting all negative - now is a time we need to get behind the team Who knows though - maybe AW will suprise us all and bring in a couple of super stars in January and we will be competing with the Manchester clubs - but i'll be happy retaining top 4 - and hopefuly winning a cup or having a really good CL run.
I think its more than realistic. The only club to not have faltered significantly this season already is City, and Arsenal are the team on the biggest ascendancy. The players just need to make sure this rich vein of form stays, and to make it count on the scoresheet, and I think we could find ourselves in a very handy position by Xmas. The 2nd half display vs Chelsea defensively was hugely important, and it showed how well Arsenal can play defensively. Santos picked up his game immensely, maybe the added confidence of scoring helped his tackling. Song apart from losing Mata once for a brief second (yes he scored from it but still), shut him down whenever he was central. Torres was just marked out of the game, and actually I thought Arteta was rather good helping out at the back. Arsenal sometimes leave themselves stretched at the back, this is when Arsenal concede. If everyone tracks back and pressures the ball carrier, we give away little.
Tbh i'm 100% confident we will retain a top 4 spot and currently have a £50 bet with a liverpool fan mate of mine that Arsenal will remain top 4. We have done it for the last 15 years and i don't see why that should change now - Liverpool will not do it and Spurs i think will come close but not manage it (Newcastle will be out of the running soon enough).
Gents, the words 'Don't, Ahead, Yourself and Get' spring to mind. City and Chelsea will still have their sugar daddies next year and Man Utd have proved when challenged they'll spend big, if someone offered me 4th this year and 4th next I'd take it without hesitation...
If we signed Hazard and Vertonghen in January i'd be kissing AW's hairy toes. That'd be amazing January transfer activity.
@Grizzly - as i've said i'm more than happy with retaining top 4 this season and having a decent run in the CL or going for a domestic cup. Next season i think we could well and truely be back in the mix though with a couple of signings - which is what we have been saying over the last few seasons anyway - my point being that even with the departures of Nasri, Fabregas and Clichy we are still in a very similar position with a squad of rather similar strength. Something which a lot of the pessimists fail to recognise.
I like Arsenal but some of you fans are hilarious. By all means build up towards it, but Liverpool and Spurs are well ahead on quality and depth at the moment. They will be fighting for the 4th spot. Being so confident of steaming ahead of both teams for 4th is manic. One injury to RVP and **** would go downhill fast. You're a different team with him in it.
Well Hazard would be starting tbh and Tevez and RVP would rotate. Vertonghen would get plenty of game-time at the back imo.
Look at the EPL fixtures for Newcastle, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs over the next 3-5 games and take a look at our current form and that should give an indication of why some of us are confident we will be right back where we belong before too much longer. We have a fairly straight forward run of games whereas those above us (bar spurs - who have a couple of tricky fixtures) have to play games against each other and there is only 6 points between us in 7th and Newcastle in 3rd. Meaning the gap is going to close up even further as with the teams playing each other they have to drop points. Add to that Chelsea and Newcastle both having to play City within this stretch of games and it starts to look like any of the teams from 3rd-7th could capitalise and gain ground. With our fixtures over this period and our current form (8 wins in 9) I hardly think it's unrealistic to think we may well have moved up into the region of 3rd-5th with a very close gap in points amongst the teams around us. So that shows how we will plug the gap currently there. Add to that we have money to spend in January if required, the fact we have consistently got top 4 over the last 15 years despite looking like we may not on a couple of occasions and it's not difficult to see why Arsenal fans may be confident of maintaining our position in the top 4.
@rev ramsey - read through the actual thread "Well Hazard would be starting tbh and Tevez and RVP would rotate." - from two posts above your post. My line-up was mainly me drawing out our current team and then thinking what i would add to it- it wasn't a "this would be our best possible line-up if we had these players" - the point was more about the depth of quality
Not really. Its all good to say RVP is doing everything on his own if you do not have a clue about Arsenal. But the truth is Arsenal have clicked as an attacking unit and once that happens even Park will get goals because Arsenal when they click will create chance after chance. Ramsey is back and Gervinho is getting better and better. Not to mention Walcott who had a stunning game on Saturday. Also even Rosicky and Arshavin have shown signs of their old form. We have scored more goals then Spurs and Liverpool and now have our best defender back. So its looking good for Arsenal. Liverpool especially are not ahead of us. After the start we had its shocking that they are only 2 points ahead of us now. We will reel them in soon. Spurs are the one we have to fight with for 4th. **** Liverpool.
We also defeated Chelsea 5-3 with our best RB missing, CB in Vermaelen on the bench and our best midfielder out injured til January
