Just to clarify - which team do you support? If you're not an Arsenal fan, I find it difficult to believe you think we don't need any reinforcements. We need plenty of reinforcements. Don't let a comfortable win against a side who has historically never fared well against us away from home fool you. If we want to challenge, we have plenty we need to work on. A lot of players we have are either not good enough or too injury prone. So an overhaul is essential.
We could do with a.. I would say an overhaul is a bit harsh. We have a very good looking squad IMO. We could do with: 1. A TOP quality DM or powerful box to box player. 2. Another centre back. and there's an argument for a TOP striker but with Alexis scoring for fun and Walcott,Giroud and Wellbeck all capable of getting a decent number of goals - this is certainly not an urgent issue. We have a couple of gaps IMO but our squad is full of quality. We are certainly underacheiving at the moment.
I just don't see why an overhaul is necessary. Arsenal are 3points off 3rd place and in the last 16 of the CL with a great chance of going to the last 8! This team is doing something right despite the injuries. I don't support Arsenal but they are my favourite English team. I think that means I look at it with less involvement of course but from the outside Wenger appears to be doing a very good job and so do the team given the injuries.
Don't agree. If we want to compete, we DO need an overhaul - no two ways about it in my mind. 1) Another goalkeeper. Szczesny isn't good enough. A good shot stopper and has nice reflexes, but I hate his languid style and how he has frequently mistimed his runs when coming out of the box. He's 24 which is very young for a goalkeeper, but I have lost patience with him. 2) Two centre backs: we needed another centre-back for cover anyway, so that's a given, but Mertesacker is 31 and looks half the defender he was last season, whilst Koscielny is playing games with an achilles problem, so he is walking a tightrope as it is. 3) A central defensive midfielder: goes without saying really. 4) a central midfield/attacking player: Rosicky is 34, we have no idea how long he will be a regular part of the team, Santi is 30 and even if Wenger planned on utilising Diaby here as he did earlier in his career, he is 28 and isn't reliable by any stretch. 5) A striker - Giroud is a slightly above average striker. Decent impact sub, not good enough to start. Welbeck is not very good either. He's quick, works hard and can get into decent positions, but his finishing can leave a lot to be desired. Sanogo - the less said, the better because he is the worst 'footballer' I have ever had the misfortune of watching in my entire life. So all in all - if we want to compete for the title and major honours, we need to about 6 new players + a change of manager. I don't know what you'd call it, but that is a major overhaul in my eyes.
Yeah I'd call that a major overhaul too I pretty much agree with your player assessment, a CB is an absolute must, a DM is definitely needed but I'm not sure we need much more than that. Wenger looks like he might be recruiting Bielik a 17 year old DM from Ligia Warsaw. I'd hope that this would be in addition to an established DMF in the summer. Flamini and Arteta can't cover that forever and I'm still not convinced Coquelin will be more than a squad player. I don't think we need anymore attacking midfielders. When fit we have Sanchez, Santi, Ozil, Ox, Walcott, Wilshere and Ramsey who can all play there. A world class striker would a nice addition, but I can't see it happening.
IMO, we do not need a world class CF anymore. Purely because we have Alexis and he is good enough to get the 30 plus goals you normally expect from a CF. In Giroud and Welbeck we have two players who can support Alexis. That money can be better spent on buying a CDM and a CB.
Na. 1) From a statistical perpsective he's one of the best in the league. He's also still very young for a keeper and is therefore getting better. Ospina is an experienced International. We have two good keepers. 2) World Cup Winner and BOSScielney. Two quality centrebacks. For me Chambers will be a QUALITY defender I rate him very highly, he needs games to develop though. Another quality CB would be enough IMO. 3) I think a DM is the most important addition for a really balanced squad. 4) Cant agree here at all!! Ozil, Carzorla, Ramsey, Wilshere, Chamberlain and Rosicky.. we have quality in depth here there's even a strong argument we have too many in this position. Also if you follow our youth sides you will know Daniel Crowley and Zelalem both look like potential World Class young players. 5) I wouldn't say no a a truly World Class striker but.. A fully fit Walcott will get 20+ goals a Season. Sanchez may well hit 30. Giroud will get 20 or so.. and Wellbeck has a decent record when he plays down the middle. A Sanchez--Giroud---Walcott front three will score bucket loads. If they stay ft and play together.
Guys, You're all entitled to your opinions here, but honestly, I don't think we will see us competing with the very best until we have improvements in nearly every single position. Contrary to popular belief, we DO need a major overhaul when you think about it. Perhaps people will portray me as being negative but to be brutally honest, I don't rate a lot of the players we have in the squad because they won't get us to the level we aspire to be at + they are wasting a squad place for someone better. @TheBear - use the statistics how you like, but I prefer to watch using my eyes and my eyes tell me that our Polish goalkeeper is not good enough. I honestly think he is an average goalkeeper. Compare him to de Gea, Lloris, Courtois and Cech, he is miles behind these lot. Re: Centre back position - Chambers may be good later but he isn't now. He is very clumsy and doesn't seem to have the tactical intelligence or the positional awareness to be a regular as it stands. He has a lot of work to do. Mertesacker being a World Cup winner is meaningless, he played two games in the WC and has been useless since. Why he's gone so off form I don't know but he isn't reliable and I have no idea how much longer he will be at the club. Koscielny as I said has an Achilles problem and we have to be cautious with how regularly we utilise him. We definitely need two centre backs. Re: midfield - think about it like this; Flamini & Arteta will most likely be gone at the end of this season, Cazorla is 30 and I don't know how much longer Wenger will play him regularly at that age; Rosicky is 34, he is also on limited time. Diaby is a write off. Wilshere is not reliable because he gets too many injuries. That's FIVE midfield players who are too injury prone or too old! So we definitely need another central midfielder. Don't think many can argue with that, when you put it all into perspective. A friend of mine watches Arsenal reserves regularly and he said Zelalem has stagnated hence why he hasn't been getting called up to the first team more. Crowley is one too look out for but he's 17, he won't get any first team action for a good few years yet. Re: a striker - Giroud is a player who I do not rate, I never have and I don't think I ever will. He just hasn't got the required quality to ever be truly successful at Arsenal as a first choice CF. Welbeck will be sold in two years when Wenger realises how mediocre he is. Sanogo will not make it at Arsenal. That leaves Giroud as our main forward who is acceptable to be a squad player. Sanchez and Walcott will more often than not be deployed out wide. So a striker is definitely also needed, especially if you want to take into account the inevitable long-term injuries we get.
Ermmm can we stick to "transfer rumours" rather than go on about how our team needs a bloody overhaul, this typically gets over dramatised too often on this board!
Chesney is merely quite good. A bit like the team in general for most of the season. Unfortunately, unlike the team in general, he doesn't appear to have the potential to get much better. At least he hasn't got any better for the last few years. Resting on his laurels? Or simply not that great?
I have thought about it as you suggested and can conclude that Arsenal do not need a major overhaul in fact.
No-one is over dramatising anything. I'm not saying I expect it to happen - far from it - I am saying this is what I would like to see if we want to compete at the top. I'm not saying we need to pepper our side with world class players in every part of the squad, but we can certainly upgrade on the mediocrity we have at the moment & plan for the future injuries we will get. And until we do, we won't be progressing as much as we would like to see.
Well anyways.. I thoroughly disagree. Think a Mourinho/Ferguson/Guardiola would have our current squad challenging. In terms of defenders I still think Howedes would be great for us. He can cover BOTH fullback positions and is an excellent centreback.
have the recent posts regarding need for overhaul or not been posted because of a lack of actual transfer rumours ? we fans ALL know what we need, the media ALL know what we need, probably the team ALL know what we need. we need a DM and CB cover, and a World Class striker. can someone please tell AW
I know where BrunelGooner is coming from and understand his point, but an overhaul is not the solution at the moment. This is a Wenger team and the players playing are his players that play under his system (can I use play an more times ), so we need to address the immediate problems at the moment. These problems as it stands are a CM and DM. Those are as clear as day and the majority on this board agree. As for the overhaul, that will only come when a new manager does come in, but until then, lets try and improve on what we have.
Two TOP players and our team would be challenging City and Chelsea. ------------------------Sczezney----------------------- Debauchy----Hummels----Koscielny----Gibbs ------------------------Carvalho----------------------- -------------Ramsey------------Ozil------------------ --Walcott------------Giroud-------------Sanchez-- Bench: Mertesacker, Carzorla, Wilshere, Chambers, Wellbeck, Chamberlain, Ospina. Giroud may not be 'TOP' class but I think that front three has ALOT of potential.
How many people have actually seen Carvalho play? I heard today that he is still "RAW" and inconsistent. I would then listen to Ian Wright and try to get Mascherano - him we have seen play and he is experienced.
I've watched him a couple of times. He is still a little raw but he has the right mix of technical ability and physical power. Mascherano is a quality player but I would prefer a more athletic player. Someone physically imposing. I think that would balance the squad out better and give a better platform for Ozil/Carzorla to orchestrate from. I think Khedira/Christoph Kramer and Lars Bender would also be suitable candidates.
Hmmm.. shame we couldn't of got in there before Shalke (if City would have even loaned/sold to us?) Could have been a good option at CB http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30781470
Or...... It means Schalke have one too many defenders now and would be willing to give us How? Er... Des!
