I think Schneiderlin is Alsatian just like Arsene which could prove to be the deciding factor in signing him if some other top clubs go for him. He's the signing I want us to make the most as I don't see Arteta, Flamini, or even Wilshere as adequate competition for Coquelin.
This would be great! http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/a...french-midfielder-geoffrey-kondogbia-lequipe/
How about Mempis Depay. His name is getting bandied about a lot mostly to Utd and Liverpool. But he looks the real deal. He can play all across the front 3 and has got over 20 League goals for PSV. Looks a beast of a player. Pod/Joel/Sanogoo are most likely off as well as uncertainty over Theo. He could be an ideal replacement for the lot 21 years old and would cost around 25mn
I doubt it. Could have signed him in the Summer or in January, now it looks like he'll be off to Germany.
Our squad is huge now so we no doubt have to get rid of a few players before we bring anyone in. OUT: Scezney Sanogo Podolski Arteta Flamini Ganbry - Loan Zelalem -Loan IN: Cech W.Carvalho Cavani Away: --------------------Cech----------------------- Bellerin---Merts---Koscielny---Monreal ------------Carvalho----Ramsey----------- -------------------Carzorla-------------------- ---Ozil-----------Cavani-------Sanchez--- Home: --------------------Cech----------------------- Bellerin---Merts---Koscielny---Monreal -----------------Carvalho--------------------- ------------Ramsey------Ozil---------------- ----Sanchez-----Giroud------Cavani-----
Sure,The squad needs to rotate more anyway IMO to avoid burnout. Lots of room for rotation. Wilshere, Walcott, Wellbeck, Gibbs, Debuchy can all push for a place.
He's far better as a CF ..however even on the wing he scored 25 goals in 48 games this Season. Down the middle for Napoli he scored 104 in 138. Brilliant player.
No, as a CF too. He's not as good as he was at Napoli. Whilst Ibrahimovic has been out, he has had his chances. He's a shadow of his former self. That whole "out of position" excuse is absolute tosh.
I think we will keep Arteta and use him like we use Rosicky, to add experience and keep others on there toes. These older players who still have quality can be of great use over the course of the season. I'm also still undecided what we should do about the gk position. But the others you say to leave would be good moves I think. No idea who I'd bring in. A DM to replace flamini and compete with the Coq to start and play alongside him in certain games. Though I'm not sure how easy this will be to do as there is a lot of competition for midfield spots. And I suppose another striker but Giroud has gone from strength to strength with Arsenal and seems to continually improve. He's proven he's a top striker but if he injured I do wonder if Welbeck can play centrally to a good enough standard over a longer period of time?
Obvious position is a DM but as the Bear as highlighted we have a huge squad that needs addressing. I do agree with acftw that we need to keep some of our experienced heads and someone like Arteta and Rosicky will be useful over the course of a long season. I'm also concerned with the quality that Welbeck brings. Is he good enough to be in our squad? I'm not convinced so far but next season will show if he's good enough.
Our old mate Phil Neville thinks that all we need to challenge for the title is a class goalkeeper. He says that De Gea at Man U has won them a number of matches this season with his outstanding performances.
Not really sure I see where the 'title challengers' comes from. If we win 3 of our last four games and lose the other, then we simply match last seasons league tally of 79 points. Still miles off the top of the league and still no evidence we can sustain form for 9 months of a football season. We'll see. We also don't need depth. Chelsea don't have deth and are 13 points ahead of everyone else. Same back 4 whenever possible. Matic a mainstay. One decent striker. Hazard and Fabregas in the team always when fit. They have top drawer in every position, not three jack of all trades swapping around every week. This is my concern. How does AW tackle his squad? He made a massive blunder in signing Welbeck because we didn't need squad filler, we need(ed) top quality. It would harsh on any of first XI to be replaced by a top drawer signing (except maybe Ospina - but even he has done little wrong). So how does AW pick his positions to strengthen? And how will he justify to Coquelin if he spends £25m on a DM? Awkward position to be in. What we don't need is more filler. We need one or two absolutely top drawer players who go straight in at first choice, regardless of how good our current player is in that position. I'm thinking: Cech (and screw over Ospina). Schneiderlin (and screw over Coquelin - Schneiderlin is simply slightly better regardless of the form Coquelin is in Other than that, i'm at a loss. Are there any top drawer centre forwards available? Lacazette maybe but not entirely sure he has done enough to warrant being a first choice striker and we have enough second choice strikers already. Ramsay and Ozil are not wingers and Walcott has gone AWOL so we could do with an absolutely top drawer winger. I'd take Di Maria off United for £30-40m in a heartbeat and play him in his correct position. Di Maria, Ozil and Sanchez would be deadly. Other than that... hmm... tough one... too much filler and not enough killer.... although the filler is all 8/10 good. The hard part is just replacing 8/10 good with 10/10 top drawer without pi55ing off the 8/10 good players.
Although I agree that we need to sign a DM, Coquelin is at the heart of this team and his performances are more than up there with, if not, better than the other DM's in the league. Not only would dropping him be unfair, more importantly I think it would be stupid.