Monday, May 14, 2012

End of season thoughts

End of Season review.

So we wake up and Arsenal finish 3rd. wooooo.  Implications being now Arsene will feel vindicated in his 'success' and put the 19 points behind down to injuries and not where the real blame lies

Poor Policy
Poor Signings
Poor Tactics

We came very close to seeing the much needed change in policy that we've been craving for 7 years all to have it snatched away by Marton Fulop.  The problems were even evident yesterday such a poor midfield no-one interested in winning back the ball.  We gave the initiative to West Brom and had it not been for the worst keeper the world has ever seen could have paid a heavy price.

Contracts. 

Almunia, Squillaci both see their contracts expire and both will leave on the 1st of June which releases all the money needed for Podolski's £110k a week contract.

Song + RVP's deals both expire next summer so don't be shocked to see both leave this summer.

Walcott is a cheeky mare wanting 75k a week so we should just offload to highest bidder and say tata to the inconsistent one.

Signings


All the excited talk of M'Vila, Hazard, Goetze, Verthongten has all gone quiet we've hit out target for the season (profit) so don't be expecting any policy changes from Wenger back to the same formula after his 'vindication' yesterday.  Expected signings

Junior Hoilett, Lucas Biglia and Soloman Kalou. In true Wenger spirit we can get all 3 for 8M.

What i'd like to see


New Left Back.  Although the naive among you are now thinking Kioren Gibbs is the greatest player in the world because he put in 1 tackle all season he's still and injury prone wank stain who should not be playing Premiership football.  Andre Santos again yesterday proved he should not be a left back but be used as part of our forward 3.  (Leighton Baines would be buyable Everton need money Baines should be playing champions league football)

TWO defensive minded ball winners. -  Two from these 5 would improve the squad massively

Cover for our defence is vital this summer we concede way too many goals and a major factor is the midfield simply doesn't care when we've not got the ball.  4 options listed are ones that would be availble to be signed.

Flamini is available on a free, he's just coming back from a long term injury so we'll probably be able to get him on a 1 year deal with relatively cheap wages if we do like Portsmouth did with Kanu and give him an automatic wage rise and 1 year extension if he plays 20 league games.

Yann M'Vila looks perfect for us a ball winner who likes to control the midfield he'd be a great signing to help us look at new formations aswell as he actually would be good enough to play in a 4-4-2 unlike Song.

Again raiding Everton Fellaini would be expensive but would also be a very good buy and also obtainable due to Evertons financial plight.

Chiek Tiote - again would probably cost a fair bit due to time left on his contract but perfect ball winning shield that we've missed since Gilberto left.  Wouldn't be very flexible in formations as he's a limited player but would still provide our defence with much needed cover.

(other mentions Lassana Diarra (R.Madrid,) Kwadwo Asamoah (Udinese) both seem to be seeking moves according to reports.)

We seem strongly linked with Biglia who is a good player but seems very slow.  I honestly (from the limited amount ive seen of him in the Europa league + U.S.A vs Argentina last summer) don't think he's the answer. Also alot of Bolton fan's seemed very hesitant when they were linked with him last year but who knows he could be class.

We need at least 2 possibly 3 midfielders if Song does depart.  With all the attacking players we have at the club focusing on the defensive side of midfield is much more important.  Ideal world next season we'd see a midfield 3 of  M'Vila Asamoah with Arteta.  Cheapest options Flamini, Biglia, Arteta either of those would offer alot more balance to ur midfield and would free Arteta to play further forward and with Wilshere Ramsey who can both play their aswell our midfield would suddenly look good again.

A striker
 Whether he stays or goes we all need to accept that Robin isn't going to have another 2011. He'll come back from the euro's tired and most likely spend the 1st few months of the season tired out of sorts. Honestly it wouldn't be the end of the world if we cashed in and reinvested.  Striker options are few and far between but Falcao from Athletico Madrid would be buyable as Athletico missed out on Champions League football so with a big bid he'd be bagable. If RVP gets sold this is where id like to see the money spent.

Chamakh needs to leave. We don't have the system to suit him and he's not getting any form of run in the side to adjust to us so it's just a waste of wages keeping him, Park has been a failure and also needs to be quietly pushed out the backdoor onto the ever growing pile of Wenger fails.  Vela and Bendtner don't want to play for us. Walcott wants a big contract so should be sold so we're looking terribly thin up top.  Joel Campbell isn't ready and if he does somehow manage to get a work permit id like to see him in the championship to try and find some form of goalscoring prowess as he's not a natural finisher.

Goalkeeper


Szczsney - Never has a goalkeeper made so many mistakes yet not been pulled about them.  If only Almunia knew that all you need to do to be classed as a good keeper is make a few jokes in interviews and have a twitter account.  For the good he's done the majority of his saves are hit straight at him. This is also reflected in Szcz's saves to shot ratio which is among the worse n the premiership and even lower than Wayne Henneseys who got relegated.  Theres very few times when it can be claimed he's won us points like Lehmann and Seaman used to.  While he is still young and has massive potential i think we've pushed him 1 step too far too soon and now his confidence in himself that was so refreshing is now arrogance that is causing him to make mistakes.  Its a tight rope to balance this summer as if we sign a new number 1 to put Szcz in his place and get him focusing on football again he could leave but if we don't he could self implode and decline which would be a massive shame.

Summary
this is what would make my perfect Arsenal summer and not a reflection of opinion on what will happen


Ins - Flamini (free), M'Vila (17m), Asamoah (12m), Falcao (35m??), Baines - (15M) - Total Cost - 80M
Outs - Almunia (free), Squillaci (free), Van Persie (30m), Gibbs (1m), Frimpong (released),  Rosicky (1m) Bendtner (4m), Djourou (3m), Fabianksi (1m), Chamberlain (loan), Campbell (loan),  Jenkinson (loan), Song (15m),  Walcott (he's english so... 20m i hear liverpool like buying crap players.) Chamakh (4m), Park (1m) Diaby (leave him outside an hope someone steals him) - Total - 80M Recouped

From that we would be left with a squad that looked like

GK - Szcznesy, Mannone (not ideal as mentioned above with Szcz)
LB - Baines, Santos (used like Eboue mainly as an attacking force but lb cover in case of injury)
RB - Sagna, Coquelin, Yenarris (happy with that)
CB - Vermealen , Koscielny, Mertesacker, Miquel (still lacks a leader at the back but added midfield cover will improve defence vastly)

CM - M'Vila, Asamoah, Flamini (2 from 3 in starting 11) / Arteta, Ramsey, Wilshere (1 from 3 in starting 11 ramsey and wilshere used sparingly)

Attacking 3 - Gervinho, Santos, Podolski, Falcao, Miyaichi,

So attacking wise we could do with 1 more as thats a little short if injuries take hold. Not that this would happen this is just a Gunner dreaming.

So in closing to all the Arsene Knows Best fans.  Jsut remember i said we'd finish the season with 68 points and it would be a failure to finish with this total.  We finished 2 ahead.  All ends up thats a poor return.  Massive improvement needed from le french one.

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