Wenger's Transfer Targets: Summer 2017

[al-Ustaadh]

 

[tap-in]

This is more than likely bull but it was on sky sports transfers,
LEMAR MOVE BACK ON?
Arsenal have apparently been given fresh hope that they could sign Thomas Lemar from Moncao.
The Ligue 1 champions have seemed reluctant to sell Lemar this summer, but French outlet Le 10 Sport say they could now be willing to sanction his departure.
Monaco have already sold several of their stars, with Kylian Mbappeand Fabinho looking as though they will leave too.

Could be BS, who knows. Sun, Metro and all the others are going with Lemar back on too.

 

[dashsnow17]

We need to make CL football next season to be properly in for Naby Keita. £48m release clause next summer.

That's a great plan, but the best laid plans...

Better to have somebody now than gamble on someone who we might not get.

The more I think about it the more I believe that if we make 1 signing it has to be a centre back. As much as the midfield is a problem, it is a problem because the manager is misusing every option that he has.

I have come to this conclusion by looking at Madrid. They don't have a Vieira. They don't need one. They pack the midfield and dominate it. Why have we given up the midfield?

When you don't have a box to box physical beast with both attacking and defensive ability you CANNOT play a two man midfield. We don't have one. There isn't one on the market. So wtf are we doing trying to find a combination when the solution is simple. Scrap the 3 at the back, play 3 in the middle. We can do it because our full backs are good enough to give us width.

You need a ball winner, a deep lying playmaker and a creator. Casemiro/Kroos/Modric. Coquelin/Xhaka/Wilshere.

Once you have a solid back 4 and a midfield Base, you then have flexibility in how you want to attack. It could be a 4 3 1 2 or 4 3 2 1 or 4 3 3 depending on who is available or the opposition. Özil and Alexis don't always have to play together.

---------------coq
----Wilshere-Xhaka
--------Özil------Alexis
-----------Lacazette

I've come round to this. Until the next time Jack gets injured, i'm officially on his hype train again. Put Van Dijk in the defence behind and it looks good.

I still wonder if Özil is incisive/clinical enough to work in a front 3 like that. But I can't think of anyone better right now.

 

[tap-in]

I don't see this window closing without us signing, probably 2 players. Players that we don't need are going out and that's great but can you image the fans if Wenger closes this window without any new signings. We can all see we are short of a top CB & CM and we have to try and sign them. If Wenger thinks a net spend of zero is a good window, then we better go on and win the PL or it will come back to haunt him with every loss this season.

 

[{reed}]

 

[Toast]

On a scale from zero to slim, what do you reckon our chances are of making another signing?

 

[Lookin' for a new Baby]

On a scale from zero to slim, what do you reckon our chances are of making another signing?

Minus zero.

 

[yybecause]

I am not crAzy about us getting more players like most, but want it ot not: it's gonna happen

 

[bingobob]

Not going to lie bob, it kind of worked in any environment they wanted it to.

Do you genuinely think they'd be able to play that football in England week in week out? They'd be kicked all over the park and pick up injuries they don't get in Spain. What was it Pep said the game isn't more physical here they just let more stuff go. That's my take anyway. We will never know just how it would go.

 

[Sanchez11]

Soo everybody wants to abandon ship is that what that Darren1 is saying?

 

[RoadrunnerReloaded]

Just a few things here.

First, what has actually been the biggest problem with this Arsenal squad over the past few seasons? Has it really been a lack of quality or has it been injuries, fitness and maybe a bit of mental breakdown?

Its obviously both with a few things you didn't even mention mixed in like too slow to adapt tactics.

Every single one of Arsenal's rivals has the same sort of perceived problems that some Arsenal fans are complaining about. They're still looking for players too. After yesterday's Manchester City-Everton game, the pundits were talking about how desperately City needs a center back

I would say they all have different problems. City needs a centre-back because they have poor scouting and wasted ~150M on three average players.

In fact, all the teams that finished ahead of Arsenal have already dropped points as well. Fans want the Invincibles, but that's just not realistic.

I feel this is a bit of a red herring of what fans like some of my mates really want. Its not perfection or the Invincibles, just progress from treading water.

Fans have been complaining for years that Arsenal hasn't gotten any business done early and that they haven't brought in that clinical striker the club has needed. Well, this summer they brought in that striker (plus an excellent left back) and they did it quite early. They haven't waited until the last minute to do anything.

You can't take things so literal but rather look at the overall theme. I could argue that Lacazette signing was two years late. If you look in the Lacazette from 2015 I had posted back then he was available and I was saying we should have bought him back then. So its perspective really. From my perspective we left the Lacazette signing two years too late meanwhile we were just wastefully sitting on money in the bank which now has lost purchasing power due to Brexit.

While I agree some of the Wenger Out critics miss perspective so do some of the optimists and Wenger supporters who honestly seem to miss the point of a lot of the sound criticism of our club's mismanagement of the last 6-7 years.

 

[A_G]

This is more than likely bull but it was on sky sports transfers,
LEMAR MOVE BACK ON?
Arsenal have apparently been given fresh hope that they could sign Thomas Lemar from Moncao.
The Ligue 1 champions have seemed reluctant to sell Lemar this summer, but French outlet Le 10 Sport say they could now be willing to sanction his departure.
Monaco have already sold several of their stars, with Kylian Mbappeand Fabinho looking as though they will leave too.

Le 10 Sport are not reliable.

Soo everybody wants to abandon ship is that what that Darren1 is saying?

Don't worry about him, he was certain Benzema would be an Arsenal player in 2015.

 

[Sniper Mik]

 

[Lookin' for a new Baby]

Yeh, we're demanding and he's pleased he's not buying.

 

[RoadrunnerReloaded]

What's holding us back from signing a player now?

Take your pick

A) Our aversion to ever paying over what our internal valuation is
B) Clubs not wanting to sell so late in the window
C) Wenger's faith (for better or worse) in our squad players
D) Literally no player available who can improve our squad

 

[Rocky]

Just a few things here.

First, what has actually been the biggest problem with this Arsenal squad over the past few seasons? Has it really been a lack of quality or has it been injuries, fitness and maybe a bit of mental breakdown? It's obviously been the latter. Enter Darren Burgess, who was hired to improve things on all those fronts. Let's see if he is as good as advertised.

Every single one of Arsenal's rivals has the same sort of perceived problems that some Arsenal fans are complaining about. They're still looking for players too. After yesterday's Manchester City-Everton game, the pundits were talking about how desperately City needs a center back (hence why they've been linked to Evans and others). United is off to a great start, but one of their center backs is a guy many of you would reject if he were linked to Arsenal (Phil Jones, who I happen to think is a very good player, but then I think Mustafi is pretty good too). Chelsea is a bit of a mess, Sp**s sold one of their best players and are just now trying to get active in the transfer market. Liverpool is what they are.

There are no perfect teams. In fact, all the teams that finished ahead of Arsenal have already dropped points as well. Fans want the Invincibles, but that's just not realistic. There's been an overreaction to how the team has looked defensively with two left backs playing in the back three. Let's see what happens once Koscielny is back. Look, I'd love it if Arsenal signed a great center back to add to the squad, but if the guys they have can stay healthy and together they can emulate what they did at the end of last season (which is absolutely good enough to be a title contender). And they actually have some decent depth. But keeping them on the pitch will be the real key. A few years ago, Chelsea won the title playing the whole season with one experienced backup across the back four. Arsenal was down to about their 9th or 10th defenders.

Fans have been complaining for years that Arsenal hasn't gotten any business done early and that they haven't brought in that clinical striker the club has needed. Well, this summer they brought in that striker (plus an excellent left back) and they did it quite early. They haven't waited until the last minute to do anything. Hopefully they'll still bring in another player or two, but it's not that easy. Other clubs are struggling to buy the players they want as well. There's still something like nine days left until the deadline, so I see no reason to panic.

I do agree that there are some players who should have been moved on earlier (and by that I don't mean earlier this summer). But it's not that simple, especially when the players are demanding high wages. Now, you can be critical of past decisions to give those players high wages, but what's done is done. The situation is what it is. And it does appear they're making some progress.

So I see no reason to go jumping off bridges. There are 36 games to go and everybody except United, Huddersfield Town and West Brom have sucked so far. I assure you they'll all suck at some point. It's a new season and, believe it or not, there's reason for optimism.

A rare touch of of sanity to this thread...

Chelsea are struggling to land Danny Drinkwater...

It is a tough business

 

[One Love]

This club with all it's resources yet lack of ambition is extremely puzzling, and frustrating at that. We can easily put together a competitive squad with 2-3 more signing but we just wait until the last minute every year. I don't understand it.

This team with a proper CM and VVD is a contender. Throw in another attacker like Lemar and we'd have a great shot.

I'm almost certain we end up with a Welbeck type signing though.

 

[OnlyOne]

The meltdown here is hilarious, guys it's only really late August. Plenty of time.

 

[say yes]

This place is depressing. We played well both games, should be joint top of the league if the refs weren't useless. Grow and cheer up. Bans coming for negativity over the next while. Work on your smiles ladies.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Look there is no ONE answer to what our problems are. There is a lack of quality in certain positions like the central defence and central midfield. Injuries may be not so much because last season we had one of the better seasons on that front and apart from Cazorla we didn't have too many long-term absentees from our main XI. Another problem has been the coaching - either the constant shifting of formations throughout last season or in the case of the first two games(three if you count CS game) playing players out of position to rigidly stick to the formation we found some solidity in at the back of last season.
But the thing I find most baffling is with a squad of 33 players we still had to field a RB in LWB, a RW in RWB, a LWB in CB, a LB in CB, despite only missing one central defender due to suspension. Gabriel was sold, Chambers wasn't even in the squad, Holding was dropped because he had an uncertain game(which is totally understandable because his defensive partners were left backs playing in central defence) and Per was put on the bench. And then Wenger makes a baffling statement that he was not impressed with our central defensive performance, as if he didn't expect that when fielding such a dismal lineup at the back. A lot of the fans would stop complaining if we for once started a season with a semblance of stability in the lineup. But they've been left disappointed yet again.

And we can't look what other teams are missing as a crutch for us not doing our job. And since we can't predict the future, we can only make judgements based on what we've done in the past. And the past has told us that we always leave ourselves short in some form or the other. Whether it's quality in the starting XI, or quality in depth, or just tactical stability in matches. The bottom line is people can see we still lack in certain areas of the pitch. If that isn't addressed, people naturally will be sceptical. If people see Arsenal making improvements on the pitch in terms of defensive organisation, changes brought about due to proper coaching, fans will respond to that. But in the first two games, that hasn't been apparent. So you can understand why people are getting a sense of deja vu.

Rant over

Maybe there's a lack of quality if you want to compare Arsenal to Real Madrid, but there's no lack of quality in comparison to Arsenal's league rivals. Manchester City may be trying to be a gallactico team like Real Madrid, but they haven't really been any better than Arsenal the past few seasons. As I already pointed out, all the clubs have their problems. Not a single club from last season's top 5 has had their full squad ready for the start of the season. Injuries, lack of fitness and suspensions have forced all to make adjustments. So they're all in the same boat as Arsenal. Have you seen the lineups Chelsea has run out there? And that's the team that won the league last year.

Cazorla was the only significant injury last season? Mertesacker played one game. Welbeck was out most of the year. Giroud broke his foot. Ramsey was out three different times for 73, 29 and 17 days. In fact, Arsenal players had 57 injuries resulting in 1,725 days lost (average injury 30 days). That's actually more than the previous season. Then it takes players awhile to get back in the swing of things once they get back to training. So obviously injuries did continue to be a problem for Arsenal last season. Barring something happening in training this week, Arsenal should have everybody except Cazorla and Campbell ready for this weekend. That's a lot better shape than a lot of clubs are in at the moment.

Obviously it wasn't ideal playing both Monreal and Kolascinac in the center three these first two weeks (although both have experience there and the biggest problem with Monreal was that he was forced to play in the middle rather than the left of the back three, where he has been pretty good). But they should have Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal, Mertesacker, Holding and Chambers ready to play in a back three this weekend. Not many clubs have that kind of depth. You can't expect a world class player at every position, much less on the bench. This isn't a video game or Fantasy Premier League.

If there's an opportunity to bring in a player who is better than those players, that would be great. But it isn't the desperate matter some of you paint it to be. Same goes for the midfield. Xhaka and Ramsey were actually excellent together down the stretch last year after the switch to the back three. It looks like Jack is about ready to go. Oxlade-Chamberlain can play there (in fact, he seems to prefer to). Elneny and Coquelin are solid backups. If Cazorla can get back in a few months, that would be a luxury. And there are a couple of young guys who could get a chance in the cup competitions and step up. So, again, the sky is not falling.

And y'all can fuss all you want to about how much more y'all know about football than Arsène Wenger, but you don't. There's no real problem that any of you see that Wenger doesn't. But he has to build a team for 38 games, not just two. And he has to work within certain guidelines, as well as a budget. Arsenal isn't a galactico club. There will never be perfect players in every position, much less coming off the bench. There are 36 games left. Chelsea, Sp**s, City and Liverpool have all dropped points and have looked as crappy and disjointed as Arsenal. They've all been without key players and they're all still trying to add somebody. So there's really no reason to panic.