ricky1985
Established Member
My Season Review.
A funny old season is how I would put it.
If you believe the newspapers and pundits we started out as relegation candidates last summer, then we were nailed on winners of everything from the Premiership to the chairmans raffle, and finally we are left with the lingering notion that we 'bottled' it in coming up short.
We have at the very least this season shown how good we are. It is a widely held view that we play the best football in the country, maybe even in Europe. But what does that mean?
Well for me it means no matter who we are playing and where we are playing them we take our game to them and back ourselves to triumph. No other team in England does that.
We may lack in a few areas of the pitch, but then surely that suggests that in the areas that we are strong, well; we are strong!
If you look at our team it is not difficult to see that is some areas we have some of the best players in world football.
Honestly, I wouldnt swap Bakary Sagna, Gael Clichy, Cesc Fabregas, Manu Adebayor for any other players in their respective positions, and I mean any player.
Robin Van Persie would be on that exalted list had he not been so cruely hampered by injury. If fit I wouldnt swap him for Rooney, Eto'o, Villa or anyone.
So thats nearly half a team who I feel are world class, top drawer and cant be improved upon. Now for the other half.
Starting from the back; Manuel Almunia is a great understudy but nothing more. He is not capable of making a world class saves on a regular basis, and his lack of prescence in aerial situations really undermines our defensive solidity.
I believe he is also adversely affected by pressure. Which is when great players thrive.
All-in-all he has now gained great experience, featuring in a Title run-in, a Champions League quarter-final, and other noteable matches. He will be a perfect second-choice keeper to act when called upon.
The solution as far as I can see is simple. We proclaim Lukasz Fabianski as our number.1 next season, or we buy a better goal keeper in the summer.
I think Wenger will go with Fabianski, from what I have seen he looks very talented, but he has to be top drawer from the first game till the last game next season, I am not sure if he can do that at 23 years old. Although he has won a Championship in Poland, and won their 'Best Goalkeeper' award twice on the trot.
If we were to source a keeper there are a few available. PSV's Gomes is rumoured to be a dead cert to leave this summer, and Joe Hart is available after an amazing debut season for Man City. Not to mention Hugo Lloris of Nice, who is on Milan's radar. Would any of these massively improve upon our current set-up?
It is a position Wenger cannot afford to get wrong this summer.
Moving up the pitch slightly; William Gallas and Kolo Toure are individually, for me, unquestionably world class, but as a partnership it doesnt quite work.
I have spoke in other threads about the importance in my eyes of balance in the partnership. I believe we have the two most gifted centrebacks in the League, but they are very simialr.
I think one of the most important facets of a good parrtnership at centreback is balancing aggression.
Defining roles as the primary and secondary defender, who will be passive and who will pro-active with their style of defending.
I think we need to buy-in an aggressive, pro-active defender to compliment either Gallas or Toure. I think if we get this right then either Gallas or Toure will be the best centreback in the League next season.
So the options open to us range from a 6ft. 6in. German by the name of Per Mertesacker, or a 6ft. 2in. Irishman named Richard Dunne. I just dont see many more options. yes there are a few but I dont feel they are good enough.
I would go with Richard Dunne. He knows the League, and is a good player. He has the attributes we are looking for and is a good experienced age. Also a lot of members of this forum have said they are positive he will be top drawer and some of them really know what they're talking about. He has also won Man City's player of the year award 4 years in a row now.
In the vacant postion along side Cesc, its two very simple choices again. Promote from within or buy a player better than Diaby, Denilson or Gilberto Silva.
I just cant see Diaby playing 60 games at such a high level, with such required energy. Denilson is not good enough yet and Gilberto I believe will leave this summer. So we must buy in my opinion, but who?
We have been linked with various players for that role, so far this summer. Let me list them;
Jean II Makoun
Michael Johnson
Gareth Barry
Yaya Toure
Vincent Kompany
I have really thought about it, and tried to list what we need from that area of the pitch besides what Cesc fabregas can offer us.
Well we need the following;
Height and aerial ability.
Strength,power and energy.
Good technique and distribution.
Consistency and durability.
Leadership and experience.
I havent really been massively in favour of signing Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, untill today.
The others all have their flaws but if you look down that list then recall Gareths Barry's strengths and weaknesses, I would say he ticks practically every box.
Gareth Barry;
Height and aerial ability. 183cm or 6ft. Good in the air, started at CB, and has the ability to read the ball well in the air and use his height affectively.
Strength,power and energy. Has always been noted as a strong player, with good physical prescence. He sets the tone for the team with his 'English' energy levels.
Good technique and distribution. Barry has excellent technique, a great left foot, and can deliver a brilliant freekick or corner. His passing has always been top drawer, resulting in 10 Premiership assists this season alone.
Consistency and durability. This is another area where Gareth Barry really excels. He has played 30+ Premiership games in 9 of the last 10 seasons. For 6 seasons in a row now it has been 35+ games, so he is durable.
He is also the youngest ever player to appear in 300 Premiership games.
Leadership and experience. He is the captain of Aston Villa, and has been since he was 24 years old. He has played in some big games for England, an FA Cup final for Villa and was England U-21 captain.
I am really convinced now that Gareth Barry is the perfect man to replace Flamini, and slot-in next to Fabregas.
If you add to his aforementioned attributes that he is Villa's penalty taker and has scored some massive, pressure pens down the years, then you have to say he has a lot of bottle and character as well, which is also very important. Not to mention that he will need no 'foreign' adaption time.
I think he is the man to really help take us to the next level.
Into the wide position's I think we will probably lose Alex Hleb, which is a shame because he is a good player. We have however been linked with some very good players to replace or supplement him with.
Hatem Ben Arfa
Niko Kranjcar
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Samir Nasri
I think we are going to sign Hatem Ben Arfa for the left flank, he has everything we require in an Arsenal wide man.
Pace, intelligence, trickery, an eye for goal, awareness and vision.
In my opinion Ben Arfa is good enough to come straight in and start, and will add some much needed penetration to our attack.
If we lose Hleb we will have to either change our style and play Walcott on the right or sign a Hleb replacement.
Nasri maybe, but he doesnt have the pace to play in a wide position in my opinion.
Krajcar and Schweinsteiger are just not good enough in my opinion, so it leaves Walcott or Eboue on the right.
Its an important decision that Wenger must get right. Can we possibly play with Walcott on one flank and Ben Arfa on the other? We would lose some of our posession, no doubt, but we would gain pace, incisiveness and goals.
We will also have Carlos Vela as a wide option next season. We maybe shouldnt expect too much from a 19 year old but he is very, very talented.
So with two or three additions and a bit of tweaking I think we can put this seasons end right and win the Premiership next season.
It'll be an interesting summer.
Sorry for the length, infinitely bored.
A funny old season is how I would put it.
If you believe the newspapers and pundits we started out as relegation candidates last summer, then we were nailed on winners of everything from the Premiership to the chairmans raffle, and finally we are left with the lingering notion that we 'bottled' it in coming up short.
We have at the very least this season shown how good we are. It is a widely held view that we play the best football in the country, maybe even in Europe. But what does that mean?
Well for me it means no matter who we are playing and where we are playing them we take our game to them and back ourselves to triumph. No other team in England does that.
We may lack in a few areas of the pitch, but then surely that suggests that in the areas that we are strong, well; we are strong!
If you look at our team it is not difficult to see that is some areas we have some of the best players in world football.
Honestly, I wouldnt swap Bakary Sagna, Gael Clichy, Cesc Fabregas, Manu Adebayor for any other players in their respective positions, and I mean any player.
Robin Van Persie would be on that exalted list had he not been so cruely hampered by injury. If fit I wouldnt swap him for Rooney, Eto'o, Villa or anyone.
So thats nearly half a team who I feel are world class, top drawer and cant be improved upon. Now for the other half.
Starting from the back; Manuel Almunia is a great understudy but nothing more. He is not capable of making a world class saves on a regular basis, and his lack of prescence in aerial situations really undermines our defensive solidity.
I believe he is also adversely affected by pressure. Which is when great players thrive.
All-in-all he has now gained great experience, featuring in a Title run-in, a Champions League quarter-final, and other noteable matches. He will be a perfect second-choice keeper to act when called upon.
The solution as far as I can see is simple. We proclaim Lukasz Fabianski as our number.1 next season, or we buy a better goal keeper in the summer.
I think Wenger will go with Fabianski, from what I have seen he looks very talented, but he has to be top drawer from the first game till the last game next season, I am not sure if he can do that at 23 years old. Although he has won a Championship in Poland, and won their 'Best Goalkeeper' award twice on the trot.
If we were to source a keeper there are a few available. PSV's Gomes is rumoured to be a dead cert to leave this summer, and Joe Hart is available after an amazing debut season for Man City. Not to mention Hugo Lloris of Nice, who is on Milan's radar. Would any of these massively improve upon our current set-up?
It is a position Wenger cannot afford to get wrong this summer.
Moving up the pitch slightly; William Gallas and Kolo Toure are individually, for me, unquestionably world class, but as a partnership it doesnt quite work.
I have spoke in other threads about the importance in my eyes of balance in the partnership. I believe we have the two most gifted centrebacks in the League, but they are very simialr.
I think one of the most important facets of a good parrtnership at centreback is balancing aggression.
Defining roles as the primary and secondary defender, who will be passive and who will pro-active with their style of defending.
I think we need to buy-in an aggressive, pro-active defender to compliment either Gallas or Toure. I think if we get this right then either Gallas or Toure will be the best centreback in the League next season.
So the options open to us range from a 6ft. 6in. German by the name of Per Mertesacker, or a 6ft. 2in. Irishman named Richard Dunne. I just dont see many more options. yes there are a few but I dont feel they are good enough.
I would go with Richard Dunne. He knows the League, and is a good player. He has the attributes we are looking for and is a good experienced age. Also a lot of members of this forum have said they are positive he will be top drawer and some of them really know what they're talking about. He has also won Man City's player of the year award 4 years in a row now.
In the vacant postion along side Cesc, its two very simple choices again. Promote from within or buy a player better than Diaby, Denilson or Gilberto Silva.
I just cant see Diaby playing 60 games at such a high level, with such required energy. Denilson is not good enough yet and Gilberto I believe will leave this summer. So we must buy in my opinion, but who?
We have been linked with various players for that role, so far this summer. Let me list them;
Jean II Makoun
Michael Johnson
Gareth Barry
Yaya Toure
Vincent Kompany
I have really thought about it, and tried to list what we need from that area of the pitch besides what Cesc fabregas can offer us.
Well we need the following;
Height and aerial ability.
Strength,power and energy.
Good technique and distribution.
Consistency and durability.
Leadership and experience.
I havent really been massively in favour of signing Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, untill today.
The others all have their flaws but if you look down that list then recall Gareths Barry's strengths and weaknesses, I would say he ticks practically every box.
Gareth Barry;
Height and aerial ability. 183cm or 6ft. Good in the air, started at CB, and has the ability to read the ball well in the air and use his height affectively.
Strength,power and energy. Has always been noted as a strong player, with good physical prescence. He sets the tone for the team with his 'English' energy levels.
Good technique and distribution. Barry has excellent technique, a great left foot, and can deliver a brilliant freekick or corner. His passing has always been top drawer, resulting in 10 Premiership assists this season alone.
Consistency and durability. This is another area where Gareth Barry really excels. He has played 30+ Premiership games in 9 of the last 10 seasons. For 6 seasons in a row now it has been 35+ games, so he is durable.
He is also the youngest ever player to appear in 300 Premiership games.
Leadership and experience. He is the captain of Aston Villa, and has been since he was 24 years old. He has played in some big games for England, an FA Cup final for Villa and was England U-21 captain.
I am really convinced now that Gareth Barry is the perfect man to replace Flamini, and slot-in next to Fabregas.
If you add to his aforementioned attributes that he is Villa's penalty taker and has scored some massive, pressure pens down the years, then you have to say he has a lot of bottle and character as well, which is also very important. Not to mention that he will need no 'foreign' adaption time.
I think he is the man to really help take us to the next level.
Into the wide position's I think we will probably lose Alex Hleb, which is a shame because he is a good player. We have however been linked with some very good players to replace or supplement him with.
Hatem Ben Arfa
Niko Kranjcar
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Samir Nasri
I think we are going to sign Hatem Ben Arfa for the left flank, he has everything we require in an Arsenal wide man.
Pace, intelligence, trickery, an eye for goal, awareness and vision.
In my opinion Ben Arfa is good enough to come straight in and start, and will add some much needed penetration to our attack.
If we lose Hleb we will have to either change our style and play Walcott on the right or sign a Hleb replacement.
Nasri maybe, but he doesnt have the pace to play in a wide position in my opinion.
Krajcar and Schweinsteiger are just not good enough in my opinion, so it leaves Walcott or Eboue on the right.
Its an important decision that Wenger must get right. Can we possibly play with Walcott on one flank and Ben Arfa on the other? We would lose some of our posession, no doubt, but we would gain pace, incisiveness and goals.
We will also have Carlos Vela as a wide option next season. We maybe shouldnt expect too much from a 19 year old but he is very, very talented.
So with two or three additions and a bit of tweaking I think we can put this seasons end right and win the Premiership next season.
It'll be an interesting summer.
Sorry for the length, infinitely bored.
Oh yeah, using the lesser foot; fair enough - if we put in enough eventually we'll have a defender make a meal of it too.
