Your first team squad...

[Wenger14]

Obviously this summer has been a disappointment with the sale of our skipper, failed bids with Baptista, Viera and apparently another unknown player. But looking at the postives of players such as Fabregas, Senderos, Van Persie being a season more experienced, youth such as Abeyie, Lupoli, Song coming through the ranks and the purchase of Hleb who looks a WC player in the making, you would think the postives outweigh the negatives. BTW didn't we have a disappointing summer before our unbeaten and probably greatest season of all time.

Now seeing our current squad,

We have 3 GK's, 8 Defenders, 4 CM's, 4 Wingers, and 5 Strikers. This to me seems more than adequate cover in all areas barring CM, although IMO Wenger knows he has adequate cover, he will never throw his team into the deep end if we are short. Trust the man, he really has earned it.

Now coming to my rather simple question to you, I was curious to know what your first choice starting 11, 16 and 18 would be going into the season.

Mine:

---------------Lehman-----------------
Lauren----Toure------Cambell---Cole
Freddie---Gilberto---Fabregas---Hleb
-------------RVP------------------------
-----------------------Henry------------

Subs: Poom, Senderos, Flamini, Reyes, Bergkamp

Subs: Poom, Senderos, Clichy Flamini, Pires, Reyes, Bergkamp

Injuries do occur during the course of a season but unless you have Chelsea like money you can't afford to have a 100 million pound bench paying their 72k weekly salaries. Barring injuries we have a very strong squad of 18 players, IMO. We can't ask Wenger to become a psychic and know how many injuries he is going to have to face, we are arguably covered in all areas of the squad, and that should be enough. We also have several versatile players such as

Van Persie, LM and striker
Reyes LM, RM and Striker
Hleb, CM,LM,RM, a bergkamp like role as a shadow striker
Pires same as Hleb
Freddie, LM, RM, striker role
Flamini- CM, RM
Cesc- CM, RM
Toure- CB, RB, CM
Clichy, Cole, LB, LM
Eboue- RB, CB

Really doesn't the squad look more or less covered in all areas? I admit CM is a concern for me too, but I really believe AW knows something we don't. Maybe it's Song? Maybe he is looking at Pires, Hleb, Toure as CM options to be used during the season?

I am really fed up of all this Wenger bashing, give the man some respect, he has transformed OUR club, trust in him to take it to even greater heights. And NO he has not lost the plot nor his head. There is too much negative air in this forum. Support our team, support our manager and most of all Believe in them.

*Goes into hiding anticipating a bashing from his fellow lovable forum members*

 

[invisibleman18]

ill try and save you mate. nothing more annoying and frustrating than putting so much thought and effort into a long post and getting no replies, so heres to bump it back up to the top.

I tend to agree with your lineup, its clear as day that we are short in CM, but when you look at it all written down it does look as thought the oher positions are covered.
to be honest, i wouldnt not even think about playing pires in CM, just seems like madness to me. i think hleb could do a job there, and in an emergency, toure or even lauren would fill the gap.
although as has been said many times before, if we lose gilberto like last season then it could be a big struggle.

 

[Anonymous]

id play this instead

Lehmann

Toure Campbell Senderos Cole

Hleb Silva Fabregas Reyes

VanPersie Henry

 

[RocktheCasbah]

11

-----------------Lehmann
Lauren-----Toure-----Campbell------Cole
Reyes------Gilberto------ Fabregas----Hleb
----------------van Persie
-------------------------------Henry

Subs:
Poom, Senderos, Flamini, Ljungberg, Bergkamp

Subs 2:
Poom, Clichy, Senderos, Flamini, Ljungberg, Pires, Bergkamp.

I think generally our squad depth is better than people tghink. But, we will have a major problem if Gilberto gets injured, or Cesc. Flamini and Gilberto together doesn't inspire much confidence in me, nor do I think Cesc is ready to play a full season. Though, maybe he is, who knows?

My selection, the back four will pick itself when Sol comes back, I think. Midfield, well Pires and Freddie have got us nowhere in the CL in 5 years, I've been advocating changes there for a while now. Pires early season form makes it easier to effect these changes. I'd say that, CL aside, Freddie would probably get my vote in big games, and away from home. So his position on the bench in my line up is by no means set in stone. But, the football we played with Reyes and Hleb on the flanks against Fulham was beautiful to watch, if they can keep it up, we could be onto a real winner.

Forwards, I was tempted to bring Quincy in instead of DB10, but I'm not sure Dennis is deserving of casting away, just yet. But van Persie should definitely be starting IMO. I've given up hope of seeing Reyes up top, at least whilst Thierry is still at the club.

 

[Wenger14]

Thanks invisibleman18, damen, and RocktheCasbah, from saving me from this embarassment .

Actually I expected not many replies because being the talented bloke that I am noone would have points to go against me :wink:

Anyway i'm resigned to believe this was a waste of time so might as well lock it

 

[hleb]

Great post man! AW transfer targets made me realise one thing. He is dead serious when he believes that a couple of the youngsters have world class potential. Personally I belive we'll all be raving about Ryan Smith at the end of the season. Quincy and Song are also one to watch out for..

I'm confident in AW, he's building a dynasty who in a few years time will have the potential for World Domination :mrgreen:

 

[Feanor]

Not a bad line up, I have no idea where Freddy, Reyes and Hleb fit into Wenger's plans.
I don't think RvP is slated to be a starter or is Hleb going to play in the middle once he gets used to the pace and power of the english game? I also see Hleb playing as an attacking M in the CL if we try to change formations. I think Wenger's changes are to make us better in the CL without losing much in the EPL, I'm not sure why everyone is down on this season, I'm pretty excited. Oh, and good post, even if it was a little long. :wink:

 

[ajaxgunner]

Agree with you Feanor. In CL, I'm betting we'll see:

Gilberto-Flamini/Cesc
Freddie-Hleb-Pires/Reyes
Henry

The only caveat to that is that we haven't seen Hleb in CM AT ALL, yet.

Good post, Wenger14. I'd be happy with any combo of Freddie/Reyes/Hleb for the wings. As RocktheCasbah said, it's pretty easy to leave Pires out at this point.
I know it's not going to happen, but at some point I'd like to see 433, with the plethora of wingers/second strikers, including Quincy and Smith. But that's another topic.

 

[kamikaze80]

imho, ryan smith will not make it at arsenal. while its great to be excited by our youngsters, i dont think everyone appreciates how good you have to be to make it here. the prime example is pennant, who is a great player, but is still not good enough for us.

back to the post, RTC's lineup is exactly what i'd select myself. you know what they say about great minds!

reyes and hleb offer a bit more dynamism on the wings, tho freddie would be rotated in for sure. what i like is that each of those 3 primary wingers offers different attributes: hleb is the classy dribbler and incisive passer with vision; reyes is the pacy winger who can bring directness and a powerful left foot; freddie offers great off-the-ball movement and clinical finishing. this offers wenger a lot of flexibility to mix and match depending on the opponent and game situation.

i think the rest of the first team is straightforward.

 

[Wenger14]

Ideally RTC'S team is what I would like as well, but Wenger sees Freddie as a key player, hence I am not too sure, if he would be benched for Reyes or Hleb. We might see them all play together though, with Hleb in the centre or just behind the striker, or Reyes playing upfront, or even Freddie upfront.

Ryan smith, I hope he makes it here, he has the makings of a good player, Arsenal quality? not sure, but I sure hope he's got the right attitude to play under Wenger. Hoyte Cole Smith playing for us in the future? Should be a good core of english players :wink: .