Transfers – Page 9 – Bergkampesque

Five Reasons Higuain should join Arsenal this summer

June 18, 2013June 18, 2013TotalArsenal

Higuain: in order to shine properly, he needs to find the right podium.

We have discussed in various posts what Higuain has to offer to Arsenal, but why should he choose for us? Here are five excellent reasons:

Arsenal are going places again. It is a great time to join Arsenal now, as any proper agent who looks into the club’s current financial and strategic position will tell him. We are perfectly positioned to make the final step towards winning silverware and become a force in the UK and Europe again, and I am sure Arsene and Gazidis will have been working hard to put this message across to him. Recent comments by the latter regarding our ability to spend big now, and Arsene to sign a new contract soon, were most probably meant to convince our transfer targets that the club is going places again.
Higuain clearly wants to have a pivotal role in a team. Despite all his talent and many fine performances for RM, he is yet to move away from the periphery to the very core of the team. He has had enough of that now and wants a central role at a big club. He will have to compete with Giroud for this and the Frenchman won’t make it as easy as many believe it would be for the Argentinean. But with hard work and dedication, his superior technical and finishing skills should make him top dog in our attack. On top of all of that, Arsenal can play the sort of football in which Higuain will get great service and is able to shine properly. With the likes of Cazorla, Wilshere, Theo, Rosicky and Pod – and maybe one of Cesc, Jovetic or Rooney as well – on the pitch, he will get Michelin Star service, and who would not want to be on the receiving end of that?!
He will find three fellow ‘Spanish mother tongue’ speakers at Arsenal: Nacho, Zorro and Santi (and maybe Cesc if our dream is to come to full fruition!). This will help him tremendously with settling into the team and not feeling isolated on the pitch too much. At Arsenal, as at any proper team, effective link-up play and getting towards telepathic on-field relationships are prerequisites for successful football; and for that, good communication between the players is paramount. Having fellow Spanish speakers on the pitch is therefore a big bonus, and not something many (if any) non-Spanish clubs can offer.
Robben and Sneijder left RM and became very successful. The Dutchmen were unceremoniously pushed aside by the club through an act of sheer desperation to kick Barcelona of its throne, by buying Ronaldo, Benzema, Alonso, Kaka during one crazy summer in 2009. Los Blancos failed to dislodge the reviled Catalonians, despite all the hundreds of million Euros they spent, but Sneijder and Robben have been able to win top silverware in the meantime. Leaving RM, especially when you are not part of the core of the team, can be the best thing to do, and Arsenal are just the club to do a ‘Sneijder-Robben’ on RM.
Gaucho at Canary Wharf serves up some awesome Argentinian steaks! Joining Arsenal in London would definitely not be a misteak! 😛

So, there is every reason for the France born Argentinean to join the French-Spanish-Anglo Gunners at Arsenal. You won’t regret it Gonzalo the (almost) Gunner! 😉

Written by: TotalArsenal.

Theo – Higuain – Nani up-front with Santi in the hole: it could work a treat

June 16, 2013June 17, 2013TotalArsenal

It looks more and more that Arsene is very keen to bring Higuain to the home of football this summer. According to various reports, we are preparing a lucrative offer for the Argentinian. Nothing will happen though, it appears, until Madrid appoint their new manager. Whoever that will be will have to decide whether he wants Higuain to stay or let him go. Unfortunately, until then we’ll have to remain patient.

We are also being linked again with Nani of MU. The Portuguese winger has a goal scoring record of one in five, both for MU and the national team, of which some have been simply superb. However, he lacks consistency and after two full on seasons, Ferguson has benched him mostly during the last campaign – allowing him to play in just ten PL games all season, of which some as a substitute.

Nani appears to be a player who needs a lot of trust by the manager and Red Nose’s management style did not do him much good. No doubt, Wenger could do a better job here, but I am not sure whether the signing of Nani would be good business for us. At times he can be mesmerising and deliver that bit of extra quality our team often needs, but I cannot get overly excited about him joining us.

However, he has PL experience and will relish giving his career a second life, and with Wenger’s coaching he could become a very useful player for us. Our apparent interest in him could be an indication that Theo is to be moved to the middle next season. Nani, who can play on both wings, would allow the Englishman to play centrally with receiving good service from a proper winger.

But, with our strong interest in Higuain, it could be that Arsene is thinking of a front three of Theo – Higuain – Nani. With Jack or Cazorla in the hole, this could become quite an attractive formation for us. It could actually work a treat!

Nani offers good close ball control and dribbling and lots of speed, and we know what Theo has to offer. Higuain, but also Giroud, would really benefit from proper wing service, and the likes of Santi and Jack would have plenty of options to conduct their multi-faceted attacking play – and often get on the score sheet themselves.

Although I see a DM and nr.10 as our biggest priorities right now, I would love us to sign an experienced, quality winger as well.

The question to ask fellow Gooners is: would Nani be a good singing for us and how would you see him fit best into the team?

Written by: TotalArsenal.

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A Closer Look at Gonzalo Higuain: a striker with 30+ goals a season potential

June 13, 2013June 13, 2013TotalArsenal

It’s that time again when we get linked with every single player the media can think of. Most are usually baseless unfounded rumours but some might have substance to them. We have been linked with players from all corners of the globe with different status levels. From the top stars such as Cavani, who would command transfer fees that could run a small country for a day, to unheard of raw talent.

This time round, though, we are in a position to discern whether the rumours being peddled around have any substance or are just fabrications by the media, in order to create stories. This is because the players themselves, their agents and the clubs they represent, are much more involved in the media, and therefore are able to quickly publicly quash or confirm any stories concerning them which have been published. Case in point, examine the Cesc Fabregas saga.

My focus for this post is on Gonzalo Higuain. He is a 25 year old Argentinian striker who plies his trade in the Spanish capital with Real Madrid (for those who may not know). The main reason why I am taking a keen look at him is because I believe there is a very real chance that he could be a gunner by the time we head to Asia for our preseason. Higuain (fondly known as ‘el pipita’ by his Argentine fans) has spent 7 years at Madrid having mixed fortunes. He signed on as 19 year old from River plate but never really made his mark in his first season. Madrid fans were calling for his dismissal from the club but Pellegrini stuck by him. His second season was a bit better but still not good enough (for a player at Real Madrid). The following season, however, was his breakout in which he scored over 20 goals for the club. Unfortunately for him, that is the season that Ramon Calderon and Manuel Pellegrini (the two men who brought him to the club) left.

When Florentino Perez was elected the new Madrid president, he brought in Ronaldo, Benzema, Kaka among others, which would see Higuain marginalized. He, however, continued to play well and even ensuring that to date, Karim Benzema has never finished higher than him in the scoring charts. In fact in the first season when Ronaldo, Benzema and Higuain played together, the Argentinian finished as Madrid’s top scorer. Perez has marginalized him, seeing him as a symbol of his predecessor’s (Calderon) reign. This is despite his obvious talent.

Higuain is a goal scorer, pure and simple. He has proven this by ensuring that beginning his 3rd season at Madrid, he has never finished with less than 10 goals regardless of his appearances. The recently concluded season, 2012-13, was one of his lowest in terms of appearances for the club (with Benzema preferred as the main striker alongside Ronaldo), yet he managed an impressive 16 goals, beating first choice Benzema yet again. To put it into perspective, it is like if Podolski had outscored Walcott.

Higuain is a world class striker and at 25 years old, he is at the prime age to join us. One thing that stands out about him is his mightily impressive shooting technique. He scores goals from all angles in front of goal you can imagine. (Have a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjCDyoGSVTQ).

Also impressive, is his ambidexterity (Santi Cazorla anyone?). He is primarily right footed but can shoot and pass as well with his left foot. Higuain is fairly pacey but his speed of thought, reading of the game and general movement are the traits that make him so lethal. His ball control is also superb. He is also very strong in the air and is deceptively powerful. I say deceptively because for someone with his average frame he depends a lot on his physical strength to hold off defenders which he does very well.

The only weaknesses I can think of are: he may not be as skilled with the ball at his feet or as fast compared to his fellow striker Benzema. He used to be quite inconsistent in front of goal and his ball control at times looked suspect, but those are demons he laid to rest a long time ago.

At the end of the 2011-12 season, he handed in a transfer request but Mourinho convinced him to stay by promising a more prominent role at the club. This never came to fruition and now he is more determined than ever to leave. The two clubs after him are Arsenal and Juventus. Asked about this interest, he said that he wouldn’t mind either, even saying that Arsenal would suit him.

And I tend to agree with him. Not to say that Madrid’s midfielders are average but at Arsenal, where he would be our main man up front, his goal haul could easily pass the 30 goal mark given the calibre of players playing behind him. At Madrid, Ronaldo is the player everyone looks towards to score, which means that it is him who everybody is expected to create for.

My verdict is that we should do what is needed to bring him in. We have the advantage anyway. Perez says that 25.5 million would not be enough, but I think that he is just trying to salvage the best he can in a hopeless situation. For a player whose agent, father and he himself have publicly stated that he’s leaving, the stated amount is a very tall order. Juventus on the other hand are evidently financially inferior to us. Therefore, this should be a fairly simple transfer to pull off, IF Le Prof was to go for him.

Personally, I’d love to see it happen. Would you?

Written by: Marcus.

Cesc, Jovetic coming or not, Koz, Sagna to go? The Joys of the Torture Window!

June 12, 2013July 31, 2013TotalArsenal

Cesc: one of the many will he /won't he this season! — Cesc: one of the many will he /won’t he this season!

To some extent I can understand why fellow Gooners can be so excited about the Transfer Window. It’s that Christmasesque excitement of anticipated presents: who will we get and how are they going to make us win silverware next season?

But as Gooners we should know better by now. Arsenal Transfer windows in recent years have been utter torture, with the exception perhaps of the ‘winter window’ when we somehow got Arshavin on the day after the last day. The year we lost Cesc and Nasri was dismal enough, but last season’s summer TW was another low point. It started so well with the well organised and timely arrivals of Pod and Giroud, and the late arrival of one of the best signings in recent years, Cazorla.

But then the traitor decided to burn his bridges on purpose so he could obey the little boy inside of him, and without much ado Songinho was sold to Barca’s chairman. Two inexperienced PL strikers in, the PL footballer and top scorer of the year out. One of the most versatile and promising defensive midfielders out, an attacking midfielder with no PL experience in.

Cazorla turned out to be an absolute gem, but with injuries to Diaby (no surprise there) and Wilshere (also not a big surprise given his recent health issues), we really missed Song this season, both defensively and in terms of producing assists from midfield. It is not hard to imagine how well we would have done if Van Judas had not deserted us, but enough said about the grey haired broody woman.

I loathe the Transfer Window. If it was up to me it would not last longer than five working days: get it done swiftly and we can all get on with our lives.

I tried to be philosophical about it, as in: it will be what it will be, and I cannot influence it, so best to forget about it all. But as a Blog Owner this is not going to be easy, as it is very hard not to get carried away with how Rooney, Cesc or Jovetic would be able to instantly transform our team. And it is just the same with the, equally popular among the fans, ‘angst articles’: the thought, for example, of the master of easy rides trying to entice our Wilshere or Koz away to Munich is very hard to suppress, once the eyes have glanced the NewsNow headline…. And losing our warrior RB, Mr Arsenal, to one of the new French Oilers, does also create sheer angst and anger.

How many times over the last few months have we read that Jovetic to Arsenal is a done deal? And what about Fellaini: Arsenal making an offer and the betting firms indicating they believe it is going to happen – after which………. Nothing happens.

And even if we sign a couple of quality players eventually, we could still see departures of first team players in the next few months. I know about the £70m to spend but old habits die hard at Arsenal, it seems.

What exactly is the fun of the transfer window?

I guess as a down to earth, Calvinist-DNA Dutchman, I am just too serious about it all. I can hear the likes of James Bond, Highbury Harmony, AFC, Gerry and HenryChan telling me to lighten up and join the seasonal fantasy football transfer merry-go-round….. The Wengabus is coming and everybody’s jumping….

Anyway, enough whinging – you must by now have noticed I am scraping the barrel for a post today! Let’s do some Transfer/Torture Window predictions. What do you think will happen this summer:

Who are we really going to buy?
Who will leave?
How much money will we spend (deduct incoming money from predicted departures)?
What will be the most we’ll spend on a single player this summer?
Will Arsene sign a new contract during the TW?

Written by: TotalArsenal. 😉

Fellaini – Jack – Cesc/Rooney: a midfield worthy of Wengerball!

June 8, 2013June 8, 2013TotalArsenal

A 'statement of intent' line-up for next season? — A ‘statement of intent’ line-up for next season?

Ivan Gazidis tells us we can compete for the big boys now, stating we can bid for the likes of Rooney, or even aim higher. I am happy he has come out with this clear message, and his comments regarding keeping hold of Wenger for many seasons to come is also very welcome. There is a strong interconnection between signing super quality players and Wenger staying put at Arsenal.

The big transfer targets will want to avoid doing a ‘Van Judas’; they want assurances about the club’s long-term vision and that includes the manager going nowhere. I would be very happy for Wenger to stay so he is able to pick the fruits at the end of the Emirates-stadium-tunnel, but we still have to see whether he will bring in the sort of players who can fit in straightaway and make a real difference.

Simultaneous with Gazidis’ bullish statement, news came out about Arsenal having made an offer for Everton’s Fellaini. The Belgian would definitely be a so called ‘statement of intent’ by the club. Unsurprisingly, things have gone quiet again as per the very nature of the Terror Window. The Dutch have a saying for this: de kat om het spek binden – tying the cat around the bacon – we can smell and sense those quality signings and yet cannot get hold of them.

But let’s do another bit of football transfer indulgence: a good antidote to the poison of the terror window. If we do get Fellaini and one of the other players whose names keep popping up – Cesc and Rooney, where would they play and how would they add value to our team?

As per previous posts, I reckon Arsene needs to invest in our midfield first and for all, if he wants to return to Wengerball. We need steel and added invention in order to get back to sexy and winning football.

There is no doubt that both Cesc and Rooney would add a creative dimension as well as an added goal threat. Both could play in the hole and our team would make an instant step forwards and upwards. We have discussed what the Spaniard and Englishman have to offer in recent posts, so let’s not regurgitate too much of it again in this one.

However, it would be good to discuss who, from a purely technical/tactical point of view (not so much a sentimental one), fellow Gooners would prefer in Arsenal’s nr.10 position: Rooney or Cesc. It would be also interesting to know who believes Rooney should lead our attack rather than play behind the striker, and what you believe is Cesc’s very best position in our 4-3-3 formation.

In order to get the best value out of Cesc or Rooney in the hole, Arsenal need to have a fantastic box-to-box midfielder who is able to find the perfect balance between defensive and attacking duties, as well as a strong, yet footballing, DM.

At this early stage of his career, Jack appears to be the right player for the b2b position (over time I expect him to move into the hole position). Of course, he needs to be fully fit to be effective in this role and fingers crossed he’ll have a great season. We have some alternatives and back up with the likes of Arteta, Coquelin and Ramsey and the D-named player.

If we want to play winning Wengerball football again though, my personal, and many fellow Gooners’, first priority remains the DM position. Every beautiful, fanciful castle needs a solid basement to deal with the laws of gravity and whatever the elements throw at it.

I am not sure whether Fellaini is the player for this position, or whether Arsene would be looking at him to move into that position. No doubt the Belgian could play there, but he could also be our b2b midfielder as well as our nr.10 – with 11 goals in 31 PL matches he is proving to be an all-round midfielder of great quality.

You can see why Arsene would like him to join us: he can play everywhere, is technically and physically very strong, has a winner’s mentality and would fit into the team relatively well. His disciplinary record is also not too bad despite his reputation of being a hot-head at times, with a yellow card in every four league games on average, and just the one red card during his 138 league appearances.

A Wengerball player, no doubt about that. But is he suitable to play the traditional DM role with a bit of added responsibility/ skill requirements?

The more I think about it, the more I believe he would join us not as a dedicated, ‘traditional’, beast of a DM, but as one of the two in the double-DM pivot, in which Arsene likes to put multi-disciplined and skilled midfielders who can defend, pass and create – both are DM and b2b midfielders at the same time.

Fellaini would suit this role perfectly, and the thought of him playing together in the double-DM pivot with Jack, but also Arteta, and to a lesser extent Rambo, is a mouth-watering one. The Belgian would add physical presence – height, power, and ball winning skills, both on the ground and in the air – drive and a strong assist/goal scoring threat.

We can only dream, but the thought of Fellaini and Jack in the DM-pivot and either Cesc or Rooney in front of them, with Cazorla/Pod/Ox/Gnabry operating from the wings and Theo, Giroud or Pod our most advanced attacker, in a Wengerball footballing machine, puts a smile on my face.

Will it happen? Who knows, but Gazidis has made a statement of intent and now it is time to bring home the bacon! 🙂

Written by: TotalArsenal.

Jack has it; Vermaelen had it and will again. But Arsenal lack Presence!

June 4, 2013June 4, 2013TotalArsenal

I originally opined on this several posts back and made the point that from my favorite kids movie, Megamind, the only thing that differentiates villains and super-villains, is “Presentation!” For a reminder see the last bits of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbkKVDVkFgY

One could almost re-quote the last bit as “Oh you’re a team alright but you’re not super. Oh Yeah! What’s the difference?!?” … Presence!

More specifically, there is quite a lot of grumpiness amongst Arsenal fans of late, and by late, I mean the last 2-3 years. While many bemoan a lack of cups that we all want anyway, it often moves on towards discussions of how we could be better if only we had the world’s greatest footballer: Cesc Cesar Isco Wanyama Jovetic-Higuain.

Despite his rather long name, this footballer has one thing going for them compared to lesser lights like Mr Andrey Ryo Manone Santos-Squillaci, and that is Presence!

Presence (noun) = The state or fact of existing, occurring, or being present in a place or thing.
Presence! (noun!) = The state or fact of existing, occurring, or being present in a place or thing that causes fear or anxiety amongst ones competitors.

Not to be confused with:

Presence (noun?) = A person or thing that exists or is present in a place but is not seen: “the monks became aware of a strange presence”. This is Andre Santos on defense!

So what is Presence! Well, and this will appeal to Glic I am sure, the definition of ‘Presence!’ is a lot like that attributed to pornography. I can’t define it but I know it when I see it.

So, let’s call Presence! that fear engendered in opponents when a player has the ball, or is even near the action sometimes. From there, let me say who I think has Presence! and who is, shall I say, merely present.

Presence!

Cesc – at Arsenal the added creativity he brought made everyone else, even Nasri, better, and when he had the ball other teams tended to over focus on him. To our benefit and their detriment. Presence! makes others better and perhaps made Cesc appear better than he is!
RvJ – had no Presence! before last season really, but after that run, every time the ball heads towards him every other player on the opposing defense gets an immediate case of “pucker fever” … Presence! can be made or developed, you don’t have to be born with it.
Messi and Ronaldo – obviously! Keeping with our superhero format, with great talent comes great Presence!
Yaya and Kompany – the spine of Man City in recent years, and on form they make the middle of the field a place of fear, thus compressing the pitch to the obvious benefit of their entire team. To feel Yaya’s or Vincent’s presence (small “p”) while not even looking at them is to know that Presence! isn’t just about scoring it’s about influencing the entire pitch.

Negative Presence!

Santos – what teams don’t relish seeing him in our line-up.
Gervinho – either dominates the world or gets confused and goes out to lunch. If he’s not on, he can be ignored, and he’s often note quite on.

Historical Presence! And we had it in spades!!

Adams – had Presence! and then some as a defender, as does Verm on his day!
DB10 – perhaps a most obvious example.
Thierry – when he had the ball or was merely lurking around the left corner of the box, everyone knew where he was and was looking that way.

And many others we could all add, each of whose unique attributes and abilities, as well as consistency over time, made sure everyone knew they were about.

That leads to my next point that Presence! is a tangible but also transient thing. Rooney had it, and then bang this year with RvJ about, gone! One could almost define Presence! the consistency of the very best form that influences the entire game just by the players mere presence on the pitch.

For Glic, who is way more concise than I am, this is just Boing! when watching YouTube highlights… 🙂

Somehow, we lack that Presence! and to get to the next level need to find the people outside, or within our team, who can develop it.

So, who are the likely candidates! I would posit the following noting that these are merely my opinions and that anything free, like my opinion, comes with no guarantee…

At Arsenal:

Theo – if he can figure out how to be something more than just pace for goals, just like Thierry
Santi – may well get it this year with the right formation around him
Koz, Gibbs – with time
Vermaelen – has all the potential needs his head on square focus
Podolski – why isnt 100 caps and over 40 goals for Germany feared more …?
Jack – in spades and can do it already, needs to be healthy for a full season…

You will note there are many names missing and I may have missed a few.

And amongst our many targets and possibilities:

Jovetic – at the risk of TAs displeasure, not for me
Higuain – at the risk of HHs admiration, yes
Isco – only in Glic’s mind but he has the Boing! factor
Villa – yes, but only for 1-2 years

Arsenal have been blessed in past with many such players, who made all around them better while shrinking the pitch on defense and expanding it on offense. Just by their Presence! and the way teams were forced to consistently acknowledge them and hedge towards them…

I think we have several emerging talents with that potential, and that the right person in this TW will add to it. The real questions for you Gooners might be:

Presence! Fact or jgc professorial fiction?
Presence! Don’t need it, cuz we got it, or just don’t need it if we play this ___ esoteric formation and lineup
Presence! Who will bring it to us in this TW? Who won’t?
Presence! Do we need it on offence, defence or both, or will that one special DM solve it all?

I think we’ve discussed all the answers to all these really, already in past posts. So, let me ask one real question… What one change will give Arsenal the Presence! it’s quality players deserve. The Presence! to make other teams half give up on our arrival on the pitch.

I honestly think we are that close, it may not be players but simply time or formation, but we need Presence! Because…

Presence! (noun) = the small difference between fighting for 3-4^th or 1^st.

Written by: jgc.

Arsenal are in a great position but how to return to the glory days?

June 2, 2013June 2, 2013TotalArsenal

We all know about the transitional period which started when Arsenal left Highbury and moved to the Emirates stadium, at the end of the 05-06 season. It has not been an easy transition for us die-hard fans or the club itself, following our successful years in the final decade at Highbury.

So many questions have been asked and as fans we can only speculate. How does a club that wins the EPL undefeated, go on and not win a championship since then? Was it the right move for us? Has Arsene Wenger lost his touch or passion since putting together an ‘Invincibles’ team that no other club may ever match?

We all know what has happened since the 06-07 season. It has been a dry spell of trophies and near misses, but more so, we have seen the emergence of billionaires choosing to play FIFA in real life. The Arsenal-Man United rivalry has been scaled down and its importance is no longer title deciding. The blue side of Manchester has now become a strong player in the EPL, due to the investments of billionaires in order to buy success. Chelsea has had its success due to the heavy investment of Roman Abramovic. Money definitely allows you to be able to offer higher wages in order to lure talent to your club, and it also allows you to beat other clubs in negotiating transfer fees.

Since our move to The Emirates, Arsenal has not been able to compete on a level playing field with other teams. The choice was made to control the stadium debt and in return we did not have the funds available to compete in the transfer market. Arsene Wenger has always been a good spotter of talent, and with Arsenal’s global exposure we were able to lure good players to our beloved team. This is not the case these days. We have been unable to compete with the rising demand of players’ wages, thanks to greedy agents who know that there are many sides out there now that will offer an average player extraordinarily high wages to sit on a bench.

I believe that we have reached a turning point and we are now in a position to start to claim back our rightful place amongst the Elite in Europe. I am not talking just about the EPL: we have to raise our level to where we are competitive again in Europe. Let’s use the passion and drive that we displayed against Bayern Munich this season past and against AC Milan the season before. In order to do this, we need to invest in our squad, change our wage structure and become more competitive in the market.

A friend (unfortunately a Liverpool fan) has always said to me, The Arsenal started acting on the Final Fair Play rules, which are now coming into play, about a decade before everyone else. He is right. This has happened due to all the debt incurred in our move and the prudence of the board not to jeopardize the future of this brilliant club.

It seems that it is now time for us to capitalize on our situation.

We are now starting to get more business partners on board; we have a new kit supplier, which is one of the best deals in the football world at the moment. We are starting to clear out players on high and yet underserved wages, and we have a decent transfer kitty.

As usual we have been linked with so many players in this off-season and it will be interesting to see the intent shown by the board and also by AW. It is time that The Arsenal knocked a few of these teams off their perch and the good guys came out on top. There are not many clubs in Europe that have our history or our financial stability. Let’s get back to winning ways, a winning mentality and back to our Glory Days.

I would like to put it to you guys as to what you all believe is needed by our Glorious Club to get us where we belong.

We have covered the players that we would like to see in our squad next year in the past few weeks, but I would like your opinions as to what you would change to get us to the next level.

In my opinion we are not too far away from becoming more competitive and challenge for trophies.

Would you approve more money to be spent than the reported £70m on transfers? If so what limitations would you set taking into account our financial model?
How would you make The Emirates a fortress and improve the atmosphere?
In what position do we need to add a quality player in order to build a competitive squad?

Written by: AlexGunners

What if Arsenal bought no new attackers but promote Gnabry and make Theo CF?

May 31, 2013May 31, 2013TotalArsenal

Theo in front of a proper nr.10 could be realised next season?

This is the third and last post about the potential scenario of Arsenal not buying any new players this summer. The first post focussed on not buying any new defenders and the second one on no new midfielders arriving during the transfer window (TW).

Like almost everybody else, I would like us to buy a couple of quality players this summer. However, I am also excited about the team that we have, and I have been writing these posts to evaluate, together with fellow BKers, both how strong our current squad is and how much potential for further growth there is within the squad.

I am a big believer in Arsene’s ability to build a team from scratch through coaching and making everybody play a particular style of football. Furthermore, I believe he has been severely hampered in recent season by the continous loss of the juicy fruits he produced from his hard labour.

This summer it should be different. Nobody should be leaving and there is no WC or Euros. Wenger has both a young group and an experienced group of players, and a part of me would like to see how far Wenger and Bould can push these two groups into something special next season and beyond.

In the first post about defence, I concluded that if Arsenal were not to buy a new defender or goalkeeper we would probably be fine, although a PL experienced back-up keeper would be ideal. In the second post I concluded that if we were to stick with the end of last season’s more defensive playing style – with Arteta and Ramsey focussing mainly on protecting the defence – we would be ok in midfield next season.

However, if Arsene wants to return to Wengerball footie, he would need to invest in a DM and a nr10 sort of AM.

How would we fare, though, if Arsenal were not to buy any attackers this summer?

For me, this depends once again on what sort of football Wenger wants to play next season. If he were to stick to the two defensive midfielders scenario (with a strict remit), I feel he will need to invest in a 20 PL goals a season striker. With such a formation we will not dominate play all the time and often also not produce many chances – as was evident in the previous ten PL games. So we could really do with a Centre Forward who can do effective link-up play as well as having a high chance conversion rate. We could also do with a very effective, natural winger who can both score and produce a large number of assists.

So, if we were to stick to a more solid but conservative formation, we don’t necessarily need to buy defenders or midfielders, but we could do with a classical CF and Winger.

If, however, Arsene wants to return to Wengerball, I reckon he should be concentrating on midfield. Get a beast of DM so Arsene can release Jack, Mikel or Ramsey as a full-on box to box midfielder, and get in a typical nr.10 midfielder/attacker of a similar mould as Bergkamp once was: somebody who is the focal point in attack (for which he needs both stamina and physical strength), can shield the ball really well, finds the through-balls, and finishes off changes really well. Ideal candidates for this role are Fabregas, Jovetic, Rooney; whilst Cazorla has many of the required qualities, but not all, and Jack is likely to grow into that role gradually.

I don’t believe we would need to buy any attackers if we bought a DM and AM/nr.10 this summer. Say we got Jovetic to play in the hole, we could play any of Giroud, Podolski or Theo in front of him. I have a gut-feeling that Arsene is looking for a nr.10, Bergkamp kind of player, at the moment, and will try Theo to play in front of him.

But if it is not Theo then it will probably be Pod or Giroud and that would be fine too.

Under a new Wengerball formation/line-up we would create a lot more chances than we did recently, and I reckon that Pod, Giroud, Cazorla, Theo, new Nr.10 would score a lot of goals between them.

No doubt, I would prefer us to return to Wengerball footie, but I would also be happy to sacrifice our style/beautiful football for a whole season if it would mean we have a better chance of winning something, whilst building the team into something really special for years to come during next season. A switch to more attractive, typical Wengerball footie can be made mid-way through the season or even in the following season.

But what if Arsene would buy nobody this summer (other than a few youngsters): would we cope?

I honestly think we would cope and even make further progress, but we would have to stick to our ‘defensive midfield’ formation.

A whole summer with the same squad and Wenger and Bould working hard could get our current team to step it up again next season.

We would need a bit of luck: Jack and Pod having an almost injury free season would really help for example. We could also do with Ox properly breaking through next season, and Giroud making a big improvement in his second season in the PL (as he did in his second season at Montpellier).

We would also need our engines in midfield and attack – Arteta, Ramsey, Santi, Giroud – to stay fit and as committed as they have been in previous season; and we could also do with the likes of Gnabry, Coquelin and Eisfeld forcing themselves into the first team on a regular basis.

Especially Gnabry could be a fine wild card by Wenger next season: somebody who has a lot of promise and could be very effective on the wing for us.

Wenger could also work hard to get Theo ready for the CF position and make the team work towards providing him with the best service.

But if we want to see a return to Wengerball again next season, investments will have to be made; and for me the first priority would be a beast of DM. The second one is a nr.10, so Santi can play on the wing – in a free role – and Jack can develop further in the box-to-box role. We would need to see real quality added to those positions in order to get back to playing another variant of total football again.

Arsene has the money and I genuinely believe he is looking for the right players to come and join our team this summer. But as we all know, he will not spend for the sake of it and if he cannot find/get the quality he requires, we are likely to fall back on how we lined-up and played towards the end of season, and maybe add a top striker towards the end of the TW.

That’s what I believe will happen this summer, but what do you say?

Written by: TotalArsenal.

The sad demise of Arshavin is a transfer lesson for us all

May 30, 2013May 30, 2013TotalArsenal

Arsenal’s number 23 became 32 yesterday. After almost four and a half year at Arsenal, Andrey Arshavin is almost certainly leaving the club in a few days time. I cannot help but feel a bit melancholic about Andrey’s gradual demise: with just seven appearances – mostly, if not all, as a substitute – no goals or assists, it has been an abysmal final season for the diminutive Russian.

The big question is where it went wrong for Andrey and how much he is to blame for it.

When he first joined us in February 2009, he had a great impact on our season: in 15 appearances he managed toproduce 15 goals/assists, which is a fabulous return for the position he played in. In the following two seasons, Andrey roughly managed a 0.5 goal/assist per game return, which is still okay.

However, things went rapidly downhill after that at Arsenal for AA23, with him only managing two goals and four assists in 26 appearances in 2011/12. It looked like Andrey did not care anymore and/or he did not have the required fitness levels anymore to make it in Wenger’s team.

Maybe he suffered as a result of the departures of Cesc and Nasri, or maybe he just did not want to play on the wing anymore. He seemed best suited for the central AM/nr.10 role – a position he preferred to play in as well – and it is hard to tell why Wenger never gave him a proper trial there.

Andrey Arshavin is the sort of player we all loved to do well. When he is good, he is very good: simply a joy to watch. He had that little bit extra at times: the ability to combine a high level of technical competence with incredible composure. No doubt the best example of these attributes is his fantastic finish against Barcelona in the CL: a goal that many of us will never forget.

But what let him down for many Gooners was his lack of work rate and, at times, his apparent indifference. He seldom or never looked like a team player, as he seemed more interested in scoring clever and difficult individual goals than anything else.

Somebody once wrote on a blog, after another insipid performance by the little Russian, that he wondered whether Arshavin had made a bet with one of his friends that he would back-heel the ball five times or more during the match. It made me think whether Arshavin would be capable of showing such disregard towards his profession and fellow football players, and I concluded it could indeed be the case.

Arsene did try to get Arshavin to become a full member of his team, but he clearly totally gave up on him this season.

I reckon the final damage was done during our painful defeat against the Mancs on 22^nd of January – almost three years after Arshavin arrived – when he embarrassed Arsene in front of the home crowd. During this match, as many of you will remember very well, Arsene replaced the Ox with Arshavin, to the dismay of many fans. It all was epitomised with Van Judas’ ‘I have just wetted my pants’ look towards Wenger.

Ox went off and on came Arshavin, and moments later Arshavin makes a half hearted attempt to stop Valencia from bursting through to our box. This is what the BBC match report had to say about this moment: “To the dismay of the Arsenal faithful, who could sense victory, Oxlade-Chamberlain was withdrawn in favour of the rather less popular Andrey Arshavin, and the Russian did nothing to endear himself by failing to halt Valencia’s marauding run into the box, with Welbeck slamming home the loose ball nine minutes from time.”

Soon after that, Arshavin was loaned out to Zenit St. Petersburg, and after he returned to Arsenal for the new season, he simply became and remained a peripheral figure.

We cannot say Arshavin’s career is over, as he could have a couple of good years left in him, but it will not be at Arsenal, that’s a certainty. He spend his very best years of his career at Arsenal and will have nothing to show for it accept a handful of fantastic goals and one-match performances.

Arshavin offers ample proof that signing not just good, or even great, players is enough: they also need to be able to adjust to a new culture, have a winner’s mentality and an intrinsic desire to get the very best out of themselves. In short: to be able to be successful wherever they are.

Arsene got it all wrong with Arshavin – and Reyes as well: the LW spot seems to be cursed – and it might explain to some extent why he appears to be so slow in making his mind up who he wants to join our club, especially if it involves a lot of money.

It is a real shame to see such a talented player not getting the very best out of himself, and fade away like that. I still wish Andrey all the best and hope he will find a club where he can shine occasionally and show us all once again what he can do if and when he is really up for it.

Written by: TotalArsenal.

Make sure you vote for the player of the year poll on Arsenal.com:

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/goal-of-the-season-vote-now

Is there a “generational divide” at Arsenal and, if so, what does it mean?

May 29, 2013May 30, 2013TotalArsenal

Theo Walcott, interviewed just after Arsenal beat Newcastle 1-nil to clinch 4^th place and the final Champions’ league place said something along the lines of, “We did it, which is great for such a young team, but we’re not satisfied with 4^th and now we want to push on and challenge for the title”….

Very nice Theo and a good explanation about our celebrations and how it sets the stage for bigger things. Still, it got me thinking….Are we a truly a young team, and if not, what does it mean going forward?…. Moreover, how do we get from here to there? And (finally) can we expect this team (plus the transfer business over the summer) to really allow us to push on towards our higher aspirations? It’s my belief that our manager has a “plan” which, to the extent it has panned out in the past, gives us a measure of guidance for the future.

After the stadium move “the plan” was clearly based around youth. We couldn’t compete when it came to buying the top, ready-made stars given the new power of Abramovich’s Chelsea. And, of course, this only got more difficult with the emergence of Sheik Mansour’s Manchester City, and (as always) Sir Alex determined to borrow as much as needed to keep Rooney (and bring in others) across town….

Nonetheless, the plan had a measure of promise, and, while some of our younger guys (I’m thinking of Denilson here…) didn’t really pan out, others looked (very) promising. Flashing back to the World Cup final of 2010, we saw our own Robin van Persie as the starting Center Forward for the Netherlands and (our own) Cesc Fabregas as the guy who came on and secured the trophy for Spain with his assist to Iniesta. Sure, “Young Guns” Samir Nasri and Theo Walcott got left off their respective national teams, but both squads underperformed and we thought maybe it would light a fire under the two (very promising) players. A few others (Bendtner, Song and Vela come to mind) did get to play in the tournament, albeit with mixed results.

Of course, 2010-11 wasn’t a breakthrough season at Arsenal and the plan then came in for a major overhaul in the past two off-seasons. Cesc returning to Barcelona was always on the horizon but the hope was to delay it as long as possible. Nasri having his head not just turned, but fully yanked, (Linda Blair style http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO9FD7zI7k0 ) by ManCity’s offer to double the one we had tabled, was something beyond the realm of the normal. Certainly it wasn’t the plan when we bought (and developed) him from Marseilles. Arsene famously spoke of the book he could write and his quip about top teams not losing their two best players suggested that our activities in the summer 2011 window were not exactly choreographed. Queue up early season humiliations (the 0-2 vs Liverpool almost as bad as 8-2 at Old Trafford…), a series of desperation buys at the transfer deadline, and, finally, a very long haul to a final day bum squeaker at West Brom. Ugh.

And then it got worse. Summer 2012 saw another remarkable remaking of the Arsenal first team. Our top scorer, Robin van Persie and our 2^nd top scorer (and best assist creator) Theo Walcott were allowing their contracts to wind down (as Nasri had the year before) and the former burnt his bridges on (US) independence day with an outrageous message to the fans. Meanwhile, this public show of indiscipline was matched by more insidious ones from our best midfielder, Alex Song, who was well known for being indifferent to fines for tardiness. RvP and Song would be gone before the season kicked off while the Walcott contract saga persisted into the new year. The bottom line is that three of our best players threatened to leave us and two actually did. Another long year, another last day nail-biter, another “ugh.”

So, these past two summers have been all about replacing our best players, while hoping that losing them wouldn’t kill us. Two years ago, at the transfer deadline, we got Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker, Andre Santos and Park Chu Young. (Earlier in the summer we also bought Gervinho and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.) Last summer we brought in Lucas Poldolski, Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla.

These buy were essential (well, at least the ones that panned out…) and they completely re-shaped the squad. They have also represented a real change in policy as the players we bought were (mostly) older ones. The ones who have emerged as starters, most certainly ARE older. Among the guys who are now in the first 11 (at least when healthy) Arteta is now 31, Mertesacker is 28, Poldoski will be 28 in a week, Giroud is “only” 26 (27 in September) and Cazorla is 28. We also picked up Nacho Monreal (27) in the January window (to spell injured Kieran Gibbs, while sending Andre Santos, 30, out on loan). Add in regulars Bacary Sagna (30), Tomas Rosicky (32) and Laurent Koscielny (27) along with Captain Tomas Vermaelen (27) and a large part of the core of the squad would seem to be at that age where they are playing at the peak of their physical and technical abilities. We cannot realistically expect huge improvements out of this group in the future….

On the other hand, Arsenal also made a conscious effort to promote the idea of an up and coming British core of young players. When Theo Walcott (24) finally signed a contract extension, the team also announced that several other contracts had recently been extended. These included Jack Wilshere (21), Gibbs (23), Carl Jenkinson (21), Aaron Ramsey (22) and Oxlade-Chamberlain (19).

There are some other key young players in the team. Keeper Wojciech Szczesny is 23 and Francis Coquelin is 22.

Intriguingly we have no 25 year olds, though Gervinho only just turned 26 a few days ago.

OK, so what? Well, as research goes, that’s about as deep as I get….

Still, when I look at nothing but the ages of the players I see a generational divide. And I think this would be exacerbated if we looked at the actual contribution (minutes played) of the guys 26-27+ and those 24 and under. The bottom line is that (due to changes in plan…) we are currently NOT a young team and that we will require a LOT of new guys to come in and replace the older guys as their play drops off. Because we are not in a position to buy ready-made, prime-aged players (although maybe Red Arse and others who think FFP may mute the market for top, prime-aged players, might disagree…) I predict several seasons of significant transition for our team.

In other words, the ripple effect of losing Cesc and Nasri in Summer 2011, and RvP and Song in 2012, will be felt for years to come. Theo, it turns out, wasn’t quite right about us being such a young team….

This fact should not be seen as “all bad”….First off, against all the odds, we were able to keep our CL spot these past two seasons and this last year (in particular) saw the real development of young guys like Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey. Jack Wilshere is still sorting out his fitness issues but his talent seems extremely promising. It’s astounding that the Ox is still only 19 and his cameo in place of Arteta in the final match (and in matches with the English National team) showed that (maybe) he can do a job all over the pitch. Jenkinson, red card at Sunderland notwithstanding, did quite well in the several periods when he stepped in for Sagna.

Additionally many of the older guys look really keen to be in this Arsenal side and we’ve seen the departure of players who had big issues with discipline or keeping fit (I’m thinking of Song and Arshavin here). A collective atmosphere of personal discipline and fitness (have you seen the abs on the likes of old boys Sagna and Nacho….or the running of Rosicky?…) can go a long way to keeping these older fellows contributing in fresh ways. With a couple of additional savvy and fit older guys (maybe at Keeper and Striker, and on the cheap, of course….) this mind-set might be reinforced…

With the bulk of our transfer funds, however, we need to think about adding to this collective in a judicious, almost surgical fashion and improving the team, with a keen eye to the longer term.

This may mean using our resources to buy younger guys with real “potential” rather than ready-made, more mature players who have already shown they can produce on the biggest stages. We should, I think, be looking for guys to augment the 24 and under group rather than the 26+ guys.

Other threads have discussed the strengths and weaknesses of our squad in specific areas of the pitch and suggested where key players might be added, ideally while keeping the hard fought sense of team accomplishment (the “Springvincibles” mentality) intact.

The teams above us are using big money transfers and big salaries and new (big money) managers. Quality is quality, but sometimes a strong “team” can beat a bloated brigade of all-stars—and not just in one-offs (the Cups) but over the longer haul–if the focus is correct. This is what I am hoping for this off-season and as we start up again in August. Still, I think we must keep our expectations realistic and know that it will take time, simply given the age demographics of our squad….

What do the rest of you think?….

Written by: 17 highburyterrace

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