Tag Archives: Arsenal

How will the new look Arsenal line-up?

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You have to love Arsenal fans, they spend years moaning abut lack of squad depth, lack of competition, then as soon as we have more than one decent player for a position, they complain that we can’t fit them both in.

Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette. 4 into 3 do not go. But rather than make it a problem, and start questioning how to keep them all happy, lets celebrate that finally we have some quality options, a bit of depth.

Manchester City fans do not sit trying to work out how to fit Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus into the same team. Or wonder Pep Guardiola will keep Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva, Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva all happy.

Arsenal play over 50 games a season. To potentially have Lacazette and Aubameyang fighting over one spot, or even Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey, is a good thing.

If a player does not want to fight for their spot, they are free to leave. You want hungry players in the squad. Players who strive to improve, to give 100% in training, to ensure they get in the team and stay in the team.

A player who knocks on Arsene Wenger’s door and says “I am not happy I am not in the first team,  I want to leave” can pack up their locker and go. They are clearly not good enough to start, nor has the motivation or desire to push for a first team place.

Healthy, fair competition will only improve players. Someone like Hector Bellerin has gone backwards this season due to a lack of competition.

On a side note on Hector Bellerin, I notice people getting on his back, saying we should sell him.

Bellerin has been let down by the tactics and formation we are playing. He never has cover infront of him in defence – so is often left 2 on 1. And going forward he does not have a winger alongside him so is often left isolated.

Let’s get off his back. Remember he is still just 22. He is the only Arsenal player to have played every Premier League minute this season. For a team that has had so many injury problems in the past, we are digging out a player whose fitness is reliable.

Were we to “make Hector Bellerin available for transfer”, the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, PSG, Barcelona and Real Madrid would vie for his transfer. That sums up the quality that he is, that the best clubs in the world would go for him.

So rather than criticise Bellerin, lets understand the real problem. Tactics that leave him exposed, and no competition for his place to push him further.

Anyway, I have digressed.

The reality is, when you have quality players, it enables you to play whoever is fit, whoever is in form.

So how would I now expect Arsenal to line-up?

Keenos

If Carlsberg did panic buys

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A Manchester United reject and a moody Gabonian who wants to join Real Madrid. Arsenal are in “panic buy” mode after losing Alexis Sanchez.

That is how the signings of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are being reported by some.

Well if both players are panic buys, they are possibly the best panic buys in the world.

Mkhitaryan has had a tough 18 months at Manchester United. He has struggled to get a consistent run in the Manchester United team.

Describing him as a panic buy is a bit erroneous taking into account that 18 months ago, he was on the verge of joining Arsenal before Manchester United swooped in. He has been on Arsenal’s radar for some time.

The 8 time Armenian Footballer of the Year was named Bundesliga Players’ Player of the Season in his last season for Borussia Dortmund.

Last season for Manchester United, he was named in the Europa League Team of the Year, and got more assists than any other player. Likewise in 2015-16, his last at Dortmund, he was in the team of the year and was Bundesliga Team of the Year.

Anyone who saw him play for Dortmund would say that he is a quality player, and that he has been a shadow of himself for Manchester United.

He is certainly not the first player we have ever bought who was struggling before he came to us. Think Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry.

He struggled at Manchester United, but he is certainly not a bad player.

Then we come to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Another panic buy. A striker who has scored 141 in 212 games.

Even this season, when Aubameyang has had a falling out with staff and apparently been moody and disinterested, he has still scored 21 goals in 23 games.

Aubameyang is a proven goal scorer who is at the peak of his powers.

In their last season together, Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang scored 62 goals between them. They are not players bought because we were in a panic and had no other options. They are both brilliant signings.

Keenos

Arsenal’s transfer window round-up

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Well that was an interesting window for The Arsenal.

Off the field there were some positives, even if on the field it was a bit ropey. Hopefully the dealings we saw were less controlled by Arsene Wenger and indicate that his time at Arsenal is coming to an end.

So how did the transfer window turn out for Arsenal?

We went into January with 2 key players able to negotiate a free transfer abroad. We ended the month with one committed to stay until 2021 and the other out the day.

Mesut Ozil staying is great news. It has been interesting to watch the pendulum swing over the first half of the season. Many in August would have preferred to keep Alexis Sanchez and let Ozil leave. By mid-January, it had swung to the majority wanting Ozil to stay.

Losing Sanchez was disappointing. He is a great player. Up there amongst the best in the world. Arsenal swapped him for Henrik Mkhitaryan. It was a good deal all round.

Another positive was the players out. I bet a number of fans used the Pinnacle vip code 2018 to predict that the likes of Theo Walcott were not going to be hanging around.

Arsenal raised £50m in selling Olivier Giroud, Francis Coquelin and Theo Walcott. Three players who had started 2 Premier League game between them this season.

All go with their head held high, knowing that they gave 100% to the cause. Walcott for me will always go down as one of the most underrated players of the last 10 years.

Over 100 goals at around 3.6 games a goal is not to be sniffed at. He might never have been the prettiest player in the world but he was effective.

Regardless of my opinion, both were surplus to requirements. No longer required.

Then we have Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang. A truly world class striker – even if some of the northern media had gone out of their way to deride his talents.

To get him for £56m is great value. A club record. To effectively sell Walcott and giroud, and buy the Gabonian (is that correct?) is fantastic.

Over two transfer windows, we have seen Sanogo, Szczęsny, Gabriel, Gibbs, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Coquelin, Debuchy, Walcott and Giroud leave. Players who were not really part of our present, let along the future.

Hopefully this is the beginning of clearing the decks for the new manager.

With Santi Cazorla, Mertesacker, Jenkinson, Perez, Akpom and Campbell also set to leave in the summer, it will be 14 players who many would have classed “dead wood” out the door in a little over 12 months.

This frees up squad places and wages for players who are better than those who have gone.

What we now need to do is ensure we invest in the right mixture of proven talent like Aubemeyang, and young talent like Konstantinos Mavropanos, the young Greek centre back who joined early January.

So we saw players who were not needed leave, and players who are ready for the first team join. Good news.

I have always been of the Sir Alex Ferguson school of thought. That you improve the first team every window. By improving the first team, the previous first team player then becomes a squad player, and the weakest squad player is then allowed to leave.

By buying Aubemeyang, all strikers have had to shuffle down one, and Giroud has fallen out of the bottom. We are infinitely stronger.

Now we just need to do something about the manager.

Keenos