Tag Archives: Arsène Wenger

5 steps to make Arsenal great again

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1. Sign Virgil van Dijk – Arsenal have missed a leader at the back for years. Per Mertesacker is a good organiser, but is now a liability.

van Dijk will give the side a physical presence at the back. Strong, quick and tall, at the age of 26 he has the best to come. He is also very good at bringing the ball out of defence.

2. Return to 4 at the back – Going to 3 at the back won us the FA Cup and saw us nearly snatch a top 4 position. But it is evident that it doesn’t suit the current set of players.

Buying van Dijk and returning to 4 at the back would give us a defence of: Bellerin VvD Kos Sead. There are not too many defences better than that in world football.

3. Sign Jean Michael Seri – Liverpool exposed Arsenal’s problems in the middle of the park. Xhaka and Ramsey are simply not a good partnership.

We are struggling to transition the ball from defence to attack. Something that has ended up leaving Mesut Ozil isolated and coming deeper to get the ball.

Santi Cazorla has not been replaced. Xhaka was supposed to be that replacement, starting out attacks from deep, but too often he gives the ball away in dangerous places leading to goals conceded.

With a release clause of €40m, Seri, next to Xhaka, would solve our problems in the middle of the park.

4. Sign Thomas Lemar – Why haven’t we just done the deal? I don’t get it?

5. Switch to 4231 – Getting in Vvd and Seri would give us the stability to return to 4231. The formation which suits the players a lot more.


 

You would have a solid defence, some mobility and ability in midfield that would free up Ozil to perform in the finals 3rd.

An attacking trio who are versatile and offer a lot of threat, and a clinical striker up top.

Of course, the step I have not mentioned yet is getting rid of Arsene Wenger. It might not solve every problem at Arsenal ,but he is the biggest problem at Arsenal.

Keenos

“There is no crisis at Arsenal”

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It is set to be 27c today and yet I am inside, nursing a horrendous hangover, caused due to Arsenal’s inept performance yesterday. At least I have the cricket to watch. England are fighting back well. But as I have written this, Joe Root has just got out. Great.

There is plenty wrong at Arsenal. I can see it. You can see it. Everyone can see it. Except for one man. Arsene Wenger.

It seems only the Arsenal manager can not see what is wrong with the club at the moment, He is the man not only without a plan in the transfer market but without a plan full stop.

Arsenal lost against Liverpool, Arsenal lost against Stoke. I do not really care that we lost games. It happens. We almost always lose against Liverpool and Stoke. But it is the manner of the defeats that drove me to drink.

For so long, Wenger has been criticised for a lack of tactics, and that has been shown in the recent games against Stoke and Liverpool.

The move to 3 at the back worked last season, and Wenger has continued with it this season. But you can only play a formation if you have the players that sort it, and when Arsenal are lining up with a winger at full back, a right back at left back, and 2 left backs at centre back, it is clear to all that the formation does not suit the players. Clear to everyone, of course, except for Wenger.

In the recent game against Stoke, Wenger complained about the lack of central defenders available to him, yet he had 2 on the bench that he never used.

Then we have the misuse of Rob Holding. The poor lad must not know if he is coming or going.

Holding started the first game of the season, dropped completely from the match day squad for the second game, then back in the side for the third game where he was ripped apart by the brilliant Sadio Mane and given no support. I feel for the lad.

As for Calum Chambers, a man who played nearly every game in the Premier League for Middlesbrough last season, and performed so well for England in the summer Euro U21 tournament, finds himself nowhere near the team, behind left backs playing centre back.

But of course, we can all see these problems, but Wenger can not.

And why were Alexandre Lacazette and Sead Kolasinac on the bench yesterday? It is baffling.

Last seasons transfer dealings have been exposed as truly awful. We spent a lot of summer last year, yet only one man is still in the teams plans this summer, Granit Xhaka. And he has performed awful of late.

In fact, going through Arsenal’s last 10 transfers, just two of them started yesterday against Liverpool – Holding and Xhaka.

We need players. We need players playing in the right position. We need top quality players. We can all see that, but Wenger can not.

He is becoming deluded. Or has become deluded depending on how angry you are. He does not know what he is doing. He is the captain of the Titanic telling the passengers it is only a bit of ice, that there is no concernable damage.

He is not a captain not a captain going down with a ship whilst rats leave, he is the captain taking his ship down, whilst screaming everything is alright, full steam ahead.

He should have gone after the FA Cup in 2014. 3 FA Cups in 4 years have cemented his place further as an Arsenal great. But like Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest, he has outstayed his welcome.

On Thursday the transfer window shuts. We are not signing anyone. We will sell key players. but Wenger will tell you it is all OK. He is lying to you.

Have a good Monday, Enjoy the sun. Enjoy the cricket.

Keenos

Does Arsene Wenger have a transfer plan?

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The simple answer is NO.

It seemed so obvious to everyone at the beginning of the summer what The Arsenal transfer plan was. 

Get in a left back in Saed Kolasinac, sign Alexandre Lacazette. Secure a bit of magic in Thomas Lemar. And then either get in a new centre back or central midfielder. Maybe get a in a top young keeper to eventually take over from Petr Cech. 

Secure Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on new deals. 

Then release the dead wood.

Szczesny, Debuchy, Jenkinson, Chambers, Gibbs, Wilshere, Campbell, Perez and Sanogo. Maybe even Walcott and Coquelin if we got the right players in. 


Instead, we sit here going into the last week of the transfer window and our transfer plan has been exposed, in that we had no transfer plan. 

Kolasinac was a good early signing. But the only other deal we have done since is for Lacazette. Taking into account the Frenchman was about to join Atletico Madrid before their transfer ban, we got lucky with that one. 

We then spent the summer failing to sign Thomas Lemar. The deal seems to be dead and there seems not be be a back up plan. Weren’t we speaking to Riyad Mahrez’s people earlier in the summer? Or Julian Draxler? It is like we put all the eggs in the Thomas Lemar basket.

Meanwhile other potential targets are joining other clubs – such as Seri to Barcelona. It is becoming increasingly obvious that our transfer deals are done. 

And then we have the outgoings.

Debuchy, Chambers, Gibbs, Wilshere, Campbell and Perez are still out the club. Whilst we could only loan out Jenkinson. 

And we have ended up selling Gabriel. Whilst he has never quite settled in the UK, surely selling him was not part of the pre-season plan?

And then over the weekend, it seems like Oxlade-Chamberlain and Mustafi are ok their way out of the club. 

This was never the plan. To lose two senior centrebacks, leaving us to rely on Mertesacker, Holding and Chambers. 

There is still a week to go in the transfer window, but by tomorrow we could find ourselves with 3 points from 3 games. 

We are without a plan in the transfer market. We are underprepared once more for the season. And there is just one man to blame. Dithering Wenger. 

Keenos