Arsenal is one left winger away from greatness

Done. The person who wins chooses the other guy's signature for next season.

Remove Rosicky and add Ramsey instead then we are all good to go.

it's so hilarious to me how overrated nasri has become. a lw is nowhere near close to one of the team's urgent needs.




carry on.

Immaculate_Mole wrote:Defence was boss against a non-existent attack.... congratulations.

We kept a clean sheet , can we please have our moment of glory?

AnJl wrote:

Immaculate_Mole wrote:Defence was boss against a non-existent attack.... congratulations.

We kept a clean sheet , can we please have our moment of glory?

Yes you can

I don't think Arsenal is one player away from greatness. I watched half of the match and they are really struggling to create chances. Doubt a single player can improve them that much.

Rosicky isnt going to lead Arsenal to greatness, that's a big exaggeration, and they wont get there with Gibbs either, unless im the only one not convinced by that lad.

free_cat wrote:I don't think Arsenal is one player away from greatness. I watched half of the match and they are really struggling to create chances. Doubt a single player can improve them that much.

If you ask me, fabregas can be that one player, but he's leaving . There was almost no final pass from most of the midfielders. Van persie was literally starved of possession

Nick, I think gibbs is very good attacking wise, but defending he leaves alot to be desired.. especially his positioning and his constant fouling.

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:Rosicky isnt going to lead Arsenal to greatness, that's a big exaggeration, and they wont get there with Gibbs either, unless im the only one not convinced by that lad.

Yeah they definitely need a playmaker in there( whether thats a new signing or Wilshere or Ramsey) and i agree completely on Gibb's he was definitely the weak link....

No coincedence that every decent attack we had came from attacking the space between Gibbs and Vermealen.

Gibbs doesn't cut it and many Arsenal fans can agree to it. Even if he were solid, his injury record is bad enough to not warrant him the spot. I mean, glass wingers and strikers are bad enough, but a key defender? No, thank you.

Even worse is when we look at his backup, Traore, who's pretty mediocre and another "I'm a defender but I'm better attacking" type of player.

Arsenal has a quality group, still, despite losing Fabregas and Nasri. They can compare their ideal first eleven to Utd or CHelsea, without shying away.

I think they will struggle because of their style, that possession oriented play they pursue. Nasri and specially Fabregas were key men for that idea of play, possession keepr players that loved to combine with teammates and create intricate play. It's a game of patiente and resolve, and it can get very boring and challenging for young players went things arent going their way, when the team in face is parking the bus and blocking them.

Sounds like an intangible but they keep adding young players with little experienced, and they will get tested even harder this season i think. Another thing that will prove difficult in the short term for arsenal is their new players adapt to that mildly slow tempo. Gervinho is a very very direct forward, Ryo as well from what i have seen, Chamberlain. Guys that like to run on the counter and break away with speed. Problem is, Arsenal keeps so much the possession that they dont get to counter very much, teams will just sit and counter them now.

They lost in Fabregas a field general that could make those changes in tempo and facilitate for others. Doesnt matter if you play wilshere there, it wont be the same effect.

Their pieces in defense seem to be improving, and they are looking for an additional hard man, but last season if i recall, the defending as a whole was more suspect than the defenders themselves... we will see how it goes.

Also, their depth will do them no favor again this season im afraid. A lot of young players, again, that will come in at times when experience is needed, and they will choke as always.

Wenger has a lot of work ahead of him.

Assuming Cesc and Nasri leave, I think Arsenal need to replace both of them, sign a CB, and sign a LB if Gibbs can't handle it. Some people want DM cover but I'm confident enough in the Frimpong-Coquelin-Eastmond backup brigade, and others want a striker but I'm willing to give Chamakh, Vela, Gervinho, and even Walcott a chance to shine in the center when RvP is injured. I wouldn't turn down signings in the last two positions I mentioned, but IMO Arsenal only "need" 3-4 signings, although Gibbs will be given a chance by Wenger so it will more realistically be 3.

If we end up just selling Nasri and (especially) Cesc without replacing either, I'm sorry but I think we'll be in trouble unless some people within the squad up their games considerably. Selling Cesc might be the only option we have, but it is going to do a lot of damage...

And, of course, the collective mentality and ability to defend needs to be at a consistently higher level than last season.

We don't necessarily lack creativity. I disagree on that. Sure, it would be better to have players that replace the ones that left; but between Wilshere, Ramsey and Rosicky we should have enough creativity to get through a match like yesterday's

The problem was that nobody wanted to own up to the task. The passes were all very safe; our midfielders were afraid of making an incisive or direct pass and so they kept on bouncing the ball harmlessly about Newcastle's box. Nobody was willing to step up and take a risk, and thats where why we lost. Our midfielders lacked confidence in themselves and that might have something to do with not having our best midfielder on the pitch.
Usually, when he's on, we'd just delegate all the creativity to him and so that would require less of our players to own up to the responsibility. Now that he seems to be leaving, it will take a bit of time for the players to have the balls to take over his job.

Thats my perspective on it at least.

Also, its good to put in mind that this is how Arsenal look like without Nasri/Fabregas AND without their replacements either. In other words, it can only get better from here.