So, another season has almost drawn to a close and yet again we are without a trophy. It’s hard to stay balanced and fair in the light of another season passing by with nothing silver and shiny to show for it.
I’ve always been an ardent supporter of Wenger and despite yet another season without a trophy, I remain an ardent supporter of his. I know that the easy option for venting frustration in the light of a title challenge implosion is to direct it towards the boss and his lack of movement in the transfer market. But, the fact is, the team has improved this season and were it not for a slew of unfortunate long-term injuries we may just have some silverware to show for it. Finishing third, particularly in a World Cup year, is vital this year in order to avoid the preliminary CL qualifiers. It is also a step forward compared to seasons gone by.
However, just because I am an ardent Wenger supporter does not mean that I am blind to the fact that the defensive side of our team badly needs recruitment of quality seasoned pros. This is especially true of the goalkeeping department, where I believe that we need a quality keeper that can command and dominate his area and therefore instill confidence in his defense. Who that person may be, well your guess is as good as mine. But, I’d be fairly confident that it won’t be Frey, as he has been linked with us pretty much every summer since Wenger took charge. So, let’s just put that one down to lazy journalism.
Living in Japan, I haven’t really had much chance to see Adler playing, so I can’t make any comment on him one way or the other. The only thing I do know is that German keepers are generally pretty decent. Let’s face it, he couldn’t be any worse than Fabianski. If a new keeper were to be bought in the summer, would Almunia be shipped out or would he revert back to being a no2? Can’t see him settling for a backwards progression, but who knows. I’d prefer to take whatever cash we can get for him and Fabianski and use it to strengthen the team.
Listening to the boss talking, it seems like our signings in the summer will be more in the defensive department, which is no bad thing. A solid centre-half to play alongside Vermaelen would do nicely, along with a hardworking, tough-tackling central midfielder. The midfield need to offer the defense more protection next season.
It seems that Chamakh is a done deal, let’s hope he is good. Though signing him on a free transfer will limit a lot of the risk that we’re taking on him. It also seems like the curtain is closing on the Arsenal career of Eduardo which is a shame as I think we all had high hopes for him and to see his Arsenal career ruined by Taylor is a tragedy both for him and the club.
For a change, we are being linked with some English players, though to be honest I don’t think we need to sign someone like Joe Cole. That said, Wenger likes to sign players that we don’t think we need…so expect Cole to sign. Hehe. Seriously though, as good as Cole may be, the 80,000-100,000 per week that he would demand in wages would be better spent elsewhere on our squad. So, I’ll be crossing my fingers that his signing remains pure tabloid speculation.
Anyway, there is plenty of time to talk about transfers and speculation over the coming weeks before the World Cup starts and after it finishes.
There have been some shining lights in the team this season, most notably Song and Vermaelen, and the performances of Cesc and Van Persie. Bendtner has also taken a step forward this season. You can’t help but wonder what we could have achieved had we not had so many injuries, particularly the ones caused by tackles that you just can’t legislate for. The number of muscular injuries are a cause for concern and we can only hope that the medical and coaching staff can find the cause of and solution to this issue. With the squad being limited to 25 players next season, we can’t afford to have the same number of injuries again. Maybe we need to invest in bionic calves for our players over the summer. We can use the money that we would otherwise have pissed away on Silvestre’s salary on those.
Blackburn tomorrow. Hope we stuff them and sicken their walrus-faced manager. More on that tomorrow.
Right, that’s about that for today. Apologies for the amount of rambling, I have yet to get my blogging sharpness back.
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The North Bank - "It's got va-va-voom" (An Arsenal blog) 
Del, I think the Wenger issue is one we’ll have to agree to disagree on for the time being. I can’t imagine a situation wherein he’d be sacked, but if he doesn’t get the players he wants in the summer, or the team don’t continue to progress going into next season, it may simply come down to him not renewing his contract.
I think he has done a huge amount for the club. He’s got us a new training ground, new stadium and raised our standing within the game, not to mention greatly improved our style of play. However, I do hope that we can eradicate the sideways passing tendency out of our game as that is immensely frustrating to watch, though nobody has castigated Barcelona for a similar lack of cutting edge against Inter. I also hope he sorts out our defense by employing a defensive coach. As great as I think Wenger is, he isn’t without his faults.
I know that no manager can have a free reign forever, but the vibes coming out of the club this year seem to be that there actually is a decent transfer kitty available to sign a few players. Let’s hope that this is true and if so, let’s hope the manager utilises it to buy quality, experienced players. No players under 20 this summer, please.
Get rid of the ineffectual squad players and bring in players that have the capacity to make a difference.
Welcome back North Bank we have missed your wit and wisdom.Sadly I don’t agree with you on the Wenger staying part.I really don’t think anything will change if he remains in charge.
Yeah, I really can’t understand why he doesn’t bring in a specialist defensive coach. Bould is already at the club, but the rest of the famous back four aren’t doing anything that’d prevent them from doing a few days a week coaching our players in the art of defense.
Even when we had the famous back four, he left them to their own devices. So, apart from the Keown stint a few years ago, it doesn’t look like our defenders have had any kind of specialised coaching. Is it any wonder that we ship so many soft goals?
Not only does he need to address players issues, what about the coaching side? He doesn’t coach the defenders which is scandalous. Bring back Keown. Look at the job he did on our 2006 CL team……kept clean sheet right up to the final