Danger of good run prompting transfer complacency
If you’ve ever attempted to watch an Arsenal game via a foreign TV feed in a London pub you’ll be familiar with the general rule that the less salubrious the watering hole, the more sophisticated, organised and reliable their showing of such games.
That rule was reinforced last night when the feed in the not unpleasant pub we were in froze very early on in the game and never returned. Whereas in other places (the kind you’d probably avoid for a first date), the landlord would expertly tilt a satellite dish or switch to a back-up broadcaster, we were done for.
And so what I’m saying is that I’ve only seen the highlights. But irrespective, here are my thoughts:
- I’m no great Theoist (as I might have mentioned once or twice previously), but credit where credit is due, he did very well for the winning of that penalty. The previously unseen through the legs swivel was followed by a very sensible reaction to what was not enormous contact but was more than enough to completely throw his run off course. He neither carried on running pointlessly (and therefore missing out on the penalty) and nor did he throw himself stupidly to the ground. He simply asked for it reasonably.
- Their goal was one of those things. Irrespective of who was specifically to blame for the goal, we’re clearly struggling at full-back and in fairness to Arsene, it is not actually a failure to buy that is the explanation. You can argue that Gibbs is injury prone and that we already knew that, but it is worth remembering that even with both him and Santos injured, we’d still normally put Sagna or Jenkinson in their place. Or we’d put Vermaelen there (like we did last night), but at least have a regular right-back.
- The yellow card for RVP for diving was wrong, but the scandal is not that he was given it at all (referees are not perfect) but that a) it will not be rescinded and b) dives that go unseen initially are not subsequently punished. Absurd.
- The Aston Villa marking for our winner was clearly unbelievably bad. But it is also true that it would have been very easy for RVP’s corner to have hit the first man and come to nothing.
- Alan Hutton was lucky not to get a straight red for his frustrated lunge at Vermaelen. Very poor.
Clearly, this was a good result. And clearly, we’ve improved a great deal in the last couple of months. The result of that is that most things I read about the club and Arsene Wenger are pretty positive as we go into Christmas.
And I can understand that to an extent. But let us not forget that we’re 12 points behind the leaders and ten points behind second. We’re basically out of the title race by Christmas. And had you said back in June that things would look like this, I think most of us would have deemed it highly unsatisfactory.
Yes, we’ve done very well since our disastrous start. But the disastrous start was not the footballistic equivalent of a freak weather event that nobody could have predicted. It wasn’t even the product of an unbelievable spate of injuries. It was the product of our failure to have enough players.
The danger going into the January transfer window is that we use our recent improvement as cover for not making necessary signings. And signings are necessary: while I don’t believe the team (by which I mean the 11 on the pitch) are too reliant on RVP perse, the options of Park and Chamakh as replacements should be a big concern. We also potentially need a left-back and in midfield I feel we lack defensive options.
There have been occasions where we’ve lacked players who can come on for a tired or booked Ramsey or Arteta and offer us central midfield stability. Frimpong and Coquelin have promise but lack experience and while Wilshere will obviously help when he returns, I do feel we could do with another player there. Sadly, Abou Diaby does not appear a realistic option.
Of course, we have no divine right to challenge for the title every year. Equally though, it is not an unreasonable barometer by which to judge success or failure. It is all very well players vowing to finish above Spurs, but really we should be hoping for more than that.
So while I’m perhaps less willing to forgive the chaos at the start of the season that others, it is worth acknowledging that real progress has been made. The squad does appear more hard working, more united and less lazy. Linked to that, I think, is the fact the majority of the players who really used to rile the fans are not at the club this season.
Yes, there are still mistakes but they are fewer and less stupid.
We also appear more balanced both in terms of attacking and defending but also in terms of experience. We’ve got a healthy number of young players rather than a squad dominated by them. That is no bad thing.
Excellent article. I like the way you refuse to gloss over our miserable start to the season, where the club was clouded in uncertainty, but your emphasis on our improvement is clearly made. I think in order to salvage this season and finish fourth, we need to sign a full-back, midfielder and striker, and I also agree that Wenger needs to be ruthless in doing so and not faff around waiting for last-minute bargains. 4 seasons ago when we so nearly won the league, he actually weakened the squad in January when a couple of signings would surely have carried us over the finish line. Remember Diarra departing and Eduardo’s injury? When we last won the league we signed Reyes in January and he gave us the impetus we needed to maintain our surge towards the title.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. My thoughts exactly. Great writeup Goodplaya.
Agree. Also feel we need a truly creative midfielder who can produce defence-splitting passes. I’d love to see Marvin Martin at Arsenal: great creative passer, tough competitor. But I fear the club will do minimal business in January.
Great post but i have to disagree that we need all the players you think we do..whats going to happen wilshere, ramsey, santos, jenkinson, sagna, joel campbell, diaby and gibbs when they are all fit? who’s going to pay the wages of the new player, plus all these people i just mentioned? i agree we need a striker but anything else in January is unrealistic since clubs don’t part with their best players mid-season. I need we need to sell chamakh & arsehvin and replace them with some quality but i do not see this happening before June.
Chris, glad you mentioned Diarra. So few people do. Firmly believe we’d have been champions 07/08 if he’d stayed.
Goodplaya…100% right re: complacency. I fear 3/4 more wins & Arsene will drift into ‘we’re good’ mood again without any hesitation.
We need 2 up front as a must : a back-up to RvP and a wide player as competitition to Theo/Gervinho. (cos there is none currently due to fatarsedlaziness & inexperience holding back the two candidates)
If anyone thinks we’re going to get through 6/7 weeks with just RvP, Theo,Arshavin,Park & Ox they have lost their minds
Would be a shame if we had to buy a full-back. It is extraordinary that we have all 4 out. All depends on Gibbs I guess…
It could be worse. Imagine the fear we’d all have facing into the New Year if Cameroon had qualified…..
Anyway, have a good Christmas all
Ideally, i’d sell Arshavin & Chamakh and bring in 3 new players – a striker, a top-notch( that is, expensive) creative midfielder/attacker and a left-back. i share your concern that Wenger may go with what he has, but hope that the need to finish top 4 will force him to spend again. it does baffle me his reluctance to bring in new players, as he obviously seems to enjoy working with them. also, i think i gave up on our season after Blackburn away so bizarrely am really enjoying watching the team evolve.
Why on earth would we buy another back?
We have plenty,and nobody could have predicted what has happened injury wise.
We knock City for having a hundred strikers,then ask for Arsenal to do the same thing. I don’t get it.
Striker,yes. Creative midfielder,absolutely. Another back,get serious…….waste of bloody money.
Well said the author. The trouble is the drive simply isn’t there at the club to push on for trophies. Wenger believes 4th is good enough, though obviously he’d like more. Kroenke’s utterly uninspiring words a couple of months back amounted to ‘Sure, trophies would be nice, but …’. So it’s difficult to see this changing. Last summer would happen again if they thought it would save them a few mill. It’s all about the profit margin, unfortunately, at AFC in 2011/12.
Good article, given Wenger’s previous I’d be surprised if he bought at all. Although I certainly agree we need quality reinforcements especially a striker.
I’d be very happy to see Arshavin go, he’s on big wages and is a terrible role model for the younger players, and shipping him out would send out a clear message that lack of effort and sub mediocrity isn’t tolerated.
However, we should not buy unless the quality is right, if we have to overpay a bit I’d bite the bullet, that’s the penalty for the gross incompetence with transfers in the Summer.
That’s a very good point. We should not imagine that we are as strong as this time last year in the creative department even if we have at last addressed our defensive woes.
Let’s sign Thierry Henry on loan and someone else really good for proper money. Chamakh and Arshavin are not the answer and we are overdue for our annual Van Persie layoff – which would effectively end our season and hopes of a top 4 finish.
Why the hell isn’t Miyachi and chamberlain getting a game or a place at least on the subs bench. These 2 lads have a lot of pace and if gervinho goes surely we can play Arshavin, he’s past his prime(yes we should have bought him before euro 08 but nobody listened). Chamakh needs to be loaned to club where he can find confidence, preferably bolton(look at the improvement of wilshere and sturridge).