Saturday, January 10, 2009

If I were Arsene...

It's time for me to talk about soccer on my blog again...
January Transfer Window is upon us once again and Arsenal is facing real deficits in the squad. Fans have high hopes for signings that will plug the wholes and keep Arsenal from leaking goals like they have been for the first half of the season. Truth be told, i think every Arsenal fan knows that we are not going to get the signings we want. Arsene has a plan and he's sticking to it, though at the current moment, it looks as though he is doing so to the detriment of the club. If Arsenal doesn't come in at least 4th place...well, i dunno. People will be really really angry. We will lose out on Champions League play and it will probably do real financial detriment to the club. With 5 losses on the season the club is already finding it slightly more difficult to fill the stadium for every match. The club's poor form in partnership with the economic downturn felt world wide (if i hear the phrase 'credit crunch' one more time im going to lose it) makes it difficult for anyone to want to shell out more or less 50 quid to go see their team lose or draw a match they should easily win. As one of England's 'Big Four' it is not out of line for fans to expect that Arsenal wins EVERY game. Granted, it's not going to happen. But as one of Britain's most prominent team there is no other team in the league that should intimidate us; we should never enter a game thinking "well, let's shoot for a draw".
Anyway, if I were Arsene during this transfer window who would I buy?
Our most major concerns are, as every Arsenal fan knows, a central defender and a defensive midfielder. With Cesc's injury we should also be looking for someone to step up and fill the role of creative midfielder. There is also talk of wanting a secondary striker, it may be superfluous, but having a strong attack force is never bad.
I think two of these positions (maybe three) can be solved with a single purchase. Podolski. yes, he is a dick. but that's what arsenal needs right now, a real battler. Oh, and he's inexpensive (valued at 9.5? CHEAP)
For Germany/Bayern Munich he plays left midfield or secondary striker. There's no question the kid is good. He would score goals for us. I would buy him, and place him on the left in the midfield. This would free Nasri up to become the centrally positioned creative midfielder that he really is (i think Podolski and Nasri are cut from the same 'i've got heaps of talent, and i know it' cloth). This would force Diaby, Denilson, Song, Ramsey, Wilshere, and whoever else to compete for the defensive midfielder role. They should be selected NOT on account of their performance in training. But on their defensive track record. Diaby keeps talking about wanting to be an offensive piece, well pal, that's not what we need right now. If you REALLY want to be helpful, learn how to time a tackle and win the ball instead of your current role of losing the ball and short passes resulting in lost balls and injuries. I think Ramsey has the right kind of attitude and spark to fill the defensive role, but instead we are grooming him to be Cesc part II. That's great that he can pick the right pass and has great vision. Those are two of the kids NATURAL talents. Now imbue him with the ability to run NON-STOP (a la Flamini) and tackle, and you would have the most valuable midfielder in the world.
If we were to buy Arshavin (and let's face it, we're buying Arshavin) and picked up Podolski as well our attacking would be second to none.
Defending, i have less of an opinion on. I feel as though the main problem is that our defenders don't communicate and cannot defend together. That can be fixed. Or if you want to throw in Upson. Go for it. But for the most part i think that our defense can be improved a lot by making them have a slumber party and stop treating each other like dicks.

2 comments:

Josh said...

From reading your blog I think I have the right person. If you are the Josh from Sh.......lle, OH send me an email at ChemistJMB@gmail.com, if not, sorry to bother you.
Josh B

bardhi h. said...

now that you have been living in europe, you need to stop calling it soccer...