Trouble

Oh God. If these are the headlines in the official site, I am horrified at guessing the solutions they will provide...
Young Guns: Get to know the next generation

 I have read some comments about why we are where we are and a common thought is that  we lost key players here and there.
While this is true, I think it goes furhter, Wenger should have realized that he was going to lose players, I think he wanted to have the perfect team and hoped that some of those players stayed.
Whereas the reality was, those players could not come in time to help the current players, who left, and then those players came when the others were gone, so now that he has some key players in key positions he is after other key players for other key positions...who wont come but until the second set of players I mention is gone, and then we start the procedure all over again.
Thats why I say that his only answer is to buy (big), spend (a lot) NOW, now that those second set of key players are still here...not wait in the future to have a perfect team at a perfect price, because it will happen all over again.

Once a wise man said to me: the great difference between Civil and Commercial law is that in civil law you climb th stairs, in commercial law you take the elevator. Why? because businesses have to seize opportunities and opportunities come and go..fast.

so are you saying that Arsenal should spend big regardless of value?  While none of us know what is happening behind the scenes, I think that Arsenal could book themselves a fast ticket to irrelevance by spending like Liverpool did over the summer.  It may appease fans to buy recognizable names, but the team has to continue to be shrewd to stay relevant over the long term.

no, I am not saying that. Spending big does not necessarily means regardless of the value. But take a look at the offers they have rejected to Arsenal, when we could get those players like for a couple of dolars more...and now we would need them.
I am not saying (actually if you read my words you dont have to imagine what I meant, what I meant is written) to buy recognizable names, but if the recognized one can help us, why not? because he is expensive..? well those prices are not going to get any cheaper, thats for sure.

Meh.

great to have Martin back, even if it is part time, awesome post.

Do you guys think Arshavin has a big penis?

Ask Andy Gray. Boom-boom, doorbell.

Good post Martin. I think I share your opinion; Wenger deserves our respect for his work, but our current position is certainly troubling. In other news, Newcastle has just signed Cisse. Definitely a good move from Pardew, who has impressed unexpectedly from time to time this season.

Oh, and Monaco want Squizz. We've treated that club very badly this season...

Good post. There is an air of crisis about Arsenal. Sadly, I think AW is reaching the end of the road. Younger players did not develop or choose to leave for more money. Other acquisitions were dire(Silvestre, Squid) disappointing(Chamack, Archavin, Rosiky) or just frustrating (Gervino).
We've also suffered from chronic long term injuries(Diaby, Gibbs, TV, Wiltshire) which meant we never seemed to have a first team playing.
 If RVP leaves in the Summer I think it's over.

While I agree that Arshavin has been poor this year, I'll also agree with Martin that he will always be worth the money we spent on him for his contributions in the past.  Particularly in keeping us in the CL a few years ago, when things looked so bad. 

Arshavin is Arsenal's most expensive player and has to be counted as a failure. The problem for Arsenal is that we can't afford the failure. Look how many strikers CIty went through before they hit on the current combination. Or even Man u with Berbatov.
Our plan to compete always was to develop young players, buy out of favour or unknown players and top it off with the occasional bit of super quality.
Any of our players that do develop successfully leave!  Viera, Henry, Flamini, Hleb Adabeyor .
We're left with the chronically injured and medoiocre on uncompetitive salaries so we can't move them on.
I'm a big AW supporter but I think it's over for him if we don't make CL next season and RVP leaves.
Go over to Le Grove to see how the core fan feels

Tevez was the shitz at City until Mancini shit on him one too many times. Those Argentinians are like that. Won't accept the Italians shitting on them. We should get Tevez. He would light Mancini's ass on fire next time we play City. He can score a lot goals and provide assists and would work wonders with RvP. We would be back in CL for sure. Willing to take a huge pay cut too. He was great for West Ham and United AND City until the aforementioned prick crapped on him.

I would love to see Tevez becoming a gunner but Wenger wouldnt spend even half of his market price

Wenger mostly buys Planks anyways. Two by Sixes.

Very nice blog, Martino.  As you mentioned, there may well be nothing we can do to catch Chelsea this year.  Whatever we spend, they may spend the same in January.  And that's only IF we spend. 
So the purchasing might not really be a help this season, but it also may be easier to recruit new players now than this summer.  We still can offer the CL this season (although not to cup-tied players), and at least a hope of a top 4 finish this year.  So our recruitment might be easier now than in the summer.  But still, I don't see it happening.  Ugh.

Excellent post.

I tend to think, however, that we might not have as much trouble signing players with a 5th or 6th placed finish as you say.  First, Arsenal have always lost to Chelsea/Man U/City for the well known emerging stars because of wages.  That will not change significantly.  Also, Arsenal can argue that they have qualified in 14 of the last 15 years for the CL, so I think that a player can sign for Arsenal with a reasonable expectation of CL football.  While I tend to agree with your point about Spurs being better this year, I'm not sure that you can say that Spurs have better prospects over the next 3-5 years.  Arsenal have a very good crop of young players coming through the system, and better match day revenue.  I still like Arsenal's chances to finish forth over the next 3-4 years more than Spurs or Liverpool.  Liverpool have made a big investment in some very marginal players and its tough to see how long the new owners will be able to float such a large net transfer outlay and wage bill.  Admittedly, the margins are slim when you cannot compete on wage with the three clubs above you.  It's a tough to think how much better Arsenal have to be (from a net transfer and player development perspective)to finish in the top 3 in the league. It's a real testament to Arsene that fans expect him to get the club there year after year (or a testament to unrealistic expectations).In fact, I'm pretty sure that you could repeat your above post for any of Arsenal/Spurs/Liverpool.  All of the clubs need to be in the CL consistently but sit on the razors edge as far as wages, losses if they don't qualify for a few years.  It's a sad statement about league when you have 2 teams that don't play by the same rules.

You got it right: a slowly sinking ship but a sinking ship nonetheless.
Signing new players worked well in the summer, I dont know why we shouldnt buy players now.
We got Mert, and Arteta who are clearly good signings and got defence and midfield stronger now.
We are in a dangerous position and if we dont do anything now, NOW that window is opne, we can be sure that the sinking will come.
It doesnt take a genious to figure it out, and one can out all the excuses and "IFs", but the truth is, as you put it, some teams are better thabn us this season and the ones that got their flaws will correct them..how? by buying players.
I mean, buying players should NOT be a shame, it IS the gasoline in the motor of a team, if you are out of gas or the quality wasnt good, your motor isnt running well and you need to re fuel.
And I am not even thinking about a 4th finish, I am talking really blasting money because our real chance is FA cup and / or UCL.
I know, in this position it sounds like a dream but look at Liverpool in 05, they won the UCL and finished 5th or 6th, because they knew that it not only took them playing well, but others to lose to get the EPL, in the FA or UCL its a knock out round, you dont have to wait for tothers to lose.
I think our situation is THAT bad, yes. I think we should bid on either one of those trophies. Too much money? maybe if we get players with high salaries and buy them at the prices the clubs are asking. But it is a better investment than to sit in what we have, crossing the fingers and trying to save some money. That the investment can go wrong? hell yeah, like any other investment! But I think the time has come, either A or B. 

You got it right: a slowly sinking ship but a sinking ship nonetheless.
Signing new players worked well in the summer, I dont know why we shouldnt buy players now.
We got Mert, and Arteta who are clearly good signings and got defence and midfield stronger now.
We are in a dangerous position and if we dont do anything now, NOW that window is opne, we can be sure that the sinking will come.
It doesnt take a genious to figure it out, and one can out all the excuses and "IFs", but the truth is, as you put it, some teams are better thabn us this season and the ones that got their flaws will correct them..how? by buying players.
I mean, buying players should NOT be a shame, it IS the gasoline in the motor of a team, if you are out of gas or the quality wasnt good, your motor isnt running well and you need to re fuel.
And I am not even thinking about a 4th finish, I am talking really blasting money because our real chance is FA cup and / or UCL.
I know, in this position it sounds like a dream but look at Liverpool in 05, they won the UCL and finished 5th or 6th, because they knew that it not only took them playing well, but others to lose to get the EPL, in the FA or UCL its a knock out round, you dont have to wait for tothers to lose.
I think our situation is THAT bad, yes. I think we should bid on either one of those trophies. Too much money? maybe if we get players with high salaries and buy them at the prices the clubs are asking. But it is a better investment than to sit in what we have, crossing the fingers and trying to save some money. That the investment can go wrong? hell yeah, like any other investment! But I think the time has come, either A or B. 

One of the problems I see is we have too many squad players being relied on play first XI football. I think our healthy A-team can compete with anyone in the league, but our depth chart is far less substantial than comparable teams. And AW seems to prefer blaming referees and sunspots or whatever than acknowledge that glaring weakness.

In my opinion that is Arsene's worst trait. There are moments (like his speech at the last AGM) where he shows glimpses that he is on the same page as the fans and understands where we are coming from, but then the rest of the time it's like he sees an entirely different game on the pitch.

I don't see why wouldnt recall lansbury and bartley to add some quality to the team then sell denilson, chamakh, diaby etc and use those funds to buy a quality player or two

Very good post.

Its nice to have the situation laid out without the yelling and screaming (from both sides).

There is no question that we're in trouble; i've worriedall season about the danger of finishing out of the CL, with all the ramifications that you listed.

Buying for for buying's sake is stupid, of course, but is the team we have right now good enough to make 4th place? I think not. When the injured return the team will be better, as we were in Sept-Nov of last year, but to make another similar run everyone has to be at their absolute best all the time. It happened in Sept-Nov, but it cant happen every game for an entire season.

We have no bench, no backup, no Plan B. There are no saviors on the bench when things aren't going well on the pitch; ex for TH, but he's only a short-term guy.

We need help, and we can only hope that AW is willing/able to get some help, and realize that he's fallible after all. Hopefully he might realize that there are other ways to win games; try some tactics, spend some time on set plays, start looking at how to defeat other teams other than just aweing them with tippy-tappy.

To his credit; he has learned a bit from his (disastrous) mistakes this year. He has brought in experience, we seem to have a more direct style of attack.  These changes though, only came after the uber-emberassment by Man U. I hope it doesn't take another one before AW decides to act.

January is never a good time to act. It's almost impossible to bring in real quality players. Other teams just don't want to part with those guys mid season since they will not get replacements. And we will seriously have to overpay for anyone we bring in during the January window - considering it's Arsenal and we are almost desperate. (Arsha was an exception). We all know how tight Wenger is with the cash anyway, he is unlikely to overpay with a gun to his head. So, January is too late for that lesson. It needs to be learned over the summer transfer window. And if we are out of CL and have $35 mil pounds less revenue expected next season it's again too late for that lesson. We're all going to learn some new lessons these next 5 months.

Very good post.

Its nice to have the situation laid out without the yelling and screaming (from both sides).

There is no question that we're in trouble; i've worriedall season about the danger of finishing out of the CL, with all the ramifications that you listed.

Buying for for buying's sake is stupid, of course, but is the team we have right now good enough to make 4th place? I think not. When the injured return the team will be better, as we were in Sept-Nov of last year, but to make another similar run everyone has to be at their absolute best all the time. It happened in Sept-Nov, but it cant happen every game for an entire season.

We have no bench, no backup, no Plan B. There are no saviors on the bench when things aren't going well on the pitch; ex for TH, but he's only a short-term guy.

We need help, and we can only hope that AW is willing/able to get some help, and realize that he's fallible after all. Hopefully he might realize that there are other ways to win games; try some tactics, spend some time on set plays, start looking at how to defeat other teams other than just aweing them with tippy-tappy.

To his credit; he has learned a bit from his (disastrous) mistakes this year. He has brought in experience, we seem to have a more direct style of attack.  These changes though, only came after the uber-emberassment by Man U. I hope it doesn't take another one before AW decides to act.

Very nice post Martin.

I have also spent a bit of time pondering the future of our club if we were't to make the top 4 this season, and it does look bleak. The only consolation is that I wonder what Stan will do if that occurs. All of a sudden, we will lose that 30 million, and once debt and current wages are paid off, there will be nor money left for any transfers. This season we were net sellers, and we have champions league football. What would happen without that money.

I have gotten off topic a bit, but what I am getting at, is that it wouldn't surprise me if Stan has pulled money out of the club, and will some time in the next few years sell to Usmanov for a solid profit. If it looks like the club will remain on the decline without some solid investment, I don't see how he would have any other choice really. His purchase does surprise me to be honest, and I can't see any other option.

I couldn't agree more about Tottenham. When Homey write his article much earlier in the season on whether we would beat them this year, and it was one of his few articles I disagreed with. Once Adebayor came in, it really completed their line-up, and made them into a solid unit. However, they have a much tougher second half to the season than we do, and they are a couple of key injuries away from losing hugh amounts of form. It would only take a few fuck ups or poor refereeing decisions to change the table dramatically.

We have to bring in some quality to ensure we get top 4 this season. We should be willing to spend at least the Europe money on a player, or two, who can make a real difference.

Very nice post Martin.

I have also spent a bit of time pondering the future of our club if we were't to make the top 4 this season, and it does look bleak. The only consolation is that I wonder what Stan will do if that occurs. All of a sudden, we will lose that 30 million, and once debt and current wages are paid off, there will be nor money left for any transfers. This season we were net sellers, and we have champions league football. What would happen without that money.

I have gotten off topic a bit, but what I am getting at, is that it wouldn't surprise me if Stan has pulled money out of the club, and will some time in the next few years sell to Usmanov for a solid profit. If it looks like the club will remain on the decline without some solid investment, I don't see how he would have any other choice really. His purchase does surprise me to be honest, and I can't see any other option.

I couldn't agree more about Tottenham. When Homey write his article much earlier in the season on whether we would beat them this year, and it was one of his few articles I disagreed with. Once Adebayor came in, it really completed their line-up, and made them into a solid unit. However, they have a much tougher second half to the season than we do, and they are a couple of key injuries away from losing hugh amounts of form. It would only take a few fuck ups or poor refereeing decisions to change the table dramatically.

We have to bring in some quality to ensure we get top 4 this season. We should be willing to spend at least the Europe money on a player, or two, who can make a real difference.

It's possible that our lineup is worse than Spurs' lineup, but I would also submit to you that they've had a lot better fortune in the injury department this season than we have.  So it's hard to predict those things.  What if they were without Bale, Modric, Adebayor, etc? 

I did mention that. They have a few very classy players whom they would struggle without. None of these players have ha an injury this season except maybe vdv, and that was only a match from memory. If we will see though. They could so easily collapse second half of the season, but it is just as likely that we will really

Yeah, isn't that a scary thought - that we could slip even further.  At least in previous years when we've limped at the end, we at least started in a much better position.  So maybe we fell from 2nd to 4th or something.  But what if a swoon starts when we're already in 5th or 6th?  Yikes.

Silent Stan to sell to Usmanov? Hmmmmmm? Stan has never sold even a single share of any sports franchise he has acquired. Might sell to his son or wife, if mandated by NFL rules, but that's it. Once Stan gets it, it stays with Stan and his family. He'll trust Wenger to get us back into top 4, if we don't make it this year. Usmanov may as well forget it.

I would add that 4th spot is not a direct qualification for the CL and with European teams improving in quality it's no easy task
And Wenger should review medical and training aspects because having most of our best players injured all the time for the last few years is just ridiculous. Where is the Arsenal lab?

Well, the club did a thing earlier this season where they invited a lot of top journalists and Arsenal bloggers to come take a guided tour of the team's medical facilities. The consensus was that this was a response to the "we need physios" demands common in many fan quarters.

And I read several different write-ups of those who visited the facility, and they were universally blown away by how advanced the technology and facilities were, and how on the ball the training staff and physios were. Of course, none of those people were medical experts, but after reading those write-ups I definitely came away much more confident that we were doing everything we could in this area.

But that doesn't quite answer the question of why we have so many injuries -- there has to be something to it, but I don't have the answer, and I have yet to talk to or read something by anyone who really does.

I think ManU have a lot of players injured this year too but the players replacing them are almost as good as the starters so it's no secret they are almost still top of the league. That's the difference for me alognside Ferguson's ability to take the best of his squad mentally something that Wenger hasn't been able to do recently

Wenger seems really stubborn about his team choices to me. Doesn't like to try out new players often, doesn't play players out of position, and never changes formation to suit the situation

There's certainly some truth to that.

Although, in Wenger's defense, the biggest injury crisis we've had is with our full-backs. We've lost our to 2 left-backs, our top 2 right-backs, and even our 3rd string left-back, who is mainly a center back (Vermaelen), has been injured off and on the last couple of months. I don't think there's any way Wenger really could have foreseen that level of injuries to those positions like that.

The irony is that in some corners Wenger is simultaneously being blasted for not buying a third-string full-back, and equally blasted for buying a third-string striker, Park, who hasn't played much because the guys in front of him have been unusually healthy this season.

That's actually a great point.. personally I'm glad to have Park here. He's dedicated and takes his role, and is a good 3rd string. Our 2nd string needs to find form or either another one comes to replace him, or we get another 3rd and Park can take his place. I think if we do get an LB, we should go for a 2nd string, not a 3rd string, and relegate Gibbs to 3rd until (if ever) he can stay fit consistently. I hope Jenkinson's back problem is a one-time thing and we don't have to do the same at RB. Santos and Sagna are good enough for the first team when fit, which is most of the time. As for CBs, when they are not forced to be deployed elsewhere, I'm happy with Koscielny and Verm being the first choice pairing, and Mertesacker is quality cover when Verm's out. But besides that, we should bring in Samba for a healthy, bullish CB, as cover for oft-injured Verm. He'd certainly be two legs up above Squizz, who we might be shipping out soon (I pray to all deities that Wenger is planning to replace him with Samba, who has handed in a transfer request). In midfield, when Wilshere returns, I feel like we're covered when we can rotate Song, Coquelin, Wilshere, Ramsey, and Arteta in 3 roles.

I would agree with Park being good 3rd choice, but we need better No.2

As for deffence,noone really knows how good will be Samba if he joined as 3rd or 4th choice CB. Playing time is a bitch for the confidence, especialy if you lack it [playing time].

As for CM/CDM/ACM role we still lack another player as last game shown. Last transfer window I was advocating for M'Vila. I don't follow him now, but he is still international, so he  might be an answer.

Well, I do think that while the midfield is somewhat lacking at the moment in terms of what we create, I feel like an attacking mid will only be necessary when Arteta starts to slow down.. with Jack coming back and Ramsey rapidly developing (he's only 20, and as of now he's learning quicker than Theo), we'll be covered for first choice for years to come. We do need an impact player, but Arteta/Ramsey may be able to do that when Wilshere starts starting again, and Arsha could possibly find form (he was our best player bar Fabregas when he arrived, don't forget). Song is possibly the best CDM in the league, Coquelin is already superb and Frimpong will come good (and we know he'll never, ever leave). We need some new impact players on the wings, though. Gerv, Theo, and AOC are all spectacular, but three players, one aged 18, can't cover those 4 spots. A veteran supersub might be useful in this area. So yes, the mid needs bolstering, but not in the center.

Also the loss of our best players and play makers at the beginning of the season didn't help. Putting a lot of pressure onto young Wilshere to step up into the role. 

Good post - but I am now feeling uncomfortable with buying players because they may become a problem if Wenger does not make next season. I also have to question his recent purchases anyways and therefore his judgement of players abilities. I am now also questioning his coaching because players like Theo have frankly not improved one iota in 6 years. It seems to me that players who have improved do so more by just playing rather than any constructive coaching.

Lets face it he looks a troubled man who appears to have no answers and frankly is struggling to set up a team with our current injury issues and also appears unwilling to trust a number of players. For a club and a manager who buy frugally it is tragic to think of the money being wasted with players who it appears are either not good enough and/or Wenger has no faith in within the squad and this includes loanees such as Vela, Bendtner, Lansbury and possible Frimpong?

Wenger has had some awesome periods and kept us royally entertained and competitive but now the going is getting very tough he does not have any answers and people like me and others are questioning his every action or non action!!

I would put Lansbury and Frimpong in a different category, since they are still up and comers being sent out on loan to gain experience. But yeah -- I think Arseblog wrote about this today, and it's worth checking out. We have a LOT of sunk costs in the team, paying pretty high salaries to players who will never play for Arsenal again -- Almunia, Mannone, Squillaci, Denilson, Bendtner, Vela (my understanding is that the players who are out on loan have some, but usually not all, of their salaries paid by the loanee club), as well as paying a high salary to someone like Diaby who, I hate to say it, but I'd be surprised if he was ever able to stay healthy enough to be a regular first-team player for Arsenal again. Of course, no one is perfect, and you can't perfectly predict how a player will perform, but for as much as we like to pat ourselves on the back for being smart spenders, the club is spending an awful lot of money in wages on guys who contribute nothing to the team on the pitch.

I don't know what Gibbs is making, but he's also in the category of players who can't seem to stay healthy.  Whatever we're paying him seems like a waste too.

Nice post Martin, so correct. I dont understand why Wenger cant realise that Arsenal is gradually going down the pace, this has been due to failure by Wenger replacing creative midfielders after the departures of Cesc and Nasri, our creativity upfront, is terrible nowadays, very frustrating. Ramsey, though technically good, is still too raw and needs time to develop after all, mentallywise is just 21. Wenger relies so much on those injured players to return but he foolishly forgets what happened to TV5 last season. Am afraid arsenal will have to play Europa next season, will lose van persie and better players, thats for sure, unless Wenger invests in atleast a creative midfielder and a striker. I wonder what the hell he sees of Chamakh, a striker who just cant dribble past defenders, cant run with the ball, cant shoot, yet we call him our striker! My foot!! Cant he see those good players, Demba Ba, Dyer and others? Far way much better than Chamakh!!! Wenger is breaking our hearts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree ! I would add that if we don't make some changes, we could soon be worrying about the difference between finishing 5th and seventh. A dreadful possibility.