Written by Mean Lean on Wednesday, 01 June 2011 14:26

Many Gooners will be hoping that Arsene would have been camping outside since 4pm yesterday afternoon, sleeping bag, hot water bottle and a collection of sandwiches at the ready. Preparing himself in advance to get an advantage over his peers ahead of the transfer window bursting open on June 1st.

We are all excited about the prospect of new signings, new characters and hopefully new strengths that the team may not yet quite have. Change can and should be positive but I am also a little concerned that too much change can have a negative effect.

In recent years Arsene has been very lucky with his player purchases, more often than not they have slotted into the squad with relative ease.

Thinking back to the purchase of Bacary Sagna, he was bought to replace Emmanuel Eboue and he came into the team and hit the ground running, he finished the season as the best right back in the Premier League and was awarded for it with a place in the PFA player of the year.

Thomas Vermaelen probably had an even bigger impact into the team, scoring goals, throwing himself into tackles and using his very cultured left foot to build up the play from the back.

Nasri at 21 showed his quality early on and Arshavin made a big impact half way through the season but these were usually individual changes to the team, other Arsene signings were often younger or started as back up players.

Would we witness the same continuity or fluidity if three or four new faces came into the team? You could well say that not all the new signings would have to start the season and they could start from the bench until they adapt but then what exactly would change?

New players need to play football matches for their team before they can feel at home at a new club. It is easy to suggest that buying from the Premier League means that said players do not have to adapt to the league and country which is true but what is often ignored is the fact that they have to adapt to playing for Arsenal.

How many teams in the league play like Arsenal? How many teams have as much as the ball as we do? How many teams play such a defensive high line as Arsenal?

Often names such as Brede Hangeland have been pulled out from the media with no thought as to what system he currently plays in and what he would be going into. It is very easy to say that Arsenal are crap at set pieces so let us buy a mixture of Peter Crouch and Mr Universe and Bob's your uncle.

The trouble is we probably have opponents running at us or trying to pass through us more times than we have set pieces being thrown into our penalty area. Finding a combination of ball playing, quick recovery defender and dominant powerful player in the air is a very difficult task and one that can settle into the team from the start will be even more tricky.

But getting back to the point, if we bought a new defender, midfield and attacker then it will disrupt each area of the pitch as new partnerships and understanding needs to be formed. Hopefully it will improve each area but we have to hope that each player can do a Vermaelen and make the difference from the outset.

I enjoyed the Champions League final, ok I actually enjoyed watching Manchester United look like Bolton. As much as I despise the Catalans behaviour off the pitch and in fact on it when they are rolling around the floor playing peek-a-boo, I cannot help but massively admire their quality on the pitch.

And even though we have our own style, own system that is not the same as Barcelona, we could still learn a thing or two about what they have done to achieve success.

I could talk about their work rate to win the ball back or their ball retention but what I hope we do a little more of is our off the ball movement. Their front three in Messi, Pedro and Villa are all good enough to keep the ball moving, to keep possession in congested areas but I love the way they will play triangles and then one of the front players will dart across the defender to allow the likes of Xavi, Iniesta and company to play that through pass.

In the Arsenal team we do not have enough players ready and willing to make those runs. Theo Walcott has scored many of his goals by making those runs. Samir Nasri in the first half of the season scored plenty of goals by making off the ball runs but he would still prefer to go to the ball and almost completely stopped making those runs that were successful when he returned back from his mid season injury.

If we are to sign either an attacking wide player or a central striker then I hope it is a hard working, quick player who makes runs and scores goals. Without any substance or evidence I have a gut feeling that Gervinho will end up playing at Arsenal. I could be totally wrong but he has experience of winning a league title, he makes assists and scores goals. If it is not Gervinho who is supposed to be announcing the club of his choice soon then I hope it is a similar type of player who can play both wide forward and central striker. That type of player would in fact be my priority over everything else if the decision was mine, but that is just me.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could well be one of the first names heading into Arsenal, if his father's quotes are anything to go by.

Mark Chamberlain said:

"We want Alex to get to Arsenal as soon as possible and continue his development. Alex is still developing but there is no better place to develop than Arsenal and the Premier League"

Well he is correct there, Arsenal is the best place for developing talented players and it will be interested to see if an agreement can be reached and if so how much.

I was impressed with what I saw of him against Manchester United and I am sure he will become a very good player in the next few years. I am sure many fans will be speaking about the need to improve the here and now rather than the future. I do not see why both cannot be achieved at the same time.

Back tomorrow.

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Comments (6)

• 01-Jun-2011 15:02 | | Jamino  - Arsenal
  

  Wenger should at least buy eto'o

• 01-Jun-2011 15:11 | | MeanLean
  

  I like Eto'o, have done for a while now. But I doubt that you could buy him for a price relative to his age and probable decline

• 01-Jun-2011 16:52 | | Podge
  

  Finally an article that talks logically about multiple transfers. We don't need many new players, at centre back we will have Djouruo and Vermaelen both are strong, fast, good in the air and on the ground ,they should form a partnership similar to the Ferdinand Vidic at MU. Clichy might leave I hope he stays as being the 1 Arsenal player with a prem medal he is a symbol of past success as well as a quality player. If Clichy leaves I'd like to see a quality attacking left back like Izaguirre brought in. SPL player of the year from left back is a massive accomplishment. Wenger made a mistake in letting the likes of Pires Campbell and Gilberto leave before we won another title, Arsenal lack senior players we need to sign an experienced leader even for the squad maybe Scott Parker? Up front we sometimes lack goals and need the opposition to make a mistake all our players seem content to hit the target making the keeper work instead of really trying to score. Should that senior player be someone other than Parker maybe a seasoned striker with huge pedigree someone who will coach the younger players as well? Eto'o would be a dream signing but value for money maybe not however Raul(possibly free) can still score at the top level and would surely teach our forwards a few things RVP is clearly influenced by both Bergkamp and Henry could Raul make him better? Walcott shown what positions he needs to get into and when, also the influence of 1 of the games most successful players ever would bring a winning mentality to the squad

• 01-Jun-2011 19:05 | | mr h
  

  Nice one Podge, I like the idea of Raul. He would bring a lot to the team. I don't see it happening, just as I don't see Eto'o happening. Neither are really Wenger-esque signings.
  
  I don't care that much about in coming players, I am however concerned about outgoing players. Bentner, Fabregas and Nasri need to stay on the books. To me, it doesn't matter who comes in, we will really be shooting ourselves in the foot were we to lose those players

• 02-Jun-2011 02:51 | | richie
  

  Not too surprisingly I'm with ML.- I'm not in favor of the "All change" idea.
  I've been saying for a good while that one defender in one out will do. One midfielder in one out works for me too. Likewise in attack. So 3 in 3 out.
  
  Now it should go without saying that the 3 in should be better than the 3 out. The 3 in need to be the type of players that further strengthen the team and are right for us, i.e. they want to play the type of football we play and would supliment the excisting team, fitting straight in. That in case there is any arguement ain't gonna be easy. Leaving aside everything else try to imagine premier league players that would slot straight into our team. I don't think many of our own who say buy this one, buy that one, have given this much thought.
  
  I say this because almost to a man our squad is full of technically sound players and many that get thrown up by the media and picked up by our own aren't. Many that the media say we should buy are good prem players but for me they aren't Arsenal type of good players. As an example I say there isn't a midfield from the league winning side that I would have in our team.
  
  If our own would just think about our passing game and imagine who from the prem would fit straight in they would see the magnitude of the task of buying that Arsene has even without money constraints.

• 02-Jun-2011 03:43 | | richie  - Silly season & we will be linked to everyone and h
  

  Talk of Raul Eto and other false dawns
  I have said for a while that although not perfect (especially considering our illustrious past) the defense isn't as bad as is being made out. Its in our forward line that for me the problems lie, and its in that area that I feel Arsene's summer buying challenge falls.
  
  I'm still hoping Kyle Bartley can be promoted from within to fill the defensive void. And if Denilson leaves as seems likely we've already been linked to his possible replacement in the form of the first of the Belgium contingent Witsel. A player that not only fits technically but one I think would add strength to our defensive mid, not only that but it seems he wants to come to us which is always a plus.
  
  Another player that has been constantly linked to us is the 2nd Belg Eden Hazard, as a player that helped Lille become French league champions his price tag has risen like a helium balloon, but if Arsene was to splash the cash the prospects of him lining up alongside our midfielders and the combinations that could throw up would be positively mouth watering. A 2nd player that could slot straight in, IMHO.
  
  Its in the area that I first mentioned that I'm having sleepless nights imagining a signing that would be able to slot straight in. A clinical finisher that can form a partnership with RvP, like many I had hoped Theo would be moved centrally and become the man, but like many I'm not confident that will happen.

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