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sorry just to clarify..you said "Three of Arsene Wenger's incoming players last season were purchased from Ligue 1 in France," there is kos, chamakh, who is the third?
My Vision
Written by Mean Lean on Monday, 20 June 2011 11:48
A start to the new week is here, an exciting week ahead of more transfer rumours linking the same names to Arsenal over and over again. I am so excited about talking about these same names, so much so that my excitement has prevented me from talking about them. Again.
I would however like to talk about the players we already have at the club, please excuse me if I have already mentioned this point last season but it is certainly worth noting that many of our established first team players had completed their first full season at Arsenal.
Three of Arsene Wenger's incoming players last season were purchased from Ligue 1 in France, a league full of talented players but who play at a far less physical and fast league. Two key injuries to our spinal players Robin Van Persie and Thomas Vermaelen meant that Laurent Koscielny and Marouane Chamakh were plonked pretty much in the deep end and they had to swim from the off.
While Koscielny flapped and spluttered for a few weeks, Chamakh was performing breast stroke of the highest order. So much so that a majority of Arsenal fans were talking about how to accommodate Van Persie with the Moroccan forward and not when will he be replaced.
Chamakh's unselfish work was refreshing, combining great link play with his team mates with consistent hard work in chasing every lost cause. Meanwhile Laurent Koscielny was slowly beginning to cut out his errors and stamp his authority on games. Koscielny and Johan Djourou were starting to develop a very strong partnership at the heart of the Arsenal defence. While Sky Sports are quick to point out the overly high number of goals conceded from set pieces, it is often difficult to acknowledge or credit the central defence for having the best defensive record in play and that is largely down to the qualities of Koscielny who is known as being one of the better one on one defenders around.
Koscielny had improved so much so that he is able to flip open a portfolio of top forwards that he was able to contain. Carlos Tevez 32, Chicharito 14 and of course Messi 10 could be hung on his living room wall with pride. All those forwards struggled to get the better of the Premier League rookie.
While Koscielny was finding his feet, Chamakh had lost not only his form but his place to the best striker in world football, not that Chamakh knew that at the time but I am not totally convinced that tiredness was his only problem during that period, whatever his problems were I hope that he is back to normal come the new season.
All in all they both had good debut seasons, in what is often referred to as the most difficult league in the world and that surely bodes well for the future. I have lost count of the amount of talented players who have been written off after half to a full season of football.
In recent history the likes of Robert Pires, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Alex Hleb are just a handful of examples of players who came from another league into the rough and tumble of the Premier League. The league is too physical for them, they cannot handle the pace of the game we were told, but once they managed to adjust their talents to the league and they understood the roles that Arsene had designed for them then they were able to improve and develop into better players than they were at their previous clubs.
I am looking forward to seeing progression from both players come the new season should they get enough games to display the potential improvements.
It is slightly different for Johan Djourou, Jack Wilshere and Wojciech Szczesny. All three having had experience in the English game at different levels but all having experience of being a regular starter for Arsenal, all still learning and developing their game, especially Wilshere and Szczesny who came from the reserves into top level football in a short space of time.
All should continue to improve what needs improving and all should improve what they are already good at. It is the beauty of having so many young players in a squad, the upwards progression curve should mostly be just that although those who do not manage to get regular playing time are also likely to stagnate as is the case with Denilson and perhaps even Nicklas Bendtner, so moving onto a new club is not only good for Arsenal in regards to squad spaces and transfer budget increases but it is vital to the individual's career as they need to play games to improve.
While many Gooners may look enviously at the riches of Chelsea, it becomes clear that major investment in experience players only is not sustainable for a club like Arsenal who do not have a rich sugar daddy to flip out his collection of credit cards and replace half a team who are clearly on the way down with new experienced players at £30m a pop.
Chelsea paid £70m on two players last January to replace Drogba and Carvalho's vacancy in the squad. With the financial fair play rules supposedly coming into play over the next few years, I wonder how they are going to replace Lampard, Anelka, Cole, Terry and company. That is not of my concern but the point is that the stream of young talented players into our squad means that the need to buy a whole new team when they come to the end of their careers is unlikely. Alex Ferguson to his credit has managed to balance this out pretty well over the years but at the same time unlike Arsene, he was not forced into making massive cuts during a stadium move.
What was my original point again? Ah yeah, improvements.
We also have Aaron Ramsey to look forward to. We only saw glimpses of his undoubted talent during the end of season run in, a good pre season is what he needs and hopefully we can see the Ramsey who swerves past Portsmouth defenders before smashing the ball with his left foot past the keeper. What a great goal that was.
So even without new signings I expect our squad to be stronger this year than last season. As long as we keep our key performers that is. With additional quality added to the squad then I see no reason why we cannot be successful in season 2011/12.
Hopefully we will have to some real news to talk about in the next coming days.
Back tomorrow.
Fancy writing your own articles for fellow Gooners to read? Click Your Vision section.
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20-Jun-2011 12:21 | | angelic beardy - Defense a requirementWe need a strong, no nonsense defender who will be an asset when it comes to defending set pieces. We needed one last season but brought Kolschieny and Scrillaci, parden the spelling. Kolscy is good but needs said type defender which i described above to partner him and Scrillaci is not up to the premier league challenge as such. It has been 3 seasons now where we have needed EPL standard defenders and 3 seasons where we keep conceding farsical goals. I would have thought that was a priority and have been signed already but we seem to be going after anouther forward from France which we do not need right now. As i have said before if we do not sort out our foundations first then next season will be the same as any other.
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20-Jun-2011 12:47 | | Anonymousarsenal needs to let go of all these muppet gloryseekers who think they can complain to a manager and club that competes each year against multimillion spending giants with 15 million budgets.
the reasons why arsenal still has to operate in limitations is to be found in that gigantic jewel of a stadium where arsenal plays its football and as well at the world class facilities they have built for ARSENAL so that arsenal can continue creating players and thus having a soul.
ivan gazidis needs to come out again and tell the fans to go eff themselves and if they dont like how they doi things there is always spurs city and chelsea they can follow.
ENOUGH WITH ALL THE IDIOTS WHO THINK THEY CAN PASS JUDGEMENT TO ARSENE WENGER OR ARSENAL
you are all too small in the mind to even think you can doubt or question a manager like wenger.
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20-Jun-2011 12:52 | | Anonymouschelsea spends 100 million to win the title and they fail
they spent 70 million for the champions league they failed again
spurs has been spending 40 million per summer the last 10 years or so just to play in the champions legaue for 1 SEASON ....i stress that ...1 SEASON ....its just so funny.
and arsenal spent 7.8 for konscielny and 3.something for squilaci and the change went to buy miyachi some slippers for his foster home in feyenord
yet people want to critisise arsenal and put them in the same bracket of spending as chelsea city united liverpool and spurs.
but its not just any people...its only ENGLISH PEOPLE who do it ......
i have met no person from any other state of europe calling arsenal or wenger a failure ....
therefore either the english have no idea about economics and how to seperate who is aiming for the title and who is aiming for self perseverence....or they are all arsenal fans n disguise who do it on purpose
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20-Jun-2011 13:00 | | angelic beardyBut we still need a decent defense of defensive strategy if we are to win anything anyway regardless if we spent millions on players. We are unable to defend simple set pieces even if we spent 100 million i will bet any money we would still be unable to defend set pieces.
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20-Jun-2011 13:44 | | Domhuaille - Desperate?
Boy are we getting desperate for any news! Another vacuous blog rehashing stuff that's been on the net since two summers ago!
There are NO quick fixs for AFC's problems and AW knows that. He also knows, unlike you yobs blogging above, that Vermaelen is back, he WILL be bringing in a new CB or two, Cesc and Nasri are staying, Ramsey and Wilshere are still growing and will return in full form and fitness for the Asian Tour, RVP is hopefully fit and if he stays so,Chamakh and Walcott are good backup, as is Arshavin and Nasri. He will apparently try to sign Gervinho as an immediate partner for RVP. Ryo Miyachi and Lansbury,Bartley and Koscielny, Szcesny and Mannone are all available and more experienced than last season so expect that the Gunners we see in August will be a vast improvement on what we saw in May this past season.
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20-Jun-2011 14:18 | | AnonymousBut we still need a decent defense of defensive strategy if we are to win anything anyway regardless if we spent millions on players. We are unable to defend simple set pieces even if we spent 100 million i will bet any money we would still be unable to defend set pieces.
THEREFORE DEFENDING SET PIECES HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT YOU SPEND ON PLAYERS ..
so why is everyone advising ( lmao) wenger what defedners he needs to buy ?
if vermaeelen or konsicelny or puyol himself does not understand on his own that at set pieces we DO NOT LET the opponent get off the ground (while using various techniques) then what can wenger do? get in and start pulling and pushing people like lehman was good at doing ???
if cesc has not learned that when standing at wall we keep our hands close to our body then what can wenger do about that?
if almunia...a 33 year old...has not yet learned how to defend his first corner and that slapping the ball is for vollyeball - in football you punch the ball away ..then what can wenger do?
have any of you ever seen sagna lose his marker? no never. does sagna need wenger to tell him that? no he doesnt. but how old is sagna ?? vouala he is 27 going to 28 ...already an international and experienced enough in combat to do what is necessary. the others are konscielny djourou and clichy ...none of them above 26 ..none of them with sagna;s experience or combative charectiristics.
there are two options .... if you want to win the league NOW ..you go out now and buy the best defenders available no matter the cost IF you can afford it. but if winning the legaue does nto belong in the NOW then why the hell spned fortunes on players which are always a risk instead of developing raw talent which you find on the cheap and can develop into a future puyol or future nesta or future whatever.
and when the club is managed by the kind of people who are the best at developing young players why the hell enter a path where to build a team i will have to spend and not enter a path where whenver i need a player i take one form my academies ? and if the boy aint good enough...we sell him and make money and use that money in future need ?
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20-Jun-2011 14:28 | | Anonymouswhat is this urgency i see that arsenal has to win the title NOW!
relax people..arsenal has been fielding youngsters who couldnt even shave yet the last 6 years and have been repaying their stadioum which cost 450 million pounds they had to BORROW from somewhere
WHEN YOU OWE MONEY ..yoru first priority is to repay back your debt....NOT HONEYMOONS IN HONULULU AT 6 STAR HOTELS IN PRESIDENTIAL SUITES WITH CLAUDIA SHIFFER AND KIM BASSINGER
WHEN YOUVE JUST BUSTED YOUR "SS FOR YEARS TO BUILD YOUR NEW HOME YOU DONT GO BUYING FURNITURE FROM HARRODS NEITHER DO U BUY A FERRARI TO PARK OUTSIDE
arsenal and wenger are WORKING for their success and they will be rewarded fro their efforts and hard work. most of our rivals do not WORK for their success, they take short - cuts via spending money.
some of you are jealous of this and either want arsenal and wenger to speed up things so that you all feel closer to manure chelsea and the rest of pathetic clubs you dare compare us with ...or else mosr of you are totally clueless when it comes to LONG -TERM PLANNING, investing in infrastructure and having patience for the future.
this project ....and with you muppets as fans...could see the first crop get burnt from the weight of expectations ( which is happening already thanks to all you people who love arsenal with all your heart , rthats why you boo them apparently)
if this project is to work it needs fans and proper FANS...not morons who consider themselves customers neither idiots who see the purchase of a ticket as an investment for their photocamera and kodak momments
it aint wenger or arsenal nor gazidis nor the board that need to sort out anything..their club under their management wins the champiosn league every year financially speaking ..IT IS YOU PATHETIC GLORYSEEKERS WHO NEED TO SORT YOURSELVES OUT and tell your boss dein that he had his chance but he preferred to MAKE MONEY OUT OF ARSENAL by selling out
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20-Jun-2011 16:42 | | UGANDAN GOONER - WHY INSULT MY FELLOW GOONERSGuys why are we insulting each others? the point here is that we should respect people's opinions whether we agree to it or not, if you don't then lay down your reasoning for not agreeing.
Every fans of course want the Club that they support to win trophy and is the same way here and just like Gazidis said i understand the frustration but saying its English Fans who are blah blah blah is nonsense.
The point i expected guys to debate about is that for how long will Wenger keep convincing his best players that they can compete for trophies so that they do not leave the club. when the best players produced from the club are leaving then we shall remain in the rat race scenario without building a winning team since every year Wenger would have to start building a new team.
A successful season can only be realized by maintaining the best players and adding two or three better players than the ones we have in positions that are wanting and of course improving on the issues at hand like defending set pieces, consistency and the late collapse towards the end of the season.
By the way if the best players are leaving then it will be difficult to instill the believe that the team can win to the players left behind besides it will be difficult to convince good players to join the club
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21-Jun-2011 02:32 | | mike in atlanta - changing partnersNasri withdrew his services in the second half of the season. If that's not obvious, you were watching the wrong team. There have got to be ten players out there who can dribble and shoot like he can. I'd sell him now and try to get Honda. I'd much rather manage a team of players who will not go on strike than manage some prima-donnas.
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21-Jun-2011 21:29 | | sapmanthe point here is that we should respect people's opinions whether we agree to it or not,
no thats not the point mate
if your opinion is something as stupid as sacking wenger then thats not an opinion to be respected but ridiculed and aggresively mocked and disrespected.
who told you that because you exist you can opiniate on matters you have no clue about? thats nto freedom of speech ..you just want the freedom to talk b/s without thinking ...no i dont agree with that. and it aint an opinion but a fkn PRINCIPLE.
not you not me not anyone is allowed to even let the idea cross his mind that he can doubt or critisise the hole arsene wenger. the man is a fkn genius and we are all muppets on the internet telling him how to run the club that he has built and brought thus far? are you serious? obviously not.
if you or me were the chief directors of an instutution like arsenal or say nike or whatever else you want...would you take advice on hwo to ruin your businesss from abunch fo morons on the net?
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22-Jun-2011 07:16 | | WaterboyGreat post and i fully support your views about patience and real fans! The issue which leaves me a little perplexed is why Wenger changed his previously successful 442 tactical approach to 433/451 and why he has appeared to not target recruiting youngsters with similar physical attributes and natural inclinations to previous successful signings? Then again that could again be attributed to the inflated price of some players and the cost pressures brought about by the stadium move.
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