Analyzing Arsenal's needs, squad options and players
Hello all. Haven’t written anything in the last month or two but felt the need to write something up regarding our team and summer activity. I don’t like picking up on every rumour and spending the summer evaluating them so in that case I’ve decided to write a blog on what I think we should do, who I think we should buy and how we need to finish the summer and start the season off well. As I’m writing this down please remember that if you’re interested in my opinions on our team options, players and summer business just come over to Goonersphere and read this because I don’t like repeating myself.
We finished the season off really well with the FA Cup victory and we finally got the monkey off our back which will bring the momentum and team spirit to another level and also we finish like 8 points off of the Premier League Champions which also shows that we’ve made significant progress over the last three or four years but in order for us and the manager including everyone at the club to witness Arsenal being the League Champions once again, we need to strengthen our team this summer.
I’ve seen and interacted with many fans and noticed one interesting but also annoying thing and that is that some of Arsenal’s fans fail to see the real quality of some players, some are undervaluing and underappreciating our players. Yes, it’s obvious and It’s noticeable that we need strengthening in few positions but after re-watching few games and getting deeper in our players’ games and how the play and what they give to the team, I’ve noticed and I’ve made a conclusion that we really don’t need a world class striker up front this summer, yes, you read well, we don’t need a 30 plus million striker up front.
I feel sorry for giving the stick to Giroud when he wasn’t in form and didn’t get the adequate help upfront and I regret that I kept saying that we need a world class forward. Views change but if you don’t trust me or look me as a lunatic then please don’t look at the comps that few people are making, but download few games where we struggled and where we dominated and you’ll see what I’m talking about. In my honest opinion and as I mentioned after my deep analysis over the last few weeks, our main priorities and the positions where we need strengthening are the left wing side and defensive midfield, I won’t include the right back whatsoever in our priorities.
As I said, I’ll analyze our squad, our players and who we should target this summer. Starting off with out goalkeepers, we have the brilliant Wojciech Szczesny, who has improved massively since last summer, has became more vocal and more controlling although he still needs to improve a part of his decision making but overall the best goalkeeper in England this year. After Fabianski completing his move to Swansea and Viviano returning to Italy after his loan-spell ended at our club, we need a decent backup goalkeeper. At the AST meeting it was discussed that the club have high hopes and rates for our young goalkeeper, Damian Martinez and are considering to promote him as our second choice GK but honestly, knowing Arsene, I doubt that we’ll end up with him being our back-up, yes, I agree, he has potential but for the upcoming season, I can see him being a third choice only. Adding up to that, I can see us signing a more proven goalkeeper and someone that’s older or near the age of 30, someone like Ruddy or Julio Cesar. Damian as a third choice would be brilliant but he isn’t reliable to be our second choice.