Why Arsenal winning the league would be a victory both for football and frugality

Calum

....
Joined
Dec 22, 2009
Messages
11,876
Reaction score
0
Points
0
By Darren Lewis

Back in November, when Spurs became the second team in as many games to beat Arsenal at the Emirates, Gunners fans were in no doubt.
Arsene Wenger's much-maligned transfer policy was failing yet again. The window could not come soon enough and this time Wenger had to move for a goalkeeper, a central midfielder and a defender.
Since then, Arsenal have lost just once - away to Manchester United - and still have the best away record in the Premier League.
So who is right?

For me, it is still Wenger. Which is why it would be so good for football if the Gunners boss could finally win another Premier League.
It would be such a shot across the bows of the clubs that believe you have to break the bank to lift the title and the fans convinced you need to keep up with the Joneses instead of sticking to your principles.
Yes, Arsenal need another centre-half, but Bolton - with their £20million valuation of Gary Cahill - have shown us all the reason why Premier League bosses (and Wenger in particular) look abroad for reinforcements.

Richard Dunne on loan from Aston Villa or a cut-price Christopher Samba would both be better bets than splashing the cash for Cahill, surely?
Because even West Ham will try to milk every red cent they can get for the very average Matthew Upson when they see that it's Arsenal calling.
Which is why I hope Wenger's approach to identifying and developing talent ends up succeeding in May.

People tend to forget that Laurent Koscielny and Sebastien Squillaci are both in their first seasons in the Premier League.
Remember how bad Thierry Henry was in his first season? Or Cristiano Ronaldo in his first couple of season at Manchester United? Or even Florent Malouda in his first 12 months at Chelsea?

What we have all learned over the last two decades is that it takes time to bed in to the pace and rough-house nature of the most popular league in the world.
The fans can call all they want for Wenger to go chasing after the kind of quality that Chelsea need now their ageing defence is rapidly being found out.
To be fair, their motivation is the very real chance of lifting a first title for eight years.

But when you bring in top, top players, they want to play. And what then happens to Thomas Vermaelen when he gets fit?
What happens to Squillaci - a player with more experience and quality than people give him credit for - or Koscielny when they recover from their setbacks?
Scoring goals is no problem for Arsenal at the moment. The Gunners are the most prolific team in the Premier League with 45 goals from their 22 matches played.
No, keeping them out continues to be the conundrum. A sensibly-priced squad player prepared to fight for his place is what the club need now, not a top-line star to upset the applecart.

For me Darren Lewis is one of the best journo's he writes a lot of good articles and i thought i would post this one here so you can all read it.(H)

The original article can be found here


 
Yes, Arsenal need another centre-half, but Bolton - with their £20million valuation of Gary Cahill - have shown us all the reason why Premier League bosses (and Wenger in particular) look abroad for reinforcements.

agree with this bit entirely
 
Arsenal are the only team who can win the quadruple this year still.

FACT
 
I agree with this partially. Definitely believe that what Wenger is doing is correct in the defensive situation, but they desperately need a World Class GK and a solid hard tackling midfielder to help out Alex Song.

Christopher Samba in my opinion would be an ideal signing. Big, strong, used to the EPL, available at a fairly cheap price and won't expect to walk straight into the starting XI.
 
Agree with his last point 100%.

Does point out the obvious at times, but he makes good points.
 
I pretty much agree with everything he says - clubs (and fans even more so) are always too eager to delve into the transfer market. Djorou has had a great season since his return
 
I agree with this partially. Definitely believe that what Wenger is doing is correct in the defensive situation, but they desperately need a World Class GK and a solid hard tackling midfielder to help out Alex Song.

Christopher Samba in my opinion would be an ideal signing. Big, strong, used to the EPL, available at a fairly cheap price and won't expect to walk straight into the starting XI.
i dont think they do need a world class keeper, they need someone like samba to give the current keepers more protection at aerial set pieces, they do need a hard tackling squad player to cover for song possibly though
 
Samba is a must buy for Arsenal, he has to buy this guy, he's actually perfect for them.
 
Football needs Arsenal to at least win something. Playing attractive football, spending what you have (and in some years, not spending what you have), and encouraging homegrown youth are all what clubs should be doing.

Plus you never see any full on nobheads playing for Arsenal, everyones at least a biiit cushty
 
If Arsenal win the quadruple I will run down my street in nothing more than a pair of Arsenal boxers.
Hahaha I'll hold you to that, I'll even buy them for you :D
 
I believe they need some players that are not ******* to balance things out a little bit, instead of a lot of weak foreigners who always end up on their **** after minimal contact...
 
I don't think Arsenal need a goalkeeper. I think Sczeszny (correct me if I'm wrong) can be a brilliant goalkeeper. I do agree with a centre half though they definately need one of them.
 
Yeah everyone in the Prem other than United fans (and whoever else thinks their team is in the running for the title, though I think it's a year too soon for City and Chelsea is done) should be rooting for Arsenal to win...it's for the good of the sport. They play the most attractive football in the Prem and do so on an incredibly small budget. They deserve to be rewarded for their sound financial policies, and come so close every year only to fall short because of injuries. They don't spend ridiculous amounts of money to keep quality players on the bench, unlike some other clubs, so when they reach an injury crisis they can never quite deal with it. And unfortunately, if you play like Arsenal does in the Prem, you're going to get hacked to pieces and have a lot of injury problems.

The future is bright for them, however. Teams like Aston Villa and Liverpool have spent their money very poorly without planning for the future, and look at where they are now. Chelsea is also in trouble because they've been using the same core for years and they're getting old. Sure, they have a bunch of young players, but none of them are ready for serious first team action. I think they'll have to overhaul their squad for next season, which will be an expensive project, and who knows how the players will gel. It looks like City has a great next few years in store for them but will they be in line with the financial fair play rules? Will they be able to deal with all the egos in the locker room? Will they be able to put together a team that plays well as a unit and can be consistent enough to win the title? ManU is in good shape as they have a lot of good young players, but it seems that they rely a lot on their older players, who could be done at any moment. They have a similar position with Chelsea in that there's a big gap between the core squad and the younger players. Tottenham will definitely be a force to be reckoned with, but I don't think they'll win any titles unless they spend a lot, which will hurt them in regards to the financial fair play rules.

Anyways, in the next couple of years when their young players develop and they learn to play as a team, Arsenal is certainly going to be a great team that'll be a lot more entertaining to watch than anything in the Prem now. More importantly though, they'll have no more debt to pay on their awesome stadium, and they'll be in line with the new financial rules. I think deep down most other Prem fans know this and that's why Arsenal is so unpopular.
 
Top