Wednesday 27 June, 2007

Future is bright, Future is Arsenal

With the recent departure of Henry finally concluded, Arsenal enter into a new era with more questions asked than answered. With doubts still raised about Wenger's future, many predict the start of a downfall for the Gunners. Fabregas could also follow through the exit door, if Le Proffesor decides to move on. Not to forget the American Kroenke's, speculated takeover. Things look pretty dull at the moment, especially with our ever annoying inactivity in the transfer market. The possibility of not fighting for the title for 3 consecutive years would be hard to digest for a Gooner.

A top striker has to be a must if we are to compete for the title. Many have been touted for Henry's replacement, Babel and Torres being the most prominent names. Even old boy Anelka has been linked with a return. But no doubt will it be a hard thing to replace the goals that Henry gave us. We defnitely need a clinical striker to finish our infinite chances, and a natural left winger to balance our team.

But the real question is are we in such a desperate state? Personally, things are going reasonably well for our club. We have just succesfully moved into our new home. The huge income increase will move us towards ths summit of the rich European spenders. We will be a self sufficient team without the need of external finances, and no reason to give in to Kroenke's supposed takeover plan's. No longer will we have to sign undercover talents, although Wenger's love for kid's cannot be overlooked.

Regarding his contract extension, Wenger has a past history for signing his contract just before it expires. Why would he possibly want to leave, maybe Dein was an extremely influential person, but the freedom Wenger has at Arsenal, is uncommon for a manager at other clubs.

Alot has been made of Henry's exit, one thing is the notion that other supporters have that we are now only half the club we were when we had Thierry. I'd say that is absolutely ridiculous, we have proved many times in the past that we are capable of beating the best without our former talisman. So many teams have proved that you can still be successful even if your most potent forward is let go. I'm sure Owen was missed when Liverpool won the European Cup, or Milan's recent triumph even though Shevchenko was sold. Even our most firece rivals Man Utd proved many doubters wrong by winning the league even without replacing Ruud Van Nistlerooy.

One thing is for sure it that our players have to step up most importantly Van Persie, Hleb, Rosicky and Cesc's finishing. If the first can go through the season without injury, I fully expect 20+goals and at least 10+ from our two wingers, added with the potential goals from Ade, and a new forward we will look in good shape. Without the need of feeling intimidated by our only World class player who has now left , they will definitely feel less pressure to impress and no longer feel inhibited to perform. I do believe with a good natural left winger and an experienced striker who can finish, we should aim to atleast compete the title and win the FA Cup.

We also have immense potential in our team, most notably in Diaby and Denilson. Diaby has shown glimpses of immense quality and an attacking side that would even put the great Vieira to shame, although his defending needs improving. Denilson on the other hand, has a certain grit about him, which is is'nt usually found in a Brazilian. He may not be an intimidating presence, but his willingness to get stuck is evident, it doesn't finish there. He also has an excellent range of passing skills, especially his long ball passing which I feel is the best at the club. With Fabregas, Diaby and Denilson in the heart of our midfield for the coming years, I have no doubt that we will be back to winning ways very soon.

- THIS POST IS ENTIRELY CONTRIBUTED BY OUTLAW MEMBER

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are a lot of young players at the club that are really the future of Arsenal.

The likes of Diaby, Denilson, Djourou, Senderos, Traore, Hoyte, Walcott will be free to improve and grow without being in henry's shadow.

let these young players develop and grow up as a team and we will really be something to behold in a few years time.

right now there are players that have more experience and form the core of our team - gilberto, toure, gallas, hleb, rosicky and even the younger but experienced guys like fabregas, RVP, adebayor. IMO toure and gilebrto will have to step up and lead the team. keep as much pressure of RVP and Fabregas becuase realistically they will have to be the creative forces in the team.

It would be a really bad move to make Cesc captain, as I've heard some people suggest. the expectations would be way too high.

buying tevez would be ideal fo us, because he would take some pressure off RVP and fabregas and IMO would be a better choice for us than anelka.

Anonymous said...

I could'nt agree more we have many other youngsters and what many forget is that even Cesc, RVP, Ade, Clichy, and Eboue are still under 24.

Deepak Krishnan said...

Hi Outlaw,

Apart from the finishing, I feel more attention has to be paid to the attitude - i felt that there was a casual air during some matches due to which we were either drawing/losing games which we should have won/drawn....

Anonymous said...

Thats a good point there deepak and I agree with you too.

I felt it was a bit of both what outlaw said and what you said. If we didnt have that air of casuality in most of our matches we wouldnt have even gone down first and we would have clearly come out on top. But lack of finishing is also one more thing. We clearly created the most chances and probably even the most easiest of them and they still werent finished.

Anonymous said...
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