Your Vision

Your Vision - A time to sit back and think of the summer window

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOUR VISION ARTICLES ARE SENT IN BY READERS AND ARE NOT WRITTEN BY ARSENAL VISION WRITERS.

Ok lets get one thing clear and prob the only thing we'll ALL agree on...its been a horrific two weeks after Barca, Spurs & Wigan etc!

After reading a lot of other blogs around there are various opinions on what have went wrong in those 3 games and in our season on a whole. Wenger said that once the season comes to an end he will reflect and review the season as a whole (which he obviously does every season but this is one is getting into critical stage now!). He did say at the start of the season he may need to rethink the investment in youth policy if this season didnt work.

I think its fair to say Arsene has had no choice since the Highbury move to scale down on buyswages and invest in youth over the past few seasons. There was no way we could compete with United or Chelsea regards purchase of players. We obviously had a large wage bill near the end of the Highbury era and players nearing the end of the peak of their career in Arsenals financial view and Wengers football viewpoint needed to move on (Vieira, Pires, Gilberto, Ljunberg etc). These guys were on big big money, deserving of it too as they'd led us through a very successful period and one of the biggest in Arsenals history! Where Arsenal and Arsene failed here was the invincibles was dismantled to quickly, look at how important Giggs, Scholes & Neville are to United STILL! Look at how much of an influence Sol has made since his come back!! You cant replace that sort of thing, these guys know their club inside out and what it takes to win & young players respect, listen & look up to them! On another note this overall ploy to scale down on our expenditure of the club will benefit the club in years to come, I am certain of this. Just look at the debt United and Liverpool are in...what happens to "Chelski" or "Man City Project" if their owners say my "hobby" of running a club is over I want to do something else...! We're currently in a very good financial situation & potentially in 5-10 years time we may be one of the richest clubs in the world with no debts (Unlike United & Real Madrid!)

Another thing I need to talk about is our injury situation & the injury situation that has gone on for the last 4 seasons or so. We've had so many it isnt funny anymore, I read in another blog the actual "injury table" between United, Chelsea and us over last 3 seasons & we'd something like 25-30% more injuries than them each season!!! Colin Lewin had his article published recently and it outlined the level of detail they are drilling down to see if there is an underlying problem. Well to sum it up Colin its either....1# We injury prone players 2# Down right unlucky or finally 3# There is something wrong with our trainingfitnessrehabilitation schedule! This needs to be addressed simple as!

Final thing I come to is our players themselves. Which are good enough. I can fairly assume we're all in agreement that we need a top class experienced keeper. Say what you like about "mad Jens" but you dont walk into a club and not loose a prem game for 49 and not be a good keeper. He was no Dave Seaman but Jens was a winner, good communicator, HATED loosing, made big big saves at big big times & was consistent without being world class. In his last 1-2 seasons yes I do admit he did drop a level...but we replaced him with a keepr from the Spanish 2nd division!!! Cmon Arsene! We got Wright to replace Seaman, how many blinders did he have at Highbury...but when it came to playing for us he didnt have the mental strength and was too young to handle it (same applies for Ben Foster & Fabianksi). Big clubs need experienced keepers simple as. Look at what United did with Van Der Saar, his experience is so important & he has been integral to United winning 3 leagues in a row!

On the rest of the squad, I think its fair to see we'll see Chamakh play for us next season. Silvestre & Gallas will be gone on free's (Gallas would have signed by now if he was to stay). I think Sol will stay for another season, but that leaves us with Vermalen & Djouru....effectively we need another 1-2 center backs! Im not going to even go down the road of who we should sign but experience is key again.

Now onto midfield, Song and Cesc have been superb this season and more to come from both. Diaby as frustrating as he has been over his career with us so far should stay. Denilsion has his critics but at the end of the day he is a squad player effectively (maybe used more than he should cuz of our awful injury record!). But I reckon just one experienced midfielder in amongst these guys will help, Im sure of that.

So to sum it up im looking for an experienced keeper, center half, midfielder & Chamakh! I honestly do think we'll get that keeper and Chamakh but I wait to see what happens on the other areas! This isnt Football Manager 2010 afterall!

One thing I will not talk about is getting rid of the great man at the helm. It will be a long summer regardless and we'll have to read through so many bullsh1t stories on who we'll sign & the annual Cesc to Barca summer story. Lets just win our last 3..or at least get 3rd so we can all take a break and let Arsenal and Arsene do their stuff over the summer.

Mean Lean's Response

The last few weeks have indeed been very painful as a Gooner, we had done so well to get into a good position for the final push but it wasn't quite enough. Arsene will be thinking long and hard about why we crashed out of the Champions League and why our league fight trickled away with a whimper.

I don't think he will have to think too hard before the word injury flashes into his mind. Our spine and our record signing were just not available when we needed them at such a crucial stage. Wenger will have to sit down and work out why this appears to be happening. I am sure he already knows what the reason is but cannot or chooses not to disclose that information in public.

Whatever happens behind the scenes I am sure that Arsene will supplement his squad with a few additions. I am a little uneasy about the center of defence not only the fact that we strengthening but that we are likely to see a lot of changes in one go in one area. Silvestre will be off, it is fairly safe to suggest that. I hope that Gallas will stay but I don't believe that he will. If Sol wants to stay then he will stay, he has proved his worth so for me, that is a no brainier.

Many are suggesting that this is the end of Arsene's youth policy which is lunacy. The club will continue to bring in the best youngest talent around the world and pick the ones that are good enough to play in the first team, the rest will be allowed to leave with will generate profits. If that is not a good plan then I honestly do not know what is.

This approach does not mean that buying players will no longer exist. I am sure if Arshavin, Nasri, Eduardo, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen etc didn't come through our youth system then Wenger would probably have tried to buy them *yes, I did that deliberately*

I agree that a goalkeeper should be on Arsene's mind as well as a central defender to fill in for the likely departures of Senderos, Silvestre and perhaps Gallas. Chamakh appears to be the worlds worst kept secret with brings about more questions than answers in terms of his ranking in the squad, his position if he and Van Persie are on the pitch together etc.

I have a hunch that Arsene will be looking for one big signing, One super super player as he says. A game changer who can beat you with a dribble or a creative pass. Without wanting to sound like the Football Manager crew, the name Eden Hazard springs to mind. I haven't seen much of him but from what I hear he is a big talent who wants to come to Arsenal or Real Madrid so perhaps both clubs have already shown an interest? Pure speculation from myself and I am sure we will hear plenty more of that over the coming months.

Hold onto your hats. it's going to be a long summer.

Comments

#1 - gaya Says:

i have a problem with the issue of the quick dissolving of the invisibles. i would like to know which of the players were forced out of the club, which players refused the one year rolling contracts and so on.
its easy to compare with e.g, Manu, the players you've mentioned wanted to stay.
i might be wrong but i believe i read over the weekend that PV wished he had left earlier.
i could also argue that if fans make their players feel more at home maybe recent players like Hleb, Flamini and others will still be here, Hey who knows, just a thot

#2 - looneygooner Says:

Gaya who are the invisibles because I can't seem to find out what they look like

#3 - gaya Says:

thanks Looneygooner, that was an error. i meant invinsibles or the team that went the whole season without a defeat

#4 - gt Says:

Good points gaya, let see:

FW

Henry - Got what he wished, sold to Barca
Bergkamp - Retired, I hope he'll be back one day

MF

Vieria - Got what he wished, sold to Juve
Gilberto - Humiliated by AW, stripped of the captaincy in the summer while he took a rest after the South American cup, then fell out of favor and sold to Panathinokos (how to spell it). The "Invisible" (no pun intended) wall is my all time favorite player
Ljungberg - Passed his best and went to West Ham (?)
Pires - AW denied his wish for a longer contract and signed with Villareal

DF

Cole - Cashley
Sol - Disappeared during HT (which game was it?) after a mental breakdown. Left on bad terms, but with a twist of fate he's back
Toure - Couldn't get along with Gallas, currently employed by the other team in Manchester
Lauren - Dislodged from the RB position by (you guess it) Eboue, sold to Portsmouth

GK

Mad Jens - Dislodged from the GK position after a few high profile errors, left quietly

So there you have it

#5 - gt Says:

Good article Gordon. I agree with all of your points.

It is a matter of time, though, before fans should debate seriously whether AW is the right man for the job. AW has a very sustainable business model in his mind and he could have been a very successful CEO for Microsoft or Apple or Toyota. But football is a highly success-driven business. One season without a trophy and that's probably okay; three seasons without a trophy and all the bandwagoners (criticize them as much as you want; they do bring in gate receipts and merchandise sales) are gone; five years without a trophy and even the most hardcore fans have doubts. Arsenal is too prestigious of a football club for that.

I personally would say "one more season", and (touch wood) if nothing comes good in May 2011, it's time for the board to make some hard decisions.

#6 - l;sg Says:

Arsenal goalkeeping solution lie in the PL, heres why
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/384952-arsenal-need-a-keeper-wenger-will-find-one-in-pl?just_published=1

#7 - SolsaGooner Says:

erm i think you will find Jens Lehmann WAS a world class goalkeeper how you say otherwise i really dont know,brilliant keeper!!

#8 - Peace_fabby Says:

Dnt knw wht to say bout my darlin team arsenal,5yrz without single trophy!is it only emirate cup our piority?couse is gettin outoff hand wiv all wht's happenin;AW need to inject xperience player into the team we tot we're epl favourite dis season buh very painful we lost it again tho i stl belief next season is ourz if AW ready to splash cash into xperience playerz.

#9 - Gordon Breen Says:

gt,
Vieira - according to Vieira's autobiography arsenal accepted the offer for Juve without saying it to him first (now he did admit the previous season he was very close to leaving but Arsenal refusing to sell) and was unhappy bout that as at that point he wanted to stay.
Pires - Arsenal should have kept Pires for another season minimum but I do know that after being substituted in Paris played a big part in him leaving!
Gilberto - The way arsenal treated this man was very poor after just having his best season & not getting the captaincy! Like you I really liked this guy and he seemed to really love arsenal too!

Rest id agree with you, but my whole point the team was dismantled too quickly so ultimately Arsene and Arsenal mis-managed that.

Salsagooner, i defo rate Lehman I just dont think he is world class bracket. World class is brandished around very willy nilly in football nowadays. To me world class are guys who basically get into 99% to 100% of teams in the world! If we did get as good a keeper as jens was in his first few seasons Id be well happy, cleary at the moment we dont have that!

#10 - SolsaGOONER Says:

fair enough GB but my opionion is he very much was a top top drawer keeper,there is not alot of worldy keepers,thtas why it is hard for wenger to get 1 in as the very best are at the big boys already?? joe hart might be good at brum but whos to say as soon as hes in the spotlight at the top he be able to handle the pressure very big ask for a 23 year old

#11 - richie Says:

PV´s autobiography omitted 1 small detail.
1st Patrick had been linked with a move for the whole year before he was sold, it was really disrupting the team. Arsene asked him what he wanted to do? PV decided to stay, but asked Arsene to invest big, saying that he Pirez Henry and the rest didn´t have much time (career wise) left to win the CL. The only thing missing on his PV´s CV.

Arsene insisted that we had as much chance as any with the young one´s coming through (ie. Cesc, RvP etc). Aparently AW asked PV who he thought had more of a chance than us? PV replied Juv. They disagreed. Rumours linking PV with a move persisted.

Patrick went on his summer break to Miami. Where Amazingly he ended up sitting on a beach chatting to the Juv capitain. This was way too much of a coinsidence for AW who made the move (Patrick wanted) for him.

The problems PV encountered durring his year at Juv are well known. He moved to Inter another team he thought had nore chance than us to win the CL. Many will recall a very dejected Patrick leaving the highbury pitch after Arsene had been proven right. PV and inter had been put out of the CL by Arsene´s kids! In particular by a masterfull performance by (PV´s replacement) a certain young man called Cesc.

Sometimes things aren´t totally black and white in football.

#12 - richie Says:

ML rightly points out the Pirez case wasn´t clear cut either. Bobby had reached the stage where Arsene normally offered only a years contract extention. In BP´s case (rarely) he was prepared to offer longer, but Bobby insisted on moving because he was still P´ed off with AW over his substitution in the CL.

#13 - richie Says:

Our invincible team had a totally different relationship with Arsene, they were on equal terms, they played for Arsene because they wanted to! Unlike manuers boys!
The likes of giggs scholes & neville are Taggarts yes men! They wouldn´t ask to go to the toilet if they were pissing themselves. They´d beg to stay.

#14 - Gordon Breen Says:

Richie, you have some fair points there but unless you're personally very close to Wenger, Vieira & Pires us meer mortals dont know the full dealings in these transfer & contract saga's! There are generally 3 sides to every story...side a, side b & then finally the truth!

Anyways as I said already my whole point in the dismantling of the invincibles happened far to quickly...and when Henry, Vieira & Pires left maybe (only time will tell) whether they should've been replaced with experienced players (obviously not being as good tho) instead of investing so heavily on youth

And I agree SalsaGooner, Hart is young and looks incredibly good at Brum...however is he another Foster, Richard Wright too young to play for a top keeper....keepers dont hit their prime till 30! I actually only saw Friedal there for Villa and thought of Liverpool...they bought James and Friedal at the wrong times they were too young for big clubs!

#15 - richie Says:

I don´t wanna blow my own trvmpet and I wovldn´t over play my hand, I covldn´t claim to know why someone acted the way they did bvt what I was told fitted the facts. I don´t know all bvt I do have a few contacts @ the Ars! However most of this was in the pvblic domain. That Patrick was photographed on a beach in Miami with the old lady of Torino´s capitain´s was news @ the time.

The conversation PV had with AW was related to me by a member of the Arsenal staff before PV was sold, before the Miami photo´s appeared. Maybe the in-hovse person made it vp, bvt I felt what I was told fitted the facts very well.

Arsene has said he wovld´ve liked to have kept Bobby P longer and was flexible in his approach. Pirez was interviewed by l´eqvipe and said he wasn´t interest in the longer contract offered after being svbbed in the CL final. My powers of dedvction mightn´t be vp to Sherlock Holmes bvt I stand by the opions becavse as I stated I think my opinions fitted the facts.

#16 - richie Says:

GB Arsene himself made statments saying he wished he covld´ve kept the invinibles together for longer especially certain members who he said wovld´ve eased the transition to the kids, bvt as soon as certain members went PV Bobby P Cashley and then disastrovsly Sol went off key. There wasn´t a lot left to hang on to! Arsene hvng on to the one player he knew covld inspire the kids Henry.
Then Henry ended vp in a Messi divorce (pls excvse the pvn) & wanted to get away so Arsene gave him the move he asked for. Thierry if he´s still married to Nicole is still an Arsenal player. He still loved the Arsenal and Arsene jvst not his wife.

#17 - John Says:

I met a journalist in a bar on sunday evening in Picadilly before the PFA awards who is a Gooner and has his ear to whats happening at the Grove.I asked him who is leaving in the summer he said Clichy to Barca more than Cesc.Definatley going are Almunia,WHO IS NOT INJURED!!!!Fabianski going on loan to a championship club with a view to a permanent move.Gallas going to Italy Silvestre,Denilson(who Wenger has run out of patience with),Eduardo and Vela

Coming in a new top class Keeper with Szezceny and Mannone fighting it out for the 2nd keeper sport.Hangeland???? Chamakh

You here it hear first

#18 - SolsaGOONER Says:

nice try john haha

#19 - Gordon Breen Says:

Jez John, I think i was in that same bar...however I didnt get bogged down talking to a journo..Jessica Alba was busy hounding me for my phone number and her chance to kiss an irish man!

#20 - ArseMan Says:

Well - Arsene is my best mate and down the pub the other week, he admitted to me that he did break up his invincible side too early... he'd had 5 beers and 4 shots of tequilla... he's not the biggest of drinkers, that's why he rarely has a drink with other managers cos he gets drunk too quickly and starts mooning at everyone etc.

I said why did you do it! He said I don't know... and then he started to cry and I patted him on the back and said it would be ok, don't worry just make sure you sort it out this summer or I'll tell your mum...

We then went for a curry and he really enjoyed his lamb madras and it made him feel much better about things.

So there you have it... believe me or not... I know Arsene wouldn't lie to me after I bought him a lamb madras... ; - )

Name

E-mail (Will not appear online)

Homepage

Comment