The first is to say that I absolutely believe Giroud is good enough to lead our line. Whilst of course a truly elite striker would have been a wonderful addition I am secretly pleased that Giroud is going to get the chance to be the main man for another season (or at least half of one). Whenever I talk up Giroud I always refer to 2 matches from last season. The first was the 0-0 draw at Stoke right at the start of the season. It was his first start in the EPL, away at Stoke of all places, and yet for 90 minutes he out-fought and dominated both of Stoke’s huge, brutish centre backs. The lack of goals for the striker was of course what the media seized upon, but it was actually a hugely impressive debut that more insightful commentators might have written up very differently. The second game is the 3-2 victory over Brighton. He scored 2, and both had the hallmarks of another player all over them – Didier Drogba. Yes I know it was only Brighton, and I’m not actually saying he’ll reach those heights, but it
Ok, let’s start with the obvious. I’m not going to dwell on Özil’s arrival since better men than I will no doubt devote thousands of words to it over the interlull, but suffice to say I am over the moon. It is a huge signing in so many ways – the acquisition of a world class player, a much needed addition of creativity (don’t listen to the media on that front!), a statement of intent that we are a ‘buying’ club again, and a ‘Bergkamp-style’ lure for other world class players. We will no doubt be aiming for a world class striker in one of the next 2 windows – how much easier will it be to persuade a player to come when they can play in front of the midfield we’ve now assembled!
What? No Striker?
And that brings us nicely to the first area of concern – the failure to sign that world class striker in this window. There’s no denying that this is a disappointment, and there’s also no use pretending that the manager is completely happy with the options we’ve been left with. The last minute attempt for Demba Ba is proof of that. However, before we head straight for AST-statement-induced despair and depression there are a few issues to be considered.
The first is to say that I absolutely believe Giroud is good enough to lead our line. Whilst of course a truly elite striker would have been a wonderful addition I am secretly pleased that Giroud is going to get the chance to be the main man for another season (or at least half of one). Whenever I talk up Giroud I always refer to 2 matches from last season. The first was the 0-0 draw at Stoke right at the start of the season. It was his first start in the EPL, away at Stoke of all places, and yet for 90 minutes he out-fought and dominated both of Stoke’s huge, brutish centre backs. The lack of goals for the striker was of course what the media seized upon, but it was actually a hugely impressive debut that more insightful commentators might have written up very differently. The second game is the 3-2 victory over Brighton. He scored 2, and both had the hallmarks of another player all over them – Didier Drogba. Yes I know it was only Brighton, and I’m not actually saying he’ll reach those heights, but it was a hint that he MIGHT. The first was a long range thump from outside the area, and the second was vintage Drogba – latching onto a floated ball, barging a defender out the way as if he wasn’t there whilst controlling the pass and rifling into the net. If he could find that cold eyed, clinical edge the Ivorian had, we could have a seriously potent weapon on our hands. (He also, by the way, again like the Ivorian, is a huge asset when defending set pieces, which, given our record in that department over the last decade, is not something to be dismissed lightly.)
Secondly, our tendency of last season to share goals out amongst the team will only increase with the addition of Özil. We now have at least 5 players eminently capable of getting into double figures for the season (maybe 6 if Ramsey continues his fantastic form).
In other words, the real concern is a lack of depth at No 9, rather than a lack of goals in our 1st 11. And injuries certainly don’t help on that score – Podolski would of course be an option there, and it would be easier to consider Theo up front if we had the Ox fit to replace him on the wing. I don’t want to sugar coat it – for 3 months or so we look short, and even then we’re not exactly bristling with options. There are however 2 dark horses… players of whom the fans expect so little that any good would be an added bonus.
The first is Sanogo. He has played 20 or 30 competitive minutes for us so far which would best be characterised as ‘nervous’, but he looked seriously classy at times at the U-21 world cup and at least now has the ridiculous pressure of being our ‘only’ signing lifted from him. I’m not saying I know for certain that he will be a revelation this season, I simply remind you that at the moment most are talking as if he doesn’t exist. (And last time we bought an unheralded Frenchman who had spent time in their lower leagues he turned out to be one of the best defenders in the EPL.) If we need someone to offer cover for this crucial 3 months where we are especially short he might well be up to the job. Let’s face it, with a midfield of Özil, Cazorla, Walcott, Ramsey, Rosicky, Wilshere and Arteta he MIGHT get a few more chances per game than most strikers!
The second, darkest of dark horses is Bendtner. Yes, the greatest striker in the world is back in the mix people! But here’s the thing – if we’re talking desperation measures, if we’re talking so many injuries that most clubs would be calling in the academy strike, if things are that bad, I promise you there are many, many worse options than Nicklas Bendtner. If it was any other player I’d also be pointing out that he will be coming back humble and hungry, desperate to prove himself again and maybe ready to grow up and focus on his career…but it’s Bendtner, so that may be overegging it a bit. But even the ridiculous, preening, arrogant, distracted version of Bendtner can score goals and lead the line, and his recent statement suggests that he might be ready to work hard for a new start.
It is easy to feel that simply any stop-gap striker would have been worth going for once the Ba loan deal had fallen through, but there is a danger of hypocrisy there. It is ironic that, on my Twitter feed at least, the same voices who have been most critical of the ‘deadwood’ on our wage bill were the same ones asking ‘Surely ANYBODY is better than no one?’ at 9pm on Monday night. The simple fact is that, for all his many faults, ‘anybody’ would probably have had less talent than Bendtner and with the added handicap of having to learn the Arsenal way of doing things, and acclimatise to a new club. Furthermore, we’d have been stuck with them on a long term deal, whereas now we’re still free to go in hard for Rooney and co in January or next summer.
There will, of course be an underlying feeling that the best option would have been to get Higuain when he was available, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. The flipside of that coin is that Chelsea went in and got Willian when he was available but would surely have held out for Özil with hindsight.
What? No defender?
Whilst I entirely understand the concern about our striker situation, I’m less sure I understand the consternation about our defence. We had the second best defence in the league last year and the current roster is an improvement on 12 months ago. Not only have we replaced Santos with Monreal, but Koscielny and Mertesacker are vastly improved, both individually and in terms of their understanding with each other. Furthe
rmore, we have added Flamini into that mix. Özil will obviously generate all the column inches and plaudits, but signing a 29 year old Flamini on a free is a masterstroke in my opinion. Flamini is one of those players that seems to be perpetually underrated. In 2007/8 we had one of the best teams Wenger has assembled. It was a team every bit good enough to win the league, and it very nearly did. And right at the heart of it was Flamini. Cesc, of course, stole the limelight, but slowly I became more and more aware that whenever Flamini was absent Fabregas didn’t look half the player (and Arsenal didn’t look half the team) as when he was there. And in just over 45 minutes against Spurs on Sunday he reminded me of everything he brought and that we have lacked ever since – clattering challenges, fight, grit, steel, all the while barking orders and organising the defence. In this instance the perpetually underrated player seems even more underwhelming because he has arrived on a free, but I can promise you he is far more what we need than, say, Fellaini for £27 million.
For not only does Flamini finally offer genuine cover and competition to Arteta in front of the defence, but crucially he also offers quality cover at full back allowing Sagna to genuinely be considered as a 4th centre back without leaving us short. Everything I’ve seen of Sagna in the centre – last season at Sunderland, in pre-season and now at the start of this season – tells me he isn’t just an upgrade on our previous back-up centre backs, he is in a different league.
And again, like Bendtner, Flamini offers a hugely useful and overlooked quality – he’s bedded in before we even signed him. He knows the Arsenal way, he knows the club, he knows the manager, and he feels at home. The contrast with all of Spurs new boys on Sunday couldn’t have been greater. Whilst they floundered and tried to find their feet, Flamini was thrown on with little warning and nailed it from minute one.
A Selling Club
And that brings me nicely to my final point, one that has been commented on a fair bit, but then apparently ignored whenever it has come to analysing our chances this season: We’ve not sold anyone who mattered. And it is that, almost as much as signing Özil, which makes this our best window for a decade. After all, we have bought class before, albeit not quite of his calibre. But look down the transfer lists and the pattern is obvious. Pick a summer – for every Cazorla there is an RvP, for every Rosicky there is an Ashley Cole, for every Arshavin, there is a Hleb. In fact, you have to go back exactly a decade to find a window where we could be said to have been in credit in terms of levels of talent coming in (and even then it saw Seaman hang up his gloves). And it’s about more than just losing talent. You only need to look at Spurs’ disjointed displays so far this season to realise that familiarity and understanding are a crucial part of a winning team. EVERY SINGLE SEASON for a DECADE our key players have had to develop new understandings and relationships from scratch…until this one.
The simple fact is that the exact same team that won the NLD on Sunday would not have scored that crucial winning goal this time last year, despite the personnel being identical. There is simply no way all of those passes would have gone to feet, and there is no way Walcott would have known that Giroud’s instinct is to run to the near post, and there is no way Giroud would have had the confidence as a debutant to make that delightful, world class flick past Lloris.
But of course, this crucial element goes uncommented upon, because ‘squad cohesion’ doesn’t show up on Sky’s big list of total spending, nor does it get crowds of young men waiting patiently outside the Emirates for hours waiting for news. But it has been a crucial factor in this transfer window, and it’s a reason I am more optimistic about this season than I have been for many years.
EXAMPLE OF AD POSITION
