By Lindo Shabangu
Why maybe it’s not all so bad over there at the Arsenal!
Ok, here we go, my attempt to write a coherent expression of my thoughts and conderluded feelings towards my team, the gooners.
I read an article the other evening in the Sun whilst on my Lithuanian family holiday – the irony ha! – by one of the many oldish white man who brace the Sunday Supplement on regular basis, Martin Lipton. He does seem a nice fella.
After some of Lietuva’s beautiful blond beers, some of the best in the world I might add, I decided I will retort , hoping one of my favorite Arsenal blogs will allow me to publish my thoughts in the great wide web before the government block comes in.
So Martin made some interest points, which we mere mortals must assume are true as they’ve become regularly spouted in the tabloids and off course the blogs that regagetate them.
One of those points is that “skint” Arsenal will have only have £40 million to spend should they failed make champions league and of course that would be a disaster. Why you ask. Because as the very wealthy Man United have proved, buying £89 million midfielders is the only way to succeed right?
Then the usual nonsense started, Arsenal need a new keeper to replace Cech, which they cannot afford of course, a completely new back 5 in fact, which they cannot afford. Arsenal need to replace Ramsey, a £400k a week midfielder, who is going to the great Italian league to win countless scuddettos with the only team that can win them it seems.
The one thing Martin does get right in my humble opinion is this will be a defining transfer window for Arsenal and Uni. He does need to make some big calls and I hope he is allowed to make them.
What I Iove about this blog is it’s unrelenting defence of our great club and its players. However I must be honest and say I feel they are a few players in our squad who would not get into Burnley’s or Leicesters team, yes the German who loves a tackle but can’t defend. But the point of this article is not to hammer the guy- I can’t even say his name anymore- but to show there are alternatives already at the club and my hope is Uni is brave enough to use them.
Emi Martinez – loaned out to Reading FC, Emi played a pivotal role in helping them avoid the drop from the Championship. I’ve alway had great hope for Emiliano who’s been at the club since 2010. I feel this is our new number two and he his good enough to push Leno and deputise in the Cup games. It’s a no brainer. Skint Arsenal promoting a keeper from their ranks, what embarrassment ha Martin.
Konstantinos Mavropanos – I strongly feel this guy should be playing every week instead of that german guy. He’s had a groin injury for most of the season but has been back training a while now, which leads me to question if the manager rates him. He seems to have all the attributes any manager would what in a defender. Tall, quick, committed and can defend. Not sure why he’s not been playing more then the one half he had since coming back from injury. I hope it’s purely a fitness thing rather than Uni not rating him.
Zack Medley- Every time I’ve seen this lad he wows me. He came on in a few games in the Europa and wow. Tall, quick, skillful, great left foot. You’d think I’m describing a play maker but no, he is a defender. He can play CB & LB and I personally think you could play in the holding role he’s that good. Why has Uni not given this guy more games, his better than -you know who-.
Reiss Nelson/ Tyreece John Jules / Xavier Amaechi /Bukayo Saka
I grouped this four lads as I beleive they could easily fill the void in the team of having no real wingers. Reiss is clearly going o be part of the first team after his great season in the Bundesliga. However I strongly feel this generation should be given regular game time next season.
Our academy may be finally developing kids good enough for the first team but is Uni brave enough to play them. No matter what you say about Arsene, he was never scared to give the kids a chance.
A few quick mentions.
Smith Rowe – I feel this lad is the reason Arsenal feel comfortable to let Ramsey leave. No Martin he’s not a £400k a week CM, however I’ve never seen a braver player on the ball, always demands it, even when its not going all his way. He is in my opinion Arsenal’s future 10, heir elect to theOzil Crown.
Jordi Osei-Tutu – A young lad who is ready to fill the void that will be left by Monreal. Its seems to me that LB position has been hard to fill for us over the years. I like Sead, but he seem he really struggles in a back four and is more adept at the LWB position flying forward. Jordi could be the perfect backup/ understudy.
Kyrstan Belik / Kelechi Nwakali
I would like to see these two being brought back into the squad – visa permitting with Nwakali- if anything just to see if they can cut it. Nwakali is a real talent but we don’t know how good he is at the moment.
So all these players are already part of our club and we haven’t spent any of the £40 million we are scraping together.
I can see the headline now – “Skint Arsenal don’t buy and promote players through their youth academy”, what a mess of a club! If only they were like that great young Ajax team who don’t buy players and promote youth.
But the more pertinent question is does Uni trust youth. Can you win anything with kids?
Lindo
There is another advantage to promoting a number of the youth players in one go in that they have been playing together for so long that they know each other’s moves so well that it has become instinctive. All too often this season our team on the pitch look as though they have never even met before the start of the game.
I agree that we currently have a great group of young players, both in the U23s and U18s.
I agree totally about the talent that Emile Smith-Rowe has and that he should become the successor to Özil. I don’t think that he will become a Ramsey replacement though, that opportunity should go to Joe Willock , one of the only two youth players who have travelled to Spain. I can’t understand his lack of game time this season compared with Guendouzi who I don’t rate anywhere near as highly. Joe seems to be a natural centre midfielder with an uncanny ability to get into the box at the right time.
This article comes close to my biggest fear after Wenger has gone.
My fear is that we have a big number of talented youngsters….who don’t get their chances. I would have loved to have seen more of Nketiah for example. And Willock. But alas for some reason our current manager is not the one to throw young players in the deep. But that is the only way to see if they could make that final step to the first team. When he did give them a chance I thought they did rather well when they got a longer spell on the pitch. One can’t judge a player when he only plays 3 minutes of course…
My fear is that we will lose some of those talented youngsters who feel they get no real chance and then will go to other teams and one day they will shine when they play against us and maybe cost us points. Our U23 and U18 are filled with great talents but they seem to be wasted and get no chances. I’m not saying you should play them each match of course but surely the very rare playing time some of them got is not enough for my liking.
Not really sure what the problem is, Pochettino at Spurs and Klopp at Liverpool have shown how you build a squad. Arsenal have a similar sized fan base and there is no reason they can’t do the same. The only thing maybe is Kroenke. At Spurs Daniel Levy and Pochettino have a clear focus and seem to work in tandem (maybe you could compare it to Wenger and David Dein). At Liverpool Fenway also seem highly professional in the way they run the club. By comparison Kroenke seems to have no long term plan for the club at all, which can’t help any manager.
I say give these group of young players a chance! Promote them all since there appears to be so little money available for transfers. Naturally one expects that they will be given A SEASON or two to come to terms with the physicality of the premier league before we can expect trophies from them.
This is another way to rebuild the team you know. Them such little funds for transfers can be used to strengthen areas which are very weak.
“Because as the very wealthy Man United have proved, buying £89 million midfielders is the only way to succeed right?” What’s the phrase for when you massively exaggerate someone’s claim to try and disprove their point?
Arsenal’s biggest problem is it’s singleton Owner.
His investment is thriving.
Why on earth should he change anything.
He bought the shares well and ever since they have gathered value.
One day (and that day will surely come) he will sell our Club to the highest bidder.
Sadly, unless the new Owner is a free-spending oil billionaire or someone similar, willing to invest and compete with the sugar daddies, I cannot see Arsenal FC
progressing further up the tree where success is bought and not built.
Sad to see tight fisted support complain about wealthy owners. If you want to own the club start a crowd funding buyout.
There seem to be glaring inaccuracies and false assumptions galore in many of the posts above:
1) Who said that Emery doesn’t have a decent amount of money to spend on new players? Are you guys listening to the media again???? Have you not learnt anything about the fake news they spout?
2) We have some great players out on loan, and a wonderful panoply of youth and reserve players coming up, who I suspect will be used to replace the traded, aging or departing excess to our needs players like Elneny, Ramsey, Monreal, Mustafi, Lichensteiner, etc.
3) Can anybody tell me how many Arsenal first team players are out injured? 4 key players -Suarez, Holding,Bellerin and Welbeck…..will all be back next season and hopefully avoid any serious recurring injuries next year.
4) IF Unai wins the Europa Cup, he will have bettered Wenger’s first full season at AFC and will have proven that, while he hasn’t mastered our home versus away form yet, he has the tactical and strategic nous to take us higher next season.