By Walter Broeckx
Well at the end of the day… we can only trust the Lord Wenger.
For those about who shout BUY, I would like to ask: how are you going to keep all of them happy on the bench as only 3 players can play in our current system. We still have 2 full internationals ready (if they don’t get injured next week that is) and Walcott and Vela (also 2 full internationals when fit) coming back real soon now. Bendtner and RVP are also 2 full internationals so that makes that our 6 attackers are all full internationals.
For some bizarre reason we have now the situation where 4 of our 6 first team attackers are injured at the same time. Must say that this is a very extreme situation and how would other clubs deal if they got hit by 4 forwards out at the same time. In a very short time we should recover Walcott and Vela and with Eduardo and Arshavin also available we then have 4 international players.
Let’s try to look at the other top 4 clubs from last season. How would they cope with a situation like ours.
Madchester United: they have Rooney, Owen, Berbatov, and then we could add Valencia and Nani but they are more wingers then strikers. Oh yes I forgot Wellbeck. So let’s suppose the first 4 fall out at the same moment… they could put Nani and Wellbeck up front. I would suggest SAF to buy.
Let’s stay up north and go to Liverpool. They have Torres, Kuyt, Voronin, Ngog, and ….. can anyone please tell me cause when I look at their site a only see midfielders for the rest that could play in attack. So this would mean that Liverpool just had no real attackers at their disposal in case they got hit by the same amount of injuries like we do. I would suggest Benitez to buy even more.
Coming back to London we look at Chelsea. They have Drogba, Anelka, Kalou all full internationals and then there is still Sturridge. So if 4 attackers would get hurt at the same time… Chelsea would have… no replacement who are pure strikers. I would suggest Ancelotti to buy, buy and buy.
So one can see that the current situation is a situation that very rare appears but as always we are the one to suffer. But at the other end we are the best equipped compared with our other rivals.
In fact we have in our midfield players who can play up front and have done in the past mostly on the wings like Diaby, Nasri, Rosicky and even Cesc , can and have played there.
So those who say : buy, buy, buy are just shouters who do not have any eye for the very special circumstances we suffer for the moment. NO team has the depth to survive 4 injured attackers at the same time. In fact I never heard of a similar situation by any other football club. We shall see how Wenger puts his players on the field the next weeks and see how we cope with it on the field.
Missing Robin is a major blow because he was on fire and playing and scoring great but the players we still have are all full internationals and have proven in the past that they can play there and deliver. So let’s get behind our team and the players and give them the trust that Wenger has in them.
I must admit I was down when I heard the news but at the other end we now can see how strong Eduardo has come back and the way he scored for Croatia was a promising start.
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Unfortunate as it is, this cold be a blessing in disguise for our other less well known squad players to step up.
Also i cannot understand those supporters who seem to think that the answer to every problem is to run out and buy, buy, buy??
I begs the question why have a squad, why bother with a reserve team, why bother with a youth team? when your not willing to give them a chance.
Sure, any one we bring up from the reserves and youth teams need to find their form and fast but experience shows that our squad, reserve and youth team players are of a very high quality and more than capeable of doing the buisness should the call come from Le Boss, i’d be more worried if we went out and bought someone from wherever who’d take at least six months to gell with the team and club.
Wallcott, vella, Eduardo, Arshavin, Snoop and Diaby who can also play up front, so do we realy need to buy another striker??? i think not.
Team to play Chelsea:
Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Verminator, Gibbs, Cesc, Song, Nasri, Arshavin, Eduardo, Wallcott.
Nice article…
Still no place for Rosicky, Vela, Ramsey(he is one fire), Diaby, Merida…
Hey even Eboue can play forward. But thats a funny situation. He plays as right back or right forward but he is named as midfielder in our team list.
Who says buy and can anyone tell us who amongst these is not capable of playing…
As it stands now and mentionned in the media in Holland and Belgium it seems that RVP will be out for some 4 to 6 weeks.
Now lets take the 6 weeks period that will mean that RVP could be back in Januari. So even more why should we buy then just when he will be back ?
For the lovers of detail: it is said he is going to follow treatment in the Balkan with a docter that has cured PSV and Serbian player Lazovic who had the same problem. It’s a treatment where they use an intens massage with stuff from a placenta. I’m no docter or have no medical backgroud so I just give it to you as it appeared in the press ove here. But it should shorten the road to recovery.
Well what treatment they give as long as it gets him back on his feet is alright for me.
Thanks Walter. Look at the team I expect to play against Man City in two weeks time.
Mannone
Gilbert, Senderos, Silvestre, Traore
Ramsey, Merida, Wilshere
Walcott, Watt, Vela
True that Walcott is coming back from injury which is probably the only reason he will be playing. Also the boss might want to give Denilson a run out – although who he will exclude is not obvious. Denilson & Walcott might get half a game each, with Wilshere going to the front and Ramsey moving from DM.
This team has every chance of winning. My point is that if this team can be competitive, why can’t our first team play with Watt up front? Surely he is as good as Ngog, Wellbeck or Sturridge?
Not that I would do that. Eduardo as centre forward with AA and either Rosicky or Nasri will be fine for Sunderland and Chelsea. Rest Edu for the midweek game.
jazbo & Cape Gooner
any suggestions for the Sunderland game?
The one against Sunderland is more important than those against Chelsea and Mancity, as it’s our NEXT game and all our lads must be knackered from internationals /play-offs.
Since goals come from all over the pitch for us, I guess this won’t be what we miss RVP for. We’ll probably miss him for his spirit and the way he drives forward our attack. Hopefully Eduardo can step up and provide the same. Rather than buying attackers I hope Lord AW has got a good solution for when Song leaves to the ACN.
If Eduardo is fit to play he is the ONLY choice for me to replace RvP. He is a great player and if anyone can replace RvP it´s him.
I agree that Dudu is the most logical choice to step up to the plate.
Not only is he a clinical finisher and assassin in front of goal, he is a competent, unselfish and breath-taking playmaker who can act as the fulcrum of our attack just like RVP. Bendy should be back soon to give Dudu some breathing space if needed – but Wenger still has many options if he were to rest Dudu.
The Sunderland game is the more important game as it’s the sort of game that we have to pick up maximum points to keep up with the leaders in the EPL table. Chelsea’s game is crucial, but if we draw or lose it, it’s not as bad as not picking up points from teams lower than us. Sunderland has given us problems in the last 2 seasons and it will be a tough test, but I’m confident the boys can do it.
It has to be Eduardo as the next in line.
Thankfully it’s only a 6-week layoff for RvP (that’s the best bit of news I’ve heard all week) and Bendtner will hopefully be back before then. I think the worry is whether anyone can do the dropping back and hold play up like RvP can. Bendy would do a good job up there but we’ll have to see with dudu, although he did play there against Liverpool in the Carling Cup. He may need someone like a Diaby up there with him for the height.
We’ve got plenty of strength for the next two games and should still win those (RvP probably wouldn’t have played in the champs league game anyway). The Chelsea game will be interesting but then they are without Lampard and Drogbawhich is more of a loss to them than losing RvP is to us.
we agree with what u say but we have lost a player who made 7 assists and scored the same no of goals this season. so we can cope up if vela gets injured but it is gonna be very difficult with RVP. but lets hope 4 the best. May be this is the time when walcott gets a more central role. lets wait and watch…
fingers crossed..
Buying is not the solution for now. Maybe its my penchant for the Football Manager games, but i feel Vela is a great player in the making. Buying more players would leave a long line of discontented players expecting a starting berth everytime. Eduardo is presently the best option for that position.
Does anybody remember Adebayor or Kolo? Were they Gunners and where are they now?
Today we have the same situation. Arsenal does not need anybody else than 2 central backs(higher ones) for replace, especialy in case of Vermaelen or Gallas injury, and a first class goalkeeper (for example Hugo Loris from Olympique Lyonnais). And, than, Arsene can sell even Cesc and Almunia (but keep Mannone and Fabiansky). Even after that,(with more than 50m. in the pocket) Arsene can choose between A.Ramsey, J.Welshear or anybody else to replace the vital midfielder, the great Cesc. The result will still be the same and the squad will be stronger and invicible like the first one (with Henry, Pires, Vieira …).
I agree we don’t need to buy for the offense.
Perhaps Ramsey, Diaby, or Denilson are who Wenger has in mind for replacing Song in January.
However, I still feel we need to buy more depth at CD. Gallas and Vermaelen are putting in tons of minutes and with Wenger only giving Silvestre and Senderos (rumors of him asking to leave) Carling Cup minutes, I worry about anything that might happen to those 2, or them just getting plain wore out by February.
Helpful post. Thanks Walter for putting things into perspective.
Buying is always an “option”…..developing great young players and “building” a squad is too an option.
After spending over maybe 500 mil in one window altogether, who could be sure that Madrid and citeh will win anything?
Song will be gone but it’s not a disaster if Wenger does not buy. Who could be 100% sure that that player will do a better job than the ones we have now?
Wenger is being smart in this financial environment. Apart from the ‘strange’ purchase of few players, Arsene is in his own league when comes to buying and selling players.
Just like the great Verminator, he will jump into the market and buy that player when there’s a need to(provided the price is reasonable).
He is the only manager in this world who could buy Arshavin at that price.
And I am sure Dudu or Vela will do just fine while RVP takes some rest…
hi guys,
sorry to go off subject but have you found out who is ripping off your article and posting it on other sites?
good post by the way i think we’ll be fine with edu.
Good post Walter. Sorry, Tony.s book kept me away from posting a comment. We will be just fine, I know. Strangely enough, not many teams have as many options as we have up-front at the moment.
As stated by ‘henrykissinher’, someone has been pasting your articles on other sites. However, there are quite a few sensible Arsenal fans fighting your corner by telling whoever is the culprit off. Our dear American 7amkicker, Tim has already banned someone from his site for the same offense. It goes to show, though, how good your articles are. Keep up the good work.
DONt really UNDERstand this article- all i know is EDUARDO IS A TICKING BOMB ABOUT TO EXPLODE.
What RvP does so well is hold the ball up and bring our other players into the attack. He can create space for himself and others using his amazing first touch, intelligent movement, and technique, and he can pick out his teammates with a precise pass.
I think he is a big part of why we have scored so many goals and have so many different goal scorers.
Without him we have Bendtner and Eduardo who can play up front on their own. I don’t think the rest of the players will work as center forwards, because they are more second strikers or wide players.
Currently Eduardo is our only available option. He cannot come in and replicate what RvP has been doing. We’ll play differently with him in the team, no doubt. Whether it will be worse or better (hard to imagine that) or the same remains to be seen.
He played in that role once this season (against Celtic) and impressed, so I’m positive about his involvement. Some are trying to paint this situation as a disaster for Arsenal but in fact we are not a team that relies on one or two individuals.
We can even put out our under-5s team and still play great football.
we still have plenty, why need to buy. If Eddy could not make it for 90 full minute, there are still Vela, and Sanchez. I hope Vela had a run of game, this guy had a scary talent and I like the way he score his goal. And guys dun felt SO WORRY because we are a team that firing on all department, don’t forget about Billy and Vermmy they know how to score ;p…………
……………….Szczęsny/Mannone/Fabianski…………………..
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…….Gallas/Djou/Nordtveit/Song…..Sakho/Verm/Bartley/Song…….
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………………Song/East/Coq/Verm/Djou/Nordveit………………
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Sagna/Eboue/Gilbert………………………..Gibbs/Traore/Botelho
………………Denilson/Diaby/Rambo/Nasri/JET………………..
…………………………………………………………..
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……………..Diaby/Nasri/Rambo/Ros/JW/JET/Merida…………….
…………………………………………………………..
.Wal/Nasri/Ros/Arsh/Eboue/Watt………….Arsh/Diaby/Vela/Nasri/JW.
…………………………………………………………..
………..Bendtner/Edu/Vela/Simpson/Diaby/Walcott/Sunu/Arsh……..
Arsenal do not have to buy anyone in the forseeable future – there is strength in depth in this club.Let the young ones step up and take their chance.Youth should not be a deterent -Trevor Francis was 16 years old when he made is debut for Birmingham and promptly rewarded them with 4 goals.Ditto for Wayne Rooney and TW14.I have every confidence that this team will not let us down.
Defence Defence Defence.
I really do think arsenal have great squads, reserve and first team, but nothing can hide the blantly obvious.
There are a few players that i can’t seem to see someone capable of covering thier positions should they get injured. And should they get injured arsenal will cease to challenge for the title this year.
Vermaleen and Gallas. while they are absolutely great in defence this year. It’s quite inevitable for at least one of them to be uninjured all season even for a couple of weeks.
Then comes the cover problem. options = silvestre, djourou(if fit), senderos.
I really don’t know which one of these makes me more nervous about our defence. silvestre is a “legend” and really what i think is that he is at arsenal to lead defensive training and mentor more than anything. I believe that’s what wenger’s was after when he bought him. great, but we need to win trophies and need someone that’s really sharp for the big games should arsenal need cover at the back. Now senderos. Senderos spent the last season on load with ac milan. I havn’t seen much of him this season. But It would be awesome if he can show the kind the expierence and skill that he may have learned training with the great defenders ar AC milan. Land of defence. but we ll have to see
verdict buy buy buy at least one CB…. no question about the need
what should happen if song gets injured? no muscule in the whole squad to match his and really i could see arsenal being physically man handled without that kind of strength in DM. Sure we have other very good technicaly players like diaby ramsy denilson as options but all of which i feel get pushed around in midfield, maybe the nature of the english league.
sooo i think buy buy buy DM. i also happen to think that since arsene is always so discrete about his purchases. i think and hope that matudi will be commin in. The less i hear about him the more i think its true.
in anycase i do count on wenger make at least one intellgent signing
in jan. The masterful shopper he is! ph.d in economics
about the “big news” on RVP and the placenta-cure in the press today : You’ve read it here first. 😉
buy……..just buy…….but not strikers…defensive midfielder….or a defender…