The transfer window shut yesterday, with a bang for some teams, and with a whimper for others. Arsenal were firmly in the “whimper” category.
That’s not to say Arsenal were inactive. They did their business early, bringing in Podolski, Giroud and Cazorla by early August. At the time it seemed like a bold statement of intent, and could still be viewed as such, but the departures of Robin Van Persie and Alex Song (him in particular) gave a bitter taste at the end of the window.
Are we stronger?
Hmmm. Difficult. We lost the goals and assists of Van Persie and Song. With Podolski and Giroud expected to go some way to replacing his goals tally, Arsenal are looking for a return to the more even goal distribution of previous years, with Gervinho, Cazorla and particularly Walcott expected to chip in with upwards of 10 goals this season. Is it possible? Of course. Once the team gels, they’ll be a far slicker force than last season, and of course Podolski and Giroud do seem to be at the moment trying to break the dam. Once they do, goals will flow freely.
What’s more, the departure of Alex Song, while removing a strong body from midfield, has also made it more accountable. Neither Abou Diaby nor Aaron Ramsey (or Francis Coquelin) have much of a tendency to roam out of position the way Song did, and while he did provide 13 assists last year, those came at the expense of his defensive duties. Cazorla can more than cover for him.
I genuinely think Cazorla is one of the signings of the window, by the way. To get him for 11m, circumstances regardless, is incredible. He’s worth upwards of 20 million, no question.
The first eleven is stronger. But I’m not sure the squad is.
If Arteta is injured, we still have a pickle. While Cazorla can drop back to replace in the pivote role, that means we have to play the likes of Rosicky and Ramsey in “the hole”. While they can do this job, and Rosicky did so admirably last season, it’s hard to see them producing anything near the creativity of Cazorla.
We’re forced to rely on youth like Coquelin as our backup, though players like him will only get better.
We’re also a bit thin up front, with only Chamakh(!) and Walcott capable of playing centre forward if our two first choice strikers are hurt. But we’ll have to deal with that when we come to it.
The real problem
What is worrying isn’t that we didn’t spend in deadline day. Wenger made it clear that if he couldn’t find the right player, he wouldn’t buy anyone. He doesn’t want to spend money for the sake of it. That’s fine.
It’s that we didn’t seem to want to.
I don’t think this is Arsene Wenger’s fault. I think there is something going on upstairs that is restricting what he can do in the market. I don’t know what it is exactly, but it does seem as if Kroenke only needs Arsenal to be as successful as they are now, no more, no less. Wenger openly said he wanted additions. Then suddenly, he’s satisfied? Now he might have seen something in training, but I think he had a 20 million pound mega deal in mind, but was tapped on the shoulder and told “no” by somebody. Which is a shame.
My verdict? This is a team (and squad) that can surprise people. We probably won’t win the league. There’s no shame in losing out to the billions that City have access to. The issue is that we haven’t used our resources to the fullest, to try and beat them.
With all that said, please don’t boo the team. Be the twelfth man for Arsenal, the way you were against Milan and Spurs. That’s what inspires them, not shouts of “SPEND SOME F*******G MONEY!!!!!”. It’s not their fault. As I said before, join the AST, they’re looking into what’s going on upstairs as well. But don’t hinder our performance on the pitch with mutinous atmospheres and a lack of patience. Please.
Transfer window rating: B. Could do better. Could do a lot worse.
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