The Sybian wrote:Finally, another Arsenal fan to bitch with! I think the 2 Poles battling it out and gaining the wisdom of maturity and experience is good enough, though I wouldn't be opposed to a world class keeper being brought in. The two Poles played well this year, and kept the gaffes to a minimum. Sczezny is still what, 24 or so? He is improving each year, and has the makings of a world class keeper. Get him the experience, and he will get there. Keep Wilshere healthy for a year, and you have your midfield set. Cazorla has been a G-dsend. If Gervino could find the net, or more importantly a soft final touch before his shot, he would be a class winger. Giroud scored 17, which is a great return, but I am not at all sold on him as an answer up front. He is so damned slow, and he disappears for 88 minutes at a time more games than not. He has a good nose for goal, but he isn't capable of creating his own chances, and I don't think he is the right type of player to fit into Arsenal's team. They need at least one high quality striker with pace and size. Altidore! (just kidding), Maybe Rooney would work out well, that'd be interesting if nothing else.
What's your thought on Mertesacker? Everything I read praises him to high heaven, but I think he is too slow and he gets caught flat footed way too often. He just looks like a baby horse standing for the first time when a forward switches directs on him. The guy always plays hard and with a lot of heart, but he is just too slow!
I am fine with Mertesacker for another year, maybe two, obviously not long-term given his age. His position play is very good and his lack of pace is usually only exposed when his partner pushes too high up the pitch, something Vermaelen does all the time but Kos is much more conscientious about. It also helped that this year Arteta protected the back four and could compensate if a defender was out of position much better than Alex Song ever did (Song is one Arsenal departee I have never and will never miss). I would love to sell Vermaelen, buy a £5-7 million centre half with a good injury record for the squad, and either bring back Djourou or promote someone like Miquel as a 4th option.
Keeper is the least worrying position but I'm not convinced the club sees Szczyny as a long-term option. It would be a shame to miss out on his potential but I would still take Begovic or Mignolet any day of the week if the price is right. Cesar would be an OK option on a free but you don't have to pay keepers the wages QPR gave him and he would only be a short-term fix.
We'll never buy Rooney and don't think we'd even want to - don't get me wrong, we would be better with him, but you get too many attitude problems and probably the wrong side of his career for a high transfer and wage cost. The Higuain rumours are intriguing. I am happy with Giroud, if only because his suspension showed we have no one who can hold the ball up since RVP's departure. I disagree that he doesn't fit in, as we're thankfully a different kind of team these days, much less one-dimensional and insistent on passing the ball in to the goal - I am all in favour of keeping him. If the Gervinho to Lyon rumours are true, we should take what we can get and use that and the transfer kitty towards a major talent to pair with Giroud.
We can afford to sell Bendtner, Chamakh, Denilson, Vermaelen, Gervinho. That maybe gets us £15 million in fees and with Arshavin and Squillaci now gone, all of the sudden we'd cleared close to £20-25 million in annual wages in the process. Use that £35 million plus the new £30 million a year in Emirates money plus the supposed £70 million kitty (though I think that's a pile of BS put out by the club to the media) and get amongst it. An actual title might be too much to expect but we certainly should be competitive and win a domestic cup from that.
