Monday, December 23, 2024

Henry: this is going to be a massive week

Thierry Henry has urged Arsene Wenger to sign two new players before the transfer window closes, calling it a ‘massive week’ for Arsenal.

Failing to score at home for the fifth time in the last six games highlights the need for more firepower, but the club’s record scorer also want the manager to bring in another midfielder.

Speaking on Sky Sports last night, Henry said, ““I think it is going to be a massive week — are they going to buy someone up front or in the middle of the park?

“They were missing a lot of players tonight. They still need a holding midfielder and they still need a striker. We have been saying it since the beginning of the season.”

Arsene Wenger will probably point to the absences of Danny Welbeck and Jack Wilshere as evidence of ‘internal solutions’, but it does feel as if in order to keep up with the likes of Man City, an infection of transfer market quality is required somewhere.

We know for sure it’s not going to be Benzema, but who might be the other options?

If you could only choose one …

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Woodnhrt

It should be a striker. Coq is great on midfield and Arteta still can do a job incase needed. But welbeck and Giroud are not good enough to compete with the best.

lettraggad

I really don’t get the shouts for a DM .. Ahead of a striker ?? Really? I wouldn’t mind a great one in but our midfield is congested as it is . The problem is what striker do we bring in .. there aren’t really any great ones available. Lacazette perhaps .. (young and untried) , Cavani (is he really good anymore) , Lukaku (yeah , I know) .. There are no obvious targets ..I would go for the next great young south american or African striker since they seem to be the only ones producing fast explosive ones but… Read more »

ClockEndRider

Lacazette looked like a pub player during the Emirates cup. He would be an upgrade on Ray Hankin or John Hawley but not Giroud, I’m afraid.

John C

And Sanogo scored 5 in one game the previous season, what’s your point?

Hurensohn

He’s signed a new contract anyway… Why does everyone overlook this fact?

xi

Ibrahimovic anyone?

Runkeball

If he’s available I’d love to have him.

chippy's chip

Alexis, anyone? He can do the job.

ALexis PACINO

Ramsey anyone? He is our most deadly finisher, quick feet, both feet and super fit. He is more mobile than Giroud and can bring people into play…
Wenger wanna keep Ramsey in the side, he wants to experiment, then I say experiment my friend!
To me he reminds of Thomas Muller, he’ll be our fox in the box! But also can rotate with Ozil, Ox, Alexis, allowing them to make runs in the box.

Ces1ne

WOW……besides being European, white, and having brownish hair there is NOTHING similar about Ramsey & Muller. Go back to school buddy……….oh wait, sorry! They are both professional footballers, forgot that similarity!!! FFS!!!!!!!!

wash_dc_gunner

Curious to gauge what people think about Charlie Austin. Easy to scoff at his pedigree, I know. But he’s consistently banged them in playing for Swindon, Burnley, and QPR, just imagine what he might do with Özil et al setting them up for him. At £15m, THAT’S a punt I would happily make.

locksley444

Ozil sets up passes for the more mobile players compared to Target men. However, I’d take Charlie Austin over no one. He’s a typical Target man/Poacher unlike Giroud. He doesn’t involve himself with a lot of buildup play but he’ll poach goals.

Griggles

But if that’s the case, what’s the difference between him and Walcott? Both good movement, good finishers and that’s about it. Really don’t think a signing like Charlie Austin could propel us to the title.

Teish

Who says we want to win the title

Ex-Priest Tobin

We know we are desperate when this is seriously being mentioned as an option.

Crash Fistfight

I’m the first to scoff at Austin in a football snob/hipster way, but tbf, who is likely to score more goals for Arsenal as a striker: Austin or Welbeck (if he’s ever fit)?

He’d probably score more than Theo as well, even if he isn’t particularly good at anything other than putting the ball in the net.

Va va voom

Charlie Austin has a 1 in 2 goal record for every club his played for and if he can give us that why not? with Wenger he could become an Alan Shearer. And he’s still young.

chippy's chip

Alexis Sanchez baby. Theres your name.

Legrande

The question we need ask ourselves is how bad do we want the title. Every year for the past X amount of years, we Arsenal fans have made up excuses for our teams and everytime we keep getting turned over by the top teams. Yes we need a quality striker and a top quality DM to CHALLENGE for the Title and Champions league. Arteta is beyond his peak, Coq is good but not at world class level YET. Giroud, Welbeck and Walcott up front cannot guarantee the big trophies. The last quality Match Winning stikers we had were RvP and… Read more »

NousMouse

I really can’t disagree with anything that you have said. However this is Arsenal – and more pointedly, this is Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal. I will be amazed if anyone comes in before the end of the window – and knowing Wenger as we do, I’m also amazed that gooners should be surrised by the fact. In Wengers mind we finished third with bk2bk FA cup victories last season. We have a settled squard with no one leaving and Cech coming in. And if you listen to Wenger of late he’s increasingly used the term ‘internal solutions’ when responding to to… Read more »

Miranda

Actually I agree with Wenger about ‘internal solutions’. I think we’re severely underachieving given the talent we’ve got. I just don’t believe Wenger is the manager who’ll be finding those solutions since he insists on playing Ramsey out of position and ignoring the contribution Ox and Walcott could make. Seems there is nothing Wenger dislikes more than a genuine right-winger-cum-striker. Hence perhaps his lack of interest in Pedro. OK, he’s not Benzema and he has his limitations, but supplying 20 goals a season and as many assists isn’t one of them. I voted for a defensive midfielder, not because it’s… Read more »

- DFS

Invariably I agree with your posts Miranda. What is the f*cking point in bringing in another single player if the manager is bereft of any ideas? Play Ramsey as a false right winger? That’s the sum total of creativity we are getting? Obviously this de-stabilizes the entire team and thrust of attack. All the people singing Ramsey’s praises should either study the game or some stats. Ramsey’s roaming (or rather Wenger’s lassitude of Ramsey wherever he feels like playing) immediately weakens the right flank leaving Bellerin exposed therefore hesitant to attack. In turn, any defense, such as Liverpool’s know exactly… Read more »

Thierry Henry's Shirt Advisor

As I remember it, the season that RvP was world class for, started with him being a bit of an outsider. He’d been at Arsenal for a while as a winger, and although a promising youngster, he was inconsistent and injury prone.Wenger had the confidence in him to use him as our main striker and, despite opposition from the fans, he literally scored at will.

Whether it’s Walcott or Giroud up front (or Welbeck if we’re against United and it’s the FA cup) I trust that Wenger knows what he’s doing.

Ces1ne

Delusional & re-imagining history all in one post…..tips my cap to you, HA!

blue bird Gunner

Now the tone has changed. Very few minority of us fans have been saying this for weeks now. But AW kept saying no one is available yet chealsea bought Pedro only recently. AW and his “yes men” will all the excuses in the world.
We’ve been saying this but We get thumbed down, shouted out, kick off, bullied away by unconditional COYGs

Austin Gooner

Not sure what the connection is between this topic – striker or DM – and Pedro. Did you think Wenger should have brought in Pedro? Where does he fit into this team?

If you think he should bring in a striker, then make an argument for a particular striker. It’s too easy to say Wenger should bring someone in without any relationship to reality. It doesn’t make you a martyr if people prefer realistic suggestions to diatribe. It makes you a participant in a conversation.

Cygan's Bald Head

We won the FA Cup twice with this squad…

Legrande

Wanna keep winning the FA Cup or go for the big ones?? Remeber, 6 wins and you bag the FA Cup. I’m sorry but i for one will like to see Wenger and Arsenal lift the CL and also give Chelsea and Mo a good spanking they deserve.
We want more, we deserve more….we’ve been patient.

Crash Fistfight

We don’t ‘deserve’ anything.

If it was about ‘deserving’, Stamford Bridge would have been hit by a meteor whilst Chelsea and Man City were playing (and hopefully Noel Gallagher and Tim Lovejoy would be in attendance at the same time).

jason

This squad won the community shield earlier this month.

Eat your words sunshine.

Faxe

We won something with this squad just three months ago. Would you like some sauceto go with that?

GoonerChris

After reading today’s blog post and seeing those incredibly awful stats on wasted chances over our last 6 home games, it has to be a CF. I am a big fan of Giroud and I think Welbeck will come good, but we are not sticking the ball in the back of the net. Tbf to Wenger Welbz has been injured, so he could well come back and be the answer to our problems. As for Walcott, he needs to start more games at CF to get a better opinion of him. Giroud would have been a great physical threat in… Read more »

Va va voom

Charlie Austin

MannyG

But who?! Seriously everyone keeps saying we need one, but when it comes to breaking down which players are available, there is basically no one they can name. It’s just lazy punditry. We were never in for Benzema, yet everyone believed it because some lady with fake tits on Twitter said she knows something. So suck of the ITKs.

MTZ

Indeed, the top strikers simply aren’t moving this window. I was hoping for Jackson Martinez before he moved to At. Madrid for €35 million, and I would still like Cavani, but neither is good enough to solve all our problems on their own.

Pi

True, there’s a scarcity of those hallowed bangin’ centre forwards but I reckon I could throw out some names who’d add something to our side: Reus Son Heung-Min A 10m ‘punt’ on Pato Could is certainly the operative word. I just don’t rate Theo at CF, small strikers should be comfortable with the ball, turning, dribbling, all while under pressure.. Theo seems most comfortable when he’s chasing after the ball with no competition for it. Welbeck could surprise us all. I’d personally like to see an attacking triumvirate of Welbeck, Sanchez, Walcott/Oxlade for a run if we exhaust our other… Read more »

DC

I would also have a punt on Pato, and would love Reus in our team!

Hurensohn

Naymar isn’t going anywhere, Christ, people will believe anything. ..and Pato? his strike rate is worse than Giroud’s.

Reus is a player but there are injury concerns and s he really a CF that could lead the line in the PL?

Jack Action

Neymar to Man Utd is sheer and utter fantasy of the British media. Never in a million years. Same with Bale. They are just desperate for Man Utd to get back to the glory days.

Rob67

The problem isn’t lazy punditry, it’s lazy or inept management. And we all know where the buck stops. We’ve had two games at home so far and failed to score in both. If you exclude the own goal at Palace we’ve scored once in three games. If things go belly up on Tyneside, then we’ll be achieving a new record even for Wenger, of being out of the title race before September. Never mind out of it before Christmas ; or out before the clocks go back. But of course we will be in the running – very much so… Read more »

Thierry Henry's Shirt Advisor

Why would you exclude the Palace goal? Exceptional determination from Sanchez.

Hurensohn

It’s telling to me that the home form is the problem, when playing in front of the negative fans that kept moaning and groaning every time Chambers gave the ball away, it’s no surprise that the players aren’t performing.

Ces1ne

HAHAHHAAHHAHAHAH…..blaming the support for crap performances, only at Arsenal

Runkeball

OK, doubt Wenger all you like, slate him, even tell him to resign but never ever say you agree with Neville. Agreeing with that utter cunt means getting sent to bed without supper.

texasgooner

Gary Neville is probably the best analyst on TV right now.

kampala gooner

I’m a firm believer in Arsene knows. So I’m going to stick with whatever he’s got planned. He has got us here. I’m sure he does have a plan. Besides trying to out guess him is liking trying to figure out what my girlfriend means when she says ‘OK’.

True Gooner

You say he’s got us here….??? He’s got us where exactly!?!? In the shit!

Ritesh

Seriously??

Hurensohn

Probably too young to know..

Fatboy Gooner

It’s simple … Your girlfriend’s “okay” means… “Go fuck yourself You arsehole”
??

Ces1ne

Good old blind faith….what a joke, especially since wenger is gonna be on disability soon. Old fool

lettraggad

Wait !!! They are fake ??

Deano

Been watching a bit of Bundesliga and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been really impressive bags of pace strong and a good finisher. Could be worth a punt.

assistantref

Aubameyang just signed a new contract July 31. And they don’t have any other striker besides Adrian Ramos, who has been a flop. We’d have to pay stupid money for him – i.e. 50 million pounds or something like that.

Benzema is probably more signable than Aubameyang at this point.

Deano

Probably right probably won’t sign him. Stupid money is what signs a lot of players these days in the premier league. Sanchez a bargain yes. Mangala no, Torres no, Di Maria no and for humours sake Soldado no. Will it put a stop to these spending stupid fees on players? No!!

blue bird Gunner

How come chealsea was able to buy Pedro only recently?

David

because “no one is availabe”

Andy Mack

He’s a winger and we’re looking for a CF, aren’t we?

Va va voom

Charlie Austin has a 1 in 2 goals ratio all through his career. Even better for QPR last season. Why not?

MTZ

I recently watched Arsenal – Liverpool from 2004 (April), Henry scoring 3 out of 4 goals in a 4-2 win. I had almost forgotten just how brilliant he really was. If we could just reverse his age and re-sign him, we’d win the league by a landslide. Come on, sci-fi tech, get crackin’!

Mike

A striker. A sexy sexy striker.

Ed

In fairness Giroud has got “sexy striker” down. What we need is a goalscoring striker, even if they look like the lovechild of Carlos Tevez and Charlie Adam.

bumflap

What happened with Billy Carvalho? I noticed him heavily linked with Madrid before they bought Kovacic, so surely a decent target now for the DM? Would likely mean the end of The Flamster’s second coming.

George

Out for 3 months with a tibia fracture, so that’s a no-go

Toure Motors

Leave poor yaya out of this

gooner1981

Out for 3 months since the U21 Euros… do we really need another crock ? 🙂
We should have signed Kondogbia from Monaco…. powerful, young, and most importantly…. French !

progman07

We might improve more with a central midfielder who can control the games better than Cazorla/Coquelin, than with a striker, just because it seems very hard to get any decent striker in. If we could get a Suarez or Aguero level striker in, obviously go for it, but I cannot see it… we have failed to bring in that quality striker since JvP left, I don’t see any indication that they are more available now. However, our midfield could be improved on much easier. Games often pass us by when the opposition presses hard, just see the first half, we… Read more »

Ben

We just so desperately need a striker it’s not funny anymore. Giroud 1 goal in 10 prem apps, Walcott is substandard and can barely control a football.. Welbeck is a combination of the two (poor finishing and poor control).

We just need someone who in the final third is going to have the quickness of feet and finishing ability which Giroud doesn’t have. Just an old fashioned Thierry Henry slide pass finish into the corner is all I want to see!!

59elcamino

Groundhog day. Every transfer window we sit and wait hopefully down to the last minute as Wenger tries to pull off the dream signing.

Firstly I agree that the players we have aren’t clinical enough. Ozil rarely look the shoot. He is very frustrating in front of goal. Just shoot!
Cazorla bottles it most of the time. Ox isnt a natural goal scorer. We just don’t have players who are natural finishers.
I would.play Theo wide..and Alexis alongside welbeck when he gets back..at least there’s goals in that lineup and they can interchange positions

Austin Gooner

Not exactly. Last window we signed Alexis relatively quickly.

PartyPalour

Sorry Henry it’s not going to be a massive week. We’re not getting anyone!

Hereford Gooner

Every other club has signed at the very least three new players. We have signed one. The runaway league winners from last season have strengthened significantly, as have the second placed team, and we have not. I cannot see how the current players are going to improve to the extent that they will be ’12 points better’ than they were last season, and I guess that is what AW believes they can do. Our start suggests that we will not be significantly better than last season, and this is a big worry.

GoonerChris

It isn’t as easy as 1,2,3 as you suggest. Arsenal’s Invincilbles team started the season with a single signing in Jens Lehmann. Wenger based his summer targets this year around the fact Arsenal were the best team in 2015, Jan-May. He strengthened his goalkeeping area massively, which was our most obvious position to upgrade. I am not saying we don’t need anyone else, but Wenger’s faith in his players isn’t blind faith as many seem to believe. It is based on results and the massive improvement we made as a team last season. We have had an indifferent start but… Read more »

Hereford Gooner

Having faith in his players is one thing, but putting together a squad capable of challenging the other top teams is another. You cannot compare the league in 2003/4 to the league now. Abramovic purchased Chelsea in 2004, that changed the face of football. It is no longer possible to win the league without regularly strengthening the squad with players that compliment and improve on what we already have. We have strengthened in one position whilst other clubs have strengthened in several positions. We have a massive imbalance in the squad, and that has not been addressed. We have the… Read more »

Austin Gooner

“Massive imbalance” is exaggerated.

Which other clubs have “strengthened in several positions”? Your own words are important: “players that complement and improve on what we already have”. We didn’t need Pedro; we didn’t need Sterling… We did need a keeper and got one.

Which other big club has brought in a striker that could have complemented and improved us? It might not be fair to compare this era to the Invincibles’, but it’s at least equally unfair to compare sides buying players in different positions.

Hereford Gooner

The massive imbalance I refer to is this – we have a squad of 25 players, of which I’d say 15 are competing for 3 positions, and of those positions, none of these 15 want to play in one of them (wide right.) We don’t have a single player in a squad of 25 who considers wide right to be their natural position. The nearest we have is Ox, but it has been stated he is seen as a central player long term. GK: Cech RB: Debuchy, Bellerin LB: Nacho, Gibbs CB: Mert, Kos, Chambers, Gabriel DM: Coq, Arteta, Flamini… Read more »

Hereford Gooner

What’s more is that our central striker thrives off wide service, so being surrounded by creative midfielders who do now take up wide positions seems counter intuitive to me

Miranda

@Hereford Gooner: Sad truth is, as you suggest, Wenger never ever takes the balance of the team into account when making signings – that would be to think strategically and to plan. He just buys the type of player he likes best when one comes available, which nine times out of ten is a central attacking midfielder who’ll be made to play wide. To be fair, it did work with Pires and maybe with Reyes (a bit), but sadly the same can’t be said of anyone since – Oezil on the left? Ramsey on the right? If only it wasn’t… Read more »

John C

The invincible’s were the same team that won the league 2 seasons previously and through away the title the one before not a team who had finished 3rd and 4th by a minimum of 12 points behind the winners! You cannot compare the two.

number 7

Petr Cech, our solitary signing so far, very much saved us 2 points already last night. But yes we need more cut and thrust and more hunger in and around the penalty area.
We need to stop being so soft and learn to really go in for the kill.
We’re just too damn cautious!!

Alexstratz

I want a striker but I voted DM. Coquelin is very good at tackling, intercepting, etc… What he lacks though is the ability to control the tempo of the game (like Arteta) so we rely on his partner Cazorla. Currently we can’t play without the Coquelin-Cazorla partnership, so imagine if one gets injured… If we can find a DM who can do both and act as a backup CB (i.e. the mythical unicorn) it means we have more options in team selection, we free up a slot for another role, and it makes us more unpredictable. All this ultimately improves… Read more »

Samgunz

Ramsey should be playing alongside Coquelin, Cazorla was pants against Coutinhopool

Papas

We need a Mr Woolf

nelso87

The obsession with transfers has spread even to those are are considered (not by me) to be the best pundits in the country. It is simple to say Arsenal need to sign two players, far harder to point out who they should be. Coquelin has been fantastic since he came in the side and was excellent again last night, however they chose only to focus on the moment he passed the ball back to Bellerin when he should have ran up the wing. That said, I do think we need a striker, I’ve not idea who is available who would… Read more »

Exiledgooner

Reflex action. Pundits are not great thinkers-one last night on the BBC still referred to Arsenal as having a Spring collapse where we go out of every cup competition, ignoring recent evidence to the contrary. You only have to look at non-Gooners clamouring for a defensive midfield signing; they don’t mean as backup or in addition to Coquelin, which is reasonable, but just one because the established narrative is that we never have one. Coquelin is ignored. It takes a while for myths to embed, and it takes longer still to uproot them.

MTZ

I kind of agree, but on the other hand.. it’s not their job to solve the problems. That is the job of a manager + board. Pundits just make observations, and the truth is our current squad lacks a bit of this and a bit of that in order to win the title. Also, I don’t think the primary purpose of pundits is to be informative to people like us, who read up on football news all day long. I think it’s primarily to inform the uninformed; people who watch a bit of football, but not enough to know what… Read more »

Arsepedant

No, the purpose of pundits is to get people to watch your show. Half the stuff they say is made up or wrong and the other half is copied from other sources.

Andy Mack

I’ll finish that for you ;
“the other half is copied from other sources that are usually wrong as well”

Unfortunately the simple minded take their word as gospel!

Hurensohn

It’s to do with headlines, I listened to the ‘Garry Neveile Podcast’ last week and paraphrasing, he said something like “it’s only been 2 games and they (Chelsea) look like there’s something missing, but again it’s only been two games. That’s not what the fans want to hear though, there’s no place for conservationism in this the current climate with social media”

From the horses mouth. That’s why they don’t say the right thing and reel off clichés and criticisms, it’s just not headline worthy.

jonny92

I agree with you that it is difficult to identify who we could actually sign to play up front who would be an improvement. On the other hand, it maybe isn’t simply about improving upon Giroud, but rather, having a decent striker on the bench who is capable of coming on and taking chances (and replacing Giroud in some of the games). I don’t think that either Walcott or Welbeck are capable of doing this consistently, and would suggest they are better suited to playing out wide, or behind the striker. So who do we sign? If we had been… Read more »

Exiledgooner

It won’t be a massive week, I guarantee it. There will only be seven days, eight if something strange happens like on Doctor Who.

George

We clearly need a DM more; I can’t believe how confident so many people are that Coquelin is going to play 60 games on his own. Plus, the lack of a true DM is forcing Ramsey out of position to get him in the side, as Coquelin and Cazorla are effectively doing the job of one top-quality defensive midfielder alongside whom Ramsey could sit. Yes, Giroud could be better, but we have Welbeck to come back, while the Ox and Walcott can hardly get off the bench. Ramsey is out wide because AW rightly tries anything to get him into… Read more »

Franky

George, You couldn’t have said it any better mate! People asking why Ramsey on the wing?…I’ll tell you why, HE’S BEEN OUR BEST PLAYER FOR THE LAST 2 SEASONS!! Even out of position and out wide he does a job. Week in. Week out. Never any doubt. Having him out wide does disrupt the balance but Wenger would (rightly) trust him with the keys to heaven and knows he won’t complain and will work hard. Ramsey playing in a deeper role like he did when he was on fire is unreal, but right now he can’t really disrupt the rather… Read more »

uba

Mr wenger wanted Ozil and he got him. He wanted Sanchez and he got him. He wanted cech and he got him.
If Arsene Wenger wants Benzema, he will get him.
So lets just get behind him and support/accept his decision.

Gandalf the Gooner

And the clubs whom Wenger wanted the above players from did not want said players.

Real Madrid want Benzema.. He’s not coming.

naijagooner

I just can’t believe we only signed ONE player this transfer window. WTF??

Cork Gooner

An Ozil-Pogba (plus presumably some cash) trade with Juve would transform us. We have others to fill Ozil’s creative role but Coq, while admirable, doesn’t have the big character game changing presence of Pogba.

Juve have lost Vidal and Pirlo so may be more interested in a player plus cash deal. The Ozil project has failed.

mollers

Put down the crack pipe son.

Cork Gooner

Why? Couldn’t we afford the £30-40m on top of Ozil? Or do you think we couldn’t break our wage ceiling for one world class player in our team?

George

Have you not seen Mesut Özil play the football?

heihaci

why not get in Pogba to play with alongside Ozil?

Miranda

Why would Pogba want to move from a club where he’s regularly winning the league and playing in the later stages of the CL? If he goes anywhere it will be to Barca when their transfer problems have lifted, or to Real.

ClockEndRider

I cant wait for the schools to go back.

NousMouse

What’s with this ‘Özil at all costs’ BS. I like the player I truly do, but Santi could quite easily play no10; have Ramsey in the middle and the Ox or Wallcot out wide (and carzola provides more of a goal threat at no10).

We’re three games in and already 5 points down – in this our first truly title challenging season since who know when. Let’s shake shit up alittle!

Alex

The Arsenal fans want reinforcement and some at the same time want to get rid of the best creative player of the PL??? Because cazorla does the same (presumably)? Oh, and what about putting Holy Santi on the bench and let Özil do his entire job without the lil Spaniard in his legs?

mollers

Whatever happens (and for the record I do hope we reinforce) I can’t wait for this transfer window to be over. The amount of tripe the papers, pundits and “ITKs” are going to be spitting out this week is going to be nothing short of unbearable. All hail the transfer window!

Lass

Atm there is a lack of a finisher in the attacking players. Giroud, Ozil and even Sanchez are not clinical. Yes Sanchez scores but you wouldn’t call him a clinical finisher as he needs quite a few chances to put one away, as does Giroud and Ozil seldom takes a shot on goal. That’s why wenger is persisting on Ramsey on the right as he can finish a chance. The Ox isn’t either known for scoring goals. The other alternative is to have Walcott on the right but with the defensive pairing of yesterday that would have been way too… Read more »

gooner

What we need is a striker, a clinical one. Doesn’t matter if the top strikers are available or not, we need one who can finish off chances. Anyone remembers the days we would throw all our strikers on while chasing the game? sometimes Arsene threw on Bendtner, Van persie to play with Ade and Henry (in his last season) I remember chamackh GSTEL RVP on at the same time. If the best aren’t available you could still get alternatives. All this talk about panic buys? well when Giroud got injured we panic bought and whichever way you rate the guy… Read more »

Bendtnerschristmastree

We really need one of those chain reaction transfer carousels to get what we want before deadline day. There is no striker worth signing available right now, so let’s hope something shakes things up. Hey, maybe Real Madrid splashes £ 400mil on Aguero and we suddenly get Benzema for free?

gooner

That was Dudu, not Rudy, you dumb auto correct. You panic correct my words

Alex

Le coq played a blinder last night, breaking up play, passing, determination all excellent, couldn’t fault him

Jimbo 1

“An infection of transfer market quality”. Apply some Messi liberally and should clear up in 8-9 months.

Eamonn

I really don’t understand this urge for a DM? I thought coquilen was our best player out there last night (besides cechs heroics). I 100% would choose a striker over a DM.

Cas

Sign Pato. No good strikers (to bring anything special to #Arsenal) are available. If Bender comes fine, doesn’t mean Coq isn’t good enough; he absolutely is.

He's got no hair but we don't care...

After 3 games we’re already 5 points adrift. Yes the likes of City will drop points but so will we.

We finally have a squad where our best players don’t leave and yet still we’re playing catch up. The only reason I’m not Wenger out is who the hell would replace him??

That said, the blame is his.

Oh and our Coq is certainly good enough.

MTZ

Heh, that’s a good question, especially considering Real Madrid ended up with Benitez. You know it’s hard to find a good manager when they end up with that bloke.

Thierry Henry's Shirt Advisor

You’ve got to feel for Giroud. He was injured half of last season, and was still second from top in terms of goals. We only really started winning games when he came back from injury. He helps out further back, and creates chances for a mid field with the likes of Alexis, Ramsey and Cazorla, who can all put the ball away. He’s got an incredible left foot, and has been a fan favourite for years. Yet now the fans call for his replacement. Fair enough, we need backup for Giroud, but I’d sooner see him in the team than… Read more »

Jacksbong.

Personally I would sell Danny W, love a lot about him, but I don’t see him scoring 10 league goals a year unfortunately, and acquire Beraniho, but the likelihood that will make us immediate 2014/2015 tittle challengers is slim. We need both a striker and a midfielder, I reckon a striker would improve our chances. Regarding Giroud, a very good striker on many levels, I would say he is in the top ten strikers in the league, which is excellent considering each team has around three strikers, with that being said he is not going to become any more prolific,… Read more »

heihaci

Morata and even Lukaku would be an inprovement

Andy Mack

Has Morata become available?
AW tried to get him before, but he didn’t want to come to the PL then.

Lukaku may end up as an improvement on Giroud, but he hasn’t shown it consistently yet.

jiminycrickets

Everyone wants new players so they can keep the faith that all of this is actually working and there’s not something else wrong with the team. New players will only make champions league qualification easier, it will not bring us any closer to winning the whole thing. Why are the current players being scapegoated? We’ve had this set of players for the most part of the last 2-3 seasons; they’re mature players and we know their strengths and weaknesses, to hope that they’ll improve substantially by way of progression and cohesion is total hubris. Either we’ve overestimated their abilities or… Read more »

BombayGooner

Who should we sign, but? Lord Bendtner??

I think Arsene needs to rethink this and go buy a wide goalscoring forward in the Alexis mould. There are many available, notably Griezmann.

New Haven Gooner

Benzema would’ve gotten that offside call right. I’m sure of it.

Fatgooner

We don’t need to sign anybody. All we have to do is keep believing in Arsene Wenger. He got that new contract because he was clearly the man for the job and nothing has changed.

He will make three big signings before the window shuts and we’ll go on to win the title.
Arsene is a fantastic manager; that’s why we’ve been so wonderfully successful over the last ten years.

Stop complaining.

chippy's chip

Youre right we have a world class striker in Alexis. He can do what aguero,suarez and costa do, if he is played there.

MTZ

As good as he is, that is one thing I don’t think he can do. He’s not clinical enough; he wastes significantly more chances than either of those three.

Jack Action

The only player whose profile in terms of age and ability that would help us is Marco Reus. He has a 50 million buy out in his contract, but he’s happy at Dortmund.

Cavani = too old, overrated, overpaid
Higuain = overrated, not an upgrade on Giroud
Benzema = not coming
Aubemayang = upgrade on Walcott, not an upgrade at CF
Lacazette = punt, plus just signed a new deal
Doumbia = too old

MTZ

Are you confusing players perhaps? Aubameyang is the current main striker at Dortmund, while Reus is primarily a winger, not the other way around. Both are very good, of course, but Reus would likely replace Ramsey in our current line up, not Giroud.

Gunnertv

I am not sure why Sanchez was played if he is not ready. Ox or Walcott could have played down the left. Ramsey is great and works real hard but he is not a winger. If there aren’t going to be crosses coming in maybe a striker who has a better touch and dribbling skills should be preferred?

Anup

The problem isn’t with the holding midfield position (although I would desperately like to see Flamini replaced with someone more suitable), the problem lies up front. Giroud is, as already mentioned, an excellent option coming off the bench, but we do not have the luxury of this at the moment. I think Wenger’s reluctance to sign a new striker is because of Welbz, and I really do believe he will surprise a lot of people this season, however that does not change the fact that Wenger got his team selection wrong last night. Apart from the obvious flaws we had… Read more »

Ajinkya

We can argue all night over which striker would suit us. But if Arsene was serious about a title challenge this year, he would have got his man much before in the transfer window. Nobody is coming to Arsenal except for Welbeck, Jack and Tomas from injuries. Let us hope we have a good cup run and finish in the top four again. There is no way we are having a shot at the title. Just take a look at what the slow start did to us last year. It wasn’t a coincidence that all our players were harping on… Read more »

Dreamer

Lets face the facts here Wenger has never done the things that needed to be done. He will never sign players that everyone can see we need. he let a very good striker go this year Benik Afobe how is scoring goals for fun now at Wolves. i know it is a lower league but he is still finding the back of the net. he spent £42 Mil on Ozil which to me we did not need at the time or at this time we Santi who is a far better player in the number 10 role. We have needed… Read more »

Kafka

All this talk of a new striker. Please answer this question for me:
Which striker will score in this narrow system, this obsessive tippy tippy cones-triangles with little variation?

MTZ

Messi.

cech169

Just saw the video, nice to see Henry standing up from Wenger.

SDB

does anyone think that with the numerous chances our midfield is creating at the moment that you could put a lacazette or cavani or higuan in front and they would look world class? i can’t help thinking that we’ve been accommodating an average striker and he’s been looking great at times because of how many chances we create – and everyone looks past how many chances he misses. i actually don’t think we need a world class striker. a good one would suffice and he’d bury more chances than giroud.

we are looking very average at the moment.

Wellarsed

This is a deceptive question. Deceptive in the sense that it distracts us from the reality that we aren’t likely to buy anyone of significance in the next week. I’ve been saying this for a while: I don’t think Wenger has been seriously in the market this window. He may have window shopped but there’s been no active pursuit. On this I think we can take him at his word. Early in the window, when there was talent available, he said he was focusing on developing the existing squad and would only look at transfers if the need was obvious.… Read more »

Dan D

This is related to comments above but I am digressing slightly from the main narrative of the piece. I have a grumble… I’m so pissed off with how quickly the atmosphere can turn from positive to negative in the stadium on matchdays / nights. ‘Standing’ in the North Bank the atmosphere can be fantastic but we do have a big problem of getting on the players backs at the first sign of trouble. Granted, last night there was a period when I genuinely started to feel sorry for Chambers but his own fans didn’t help. He’s struggling, having a tough… Read more »

like a red head Ljungberg

psychological analysis show in public fail situations support from the audience (which is felt absolutely sarcastic to the “male” performers brain) have a completely negative effect, much worse than boos and complaining (which on the other hand mostly bring positives to the performance for your informations)

Dan D

Are you being serious?

Dan

Let’s get facts right.. We need to use a different system 4-4-2.. That means we get two new finishers.. Giroud should go for a season long loan for more experience. I would also support the idea of Wolcott starting.. Oh and for petr he was wow, he managed to save us from shame.

chippy's chip

You cant disagree with Thierry Henry.

Bob's Mexican Cousin

I see why most people love Arsene’s Coq but for me he is not physical enough. I think we need someone in the mold of Vieira if we want to start winning the league again.

Alexis Oxlade-Chambers

We will not sign anyone.

edzo

It’s deja vu all over again. This team is not good enough to win the league or champions league. Not even close.

We Will finish top four and lose in the rOund of 16 like always. Then next season we’ll be full of hope only to start slow and have Wenger blame it on the European cup hangover, the extra champs league qualifier or the pressure of expectations which caused the team to start with the handbreak on.

rmpauden

I.d ask PSG if they were interested in giving Zlatan and our money back for Ozil. Go 442 with Alexis and screw this boring posession based game. Packed midfields and poor passing doesn.t excite me much. And a no.10 who doesn.t want to score goals is just straight up crazy, let another club ‘enjoy’ his little flicks, i want to see goals ala Bergkamp

MTZ

Zlatan is 33 and Ozil 26. Ozil is worth a lot more than Zlatan right now, considering he’s only got a year or two left at the top.

kwame

We really need a striker,than even a defensive midfielder I think cavani deal would be okay,its now left for Wenger t decisied

Vuvuzela Gooner

Wow!!! You people forgot that it was injuries that got in the way of us winning the league? Giroud was out for three months and gave a decent return when he got back to fitness. If we can keep our players fit throughout the season and add another 15 goals a season CF then we are definitely in the fight! keep the faith. COYG!!! UTA!!! ARSENE WENGER KNOWS!!!

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