It looks increasingly unlikely that Arsenal will sign a striker before the Liverpool game next Sunday, with Arsene Wenger hinting that potential deals are likely to go to the wire.
That means he’ll have to use what he has against the Mugsmashers next Sunday, and his options appear to be Theo Walcott or Alexis Sanchez.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s friendly with Man City, Wenger was asked about who might play up front for the Premier League opener.
“I like Walcott in that position and I like Alexis in that position as well,” he said.
“I might start Alexis on Sunday because Walcott played a large part in Friday’s game (the 8-0 win over Viking). I don’t know how ready Alexis is physically for that intensity.”
Speaking after that Viking game, the Frenchman said the club are still looking for reinforcements up front and at the back, but it sounds like he’s playing something of a waiting game.
“We still look up front, we still look at the back,” he said. “It’s a long period until the end of the transfer market, sometimes things move in the last week.
“You never know when you have an opportunity, so you have to always be on alert, day and night, and when it comes you have to catch it.”
It does sound as if he’s waiting for something to fall into place, whether that’s dependent on a selling club getting a replacement or something else remains to be seen.
Although Olivier Giroud is missing, Wenger could still field a pretty experienced forward trio of Alexis, Walcott and Joel Campbell, with other options like Alex Iwobi and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain available to him also.
Are we looking at something like summer 2013, when Mesut Ozil arrived on deadline day? The club have been public about the need for a striker throughout the summer, so if they haven’t done it yet, perhaps there’s some machinations behind the scenes that might bring about the signing everyone is waiting for.
Let’s hope so.
New season and Walcott up front, just so he can get the best possible deal
Arsenal follows potential players for at least a year before they make a decision on whether to sign them. Are you telling me Jamie Vardy was someone they had in mind for that long? No bloody way! What this tells me is that the scouts and the club had no long term targets in mind, they’re making it up as they go along.
I would imagine both are true.
Wenger : “I like Walcott in that position…”
Rolls eyes. Shakes head in dismay. FFS !!!!!!!!!
Walcott is a confidence player the more you get on his back the worse your make him.
Who remembers a few seasons ago when he banged in 26 goals , so his had a few injuries and suffered a dip in form on his day when confidence is buzzing he’s an exceptional player and would get into any team.
I think this season he’s got a lot to prove and I think he will .
I say support him and let’s get the best out of him.
Yeah, sure, they had no long term targets in mind, absolutely no one. That makes so much sense.
Fucking hell. We are a fucking joke. …I can’t wait to see Walcott lose the ball with every touch, and have a light jog, then come off the pitch after a shite performance talk about in the post match on Sky how the team gave everything in the 90 minutes..
Haha. ..that is why you can’t help but love AW, straight forward to the level of rudeness, blunt, determined exceptional at poker game.
I still love the way he drove Alex F. Crazy in the transfer of Van Parse, at end Van Parse moved , but i am sure Alex Ferguson hated every bit of the negotiations.
This has got to be a wind up….Wenger is the equivalent of a man in poundland with a harrods budget asking for discount…our club makes the same mistakes year in yeat out….your delusional…..
*you’re
Some people make that mistake year in and yeat out
I’m almost certain we will start Sanchez up top.
And you know what? I’m okay with that. Said for months he’d be perfect as an Aguero-type CF.
I think Wenger believes so too but doesn’t want to say it to enrage people.
I wouldn’t mind a Mahrez and Ox wing flanking Ozil with Sanchez up top.
I will rather He keep Sanchez in his preferred position and Play Campbell as the striker,afterall He is our top scorer in the pre season games played so far
I just can’t believe Sanchez is ready after that ankle injury. He’s one player who needed a rest after 2 summers of Copa and now we’ll throw him up as the main outlet who usually suffers the most fouls in a game…
We really miss Welbeck. Would love to see Sanchez, Welbeck, and either Iwobi/Ramsey/Ox combo. So much speed.
Its quite possible he’s ready fitness-wise from what appeared he only suffered a soft tiusse injury more than 6 weeks. Alexis does have wolverine DNA in him to help a speedy recovery.
Anyways, we could play a 4-4-2 with Theo and Alexis up top and Xhaka and Elneny in the mildfield. Iwobi and Joel can be a bit creative on the wings.
Wolverine dna? Have you already forgotten last season when he was supposed to be out for a couple weeks and it turned into months?
I’d like all the fans over there in London who go regularly to the games, make it known to the club that they can’t get away with it this time. And this should be done irrespective of the result of the Liverpool game, coz we may manage to survive a few games but there’s no way in hell we can survive a season playing in 4 competitions with Giroud as our only striker. You make that known to the club of what kind of atmosphere they are in for if they don’t get serious. I know its not a positive… Read more »
I think we should support the players out there… Seemed to work pretty well for Leicester
That too
New season and Walcott up front, just so he can get the best possible deal. Where is the ambition. As much as it pains me it looks like ground hog day.
in before Walcott scores on the opening day and we think we have found the internal solution to all our problems.
and by “we” he means Wenger
Walcott has been hopeless in pre-season, and I don’t see anything changing in a week’s time. Depressing times. Really angry at the way the club has ‘strategized’ this transfer window, leaving us extremely ill-prepared going into the new season. I now wonder if Xhaka will be our only signing this summer (a la Cech last summer).
The only strategy at this club is to keep the share price above what Kronke paid for it and amass as much money in the bank as possible. Anything that happens on the pitch is entirely incidental to that objective.
Asano? Holding?
my tickets alone could cover these two.
Everybody calm down and focus your stress on your own PERSONAL crap and stop beating on an entertainment door you will never get down, honestly a waste of energy. Be supportive of your team, the current team, being a football supporter is really quite simple and enjoyable if you let it be. Like get over it, whatever happens you have no say or control over it, and if you think you do, it certainly isn’t gonna help whinging and moaning online. Winning isn’t what life is all about, Arsene is smart, he knows it’s the journey, this journey from George… Read more »
You heard it here first, there will be no more signings this summer. ?
We won’t do much this season if this happens
Thumb him down all you want. There’s not going to be anything.
Definitely not a striker.
“When it comes you have to catch it”. This sums it up, doesn’t it?
Who’s going to fling the bargain of your dreams for the player of your dreams at you?
Ozil is the exception, not the norm.
Fuck this club. Why do I let this fucking club do this to me every fucking year?
Apologies. Was a bit pissed.
We get you…
i think you might be right there bro,then come deadline day Mr.Wenger will give us the normal crap about how there were no “players available” and the one about “the very tough and inflated market”.
That will be a total madness. If it happens, I want to hear arsene and the club excuses. After all ‘we have the money to buy any player’
It’s the same pattern as last summer window – One target signed very early in the window and we were all waiting for another big signing or two, to complete the team.
Initially, Wenger saying we’ll let you know when we sign someone, then saying it’s a tough market (only for our club), we are working very hard, it will probably all happen in the last weeks, then when the window closes announce Wilshere is injured long-term. Sigh!
Sure, tough only for our club, because utd bought pogba weeks ago thanks to throwing world-record fee at juventus.
Why can’t we play the Vikings every single week so that Theo can play a huge part every game?
“You never know when you have an opportunity, so you have to always be on alert, day and night, and when it comes you have to catch it.” – AW
Sounds like fishing or Pokémon Go
It sounds like somebody who is reactive. We need to get proactive for fuck sake!
At this point not sure what we are going to do in the market, lack of options and no shortage of money from other clubs wondering if wenger has someone else in mind that’s not in the papers. But it would be frustrating if we get mustafi and lacazette on deadline day with important games in between arsenes comments only aggrevate at this point if money is not an issue then get stuff done.
Not good enough 🙁 Too many excuses, too much talking the same old rubbish.
Good to see we’re starting on the strongest foot possible
“I like Walcott in that position…” Walcott has even come out to say he can’t play center forward yet the manager likes him in that position. Not an attribute of a club that wants to move forward. Hope Wenger won’t be blaming points dropped early in the season as failure to land the title. Serial also-rans.
I am going to be sick
“I like Walcott in that position” tells you everything we have worried about Might come true
Im not among them but this is why arsenal fans want us to get hammered to shock us into action.
I hope we destroy liverpool but lets not pretend it doesbt concern us that if we do it wont influence exactly how urgent wenger thinks it is that we spend money.
Eh for fecks sakes lads
Haha Theo. Why not play an actual striker you know, like Akpom. What a farce.
Or Campbell even.
Heck I’d be happy if we kept Afobe.
Wengers behavior is almost criminal! The season hasn’t started yet but I hope so see the end of it as soon as possible to se Wenger go. I can’t stand it anymore. My energy is gone. He treats us like idiots, selling us the same shit every summer.
My other concern is what happens to Sanchez and Ozil if Wenger does not commit to strengthening the squad. Will they stay and waste their careers floundering in mediocrity. I wouldn’t I would instead move to a club that has ambition and drive. I would tire of being satisfied with just qualifying for the Champions League. That is arsenals status quo.
even if Wenger doesnt extend Kroenke and Gazidis would make sure their business brand functions the same way. sad but true. 🙁
I really hope this is Wenger last year. I’m tired of his excuses and bull crap year after year.
He likes Walcott in that position…
I’ve been trying to find positives over the last couple of days but his comments are quickly heading towards the “we couldn’t find anyone who makes the squad stronger”
He’s now basically saying we’ll haggle and try get something before 31st August, oh dear. I love Arsene, I really do but this attitude is absolutely pathetic
We seem to be “unique” in our approach to transfers…
This is becoming ridiculous. He is on his last year of his contract, fan unrest is at its peak, and let’s be honest, he is still bargain shopping.
The big issue is he should have been focused on buying all his players so they can get acclimatized to each other prior through preseason.
We’ve been through this rodeo before and we know how it will end. He does not want to learn his lesson. It’s a joke.
This seems like a poor strategy by Wenger to wait until the last grasps of the transfer window to bring the players that are needed.
Liverpool will be very tough for starters
Walcott ought to have been sold earlier in summer. Sanchez hasn’t got a chance to play any pre season games and coming off a bad injury. That’s our options.
There is no other way to swing that but this is all down to bad management. Waiting for a striker to fall out of the sky is not something this team can afford. No excuses whatsoever.
We can always pray that Akpom get a start like Chamakh had his first season.
I want to beleive Akpom is WAY better than Chamakh for God’s Sake
Why don’t we change the name of the club to Roulette FC? We only ever seem to play these super annoying mind games all the time. While other clubs are strengthening and preparing for the next season, we dither and sleepwalk through meaningless friendlies with the youth team. Come the new season and our chickens come home to roost, the club through Wenger and Ivan will tell us to throw our weight behind the Team since the window has closed and we can only work with what we have already. If we suffer an embarrassing start to the season due… Read more »
Signing a striker would’ve helped him understand his mates…
Wenger is on the verge of seriously damaging his legacy, could’ve had one last hurrah with AFC…
Wonder what he or the others concerned are thinking.
Can someone tell Wenger that to “like Walcott in that position” is one thing and Walcott to actually do something meaningful in that position is another.
All this melodrama is getting too uncomfortable and seems like a classic case of being penny wise, pound foolish… is AFC the only club in the whole wide world who runs the club like this?
Wenger’s problem is he’s always buying for the future. He needs to put together the best possible team he can for this season and if that means offering over the odds then do it! There’s no point waiting till next summer to see if this mythical striker becomes available because by then some of our existing players will have got fed up and moved on or been injured IE the squad would need strengthening in other areas. We’re so clos now! Ffs If I thought it would win us the league and all the benefits that would bring I’d spend… Read more »
And wenger would do exactly the same, but which single player for 100m will win you the league? Forget about getting muller, lewandovski, or aguero for 100m when higuan costs 90.
I would have bought higuain
And I only used £100 million coz that’s the current record with Pogba. I’d spend £120 or 130 million on Aguero, Lewandowski, Cavani etc
Admittedly just a pre-season friendly, but Liverpool are currently handing Barcelona a 3-0 drubbing.
Make that 4-0.
Ya, they made some great signings and it showed. I am very, very, worried about our season opener.
My best mate is an LFC fan so this is going to suck even more.
Is it me, or could this team be much more dangerous and balanced with a 4-4-2? This would allow Walcott, Sanchez, or even the Ox and Campbell to run off Giroud. Plus, the three of the four would still be midfield options. And with our midfielders in Ozil, Ramsey, Santi, Xhaka, Elneny, Wilshere, Iwobi, and Coq, we could own the middle of the park and boss the game. Add Lacazette to the strike options and it would a difficult proposition to deal with.
same shit, different year. new season on , almost two months to solve our problems, and nothing has been solved. He bought a midfield player when we have tons of them; no experienced defender nor striker. just watched the barca -liverpool game, 4_0 for the reds , they look ready for us; this is depressing, season not even started and we have no chance whatsoever to win that league.
There’s some hope though: Lovren out with an injured hamstring and Sturridge out with a hip problem. But Mane looked like a beast to be honest…..
I’m growing tired of this…
His behavior is ridiculous. We needed a keeper but he waited until the Cech opportunity came out. We were lucky Real Madrid let Ozil go… But he will never write a list of strikers and try to sign one, he will just wait until something happens. This makes me crazy. This is a stupid mentality, we will never close the gap with Barcelona, Manchester United if we don’t change it.
Closing the gap with Manchester United would involve finishing about 4 places lower than we did…
It’s looking more like the summer of 2015 when we needed a striker and a defender and nothing happened!
It’s fine to wait for something better to come along but why not just target the guy you want and make an enticing offer rather wait for some hypothetical domino effect that may unearth a great deal.
I say if we can’t get a striker then play Alexis up top and get a wide player.
I don’t see any reason Alexis can’t be a great striker. Having so.eone more disciplined wide may actually be better
This is very depressing year after year after year. I long for the day when wenger and his backward philosophy takes a long walk away from the club
FFS. I was really looking forward to some signings as well. Look at Man City. Buying players left right and centre. Why does this club find it so difficult to buy players. It’s turning into a joke. If we drop points against Liverpool and Leicester it’s gonna be a real fucking disaster. I don’t care if it’s early on the season too! Groundhog Day or what.
Wenger is failing big time. He is an outdated oldtimer with absolutely nothing new to being to the table.
If we at last could go back to the tactics we had in the glory days of the Wenger era. Pace, power and counter attack instead of the dilly dally Barcelona ultra light crap we play nowadays.
Maybe that was the idea with Xhaka, Vardy, Mahres and Mikki. I hop it was. To bad we can’t attract players from big guns like Leicester any more….
Arsene? did you ever bought christmas presents for your daughter? or all the top top quality ponies were unavailable? you couldnt compete with other parents crazy christmas budget in the toystore? 🙁
The fact that Arsenal always the new season short is ridiculous, and Wenger’s approach towards transfers is not up to the standard required to compete against who are clincial in the market. Even when an Arsenal transfer window is considered successful, like summer 2014 for instance, we still only entered the season with two out-and-out center backs, which is frankly obscene. The reality is that Wenger’s approach towards transfers is outdated, and in an environment where Arsenal’s direct competitors for the title (if we can even be considered in that bracket anymore) are willing to exercise their financial power, Wenger… Read more »
My apologies, please place ‘enter’ between ‘always’ and ‘the’ ??
What does everyone think about Lewandowski potentially signing?
Interesting that rumours about him wanting to leave circulated within a day of Wenger saying something about money not being an issue for a striker.
What does everyone think?
Haha basically
Why hurt yourself with hope
Hahah, I feel like it’s the type of thing Wenger would do though….waiting patiently under the Striker Tree (patent pending) for a clinical, doe-eyed Lewandowski to fall out onto his lap….
If and a big if he leaves Bayern he would not waste his time coming to us. We would be hoping to buy from the club that bought lewandowski not the man himself
Our rumoured 18m bid for mustafi as well is just insulting to valencia when it’s alleged they will accept 25m. Watch chavski swoop in and get him
Only thing related to Lewandovski would be if Real bought him (a lot of reports) and had to get rid of either Benzema or Morata. Seems a bit unlikely imo but wenger could be waiting on this kind of things
Lewandowski is supposed to be the player the “in the knows” are referring to as #madness. I cant see this happening. The need for a striker and Centre-half is now reaching alarming levels. Wenger never learns from past mistakes. Going into season after season, with a squad lacking two or three players to really make us compete. Its really starting to annoy me, that Wenger and the club think they can try to mug us off with statements like ‘I like Walcott up front’ Had he watched our pre-season matches? Theo has looked like a player devoid of confidence. I… Read more »
Clueless…wenger needs to go…same story every season…forget A grade striker…he hasnt even got a back up for Giroud…
we bought Naruto
We’ve been hyped by our young promises for the last 10+ years and none of them have made it to the world class nor top levels, Walcott, Ox, Wheelchair, Ramsey even. Some of them have had one good season and that’s it.
We need to by top players to really play for the league. The youngsters are ok as back up or for the league cup, end of it.
*buy*
We’re embarrassing
Instead of being proactive we are reactive. Better clubs than us are signing strikers yet we can’t find anyone!
I wonder what or why we have dick law. What does he do?
And he likes theo in that position. So much so that he went to great lengths to avoid playing him last season
I just hope this is the last season of mediocrity from us. Fresh blood next summer – a desire to challenge at the top and not terrified to utilise the vast resources at his disposal
What if it’s Gazidis fault and not Wenger? It isn’t that long ago, that Ivan told the media “we won’t spend big”
When Wenger retires next season, the same transfer policy remains with the same board.. Am I the only one who think it’s Gazidis fault?
Basically yes
Aw runs that club top to bottom
Too many are grasping at straws trying to blame sk or ig.
Liverpool signed mane, why were we not interested? Next weekend we are weak, we lose and the crowd will quite rightly be asking serious questions as to wtf he is playing at. Our confirmation in not being title challengers, ha, will be confirmed long before Xmas
it obviously is both. Wenger has low objectives which he is achieving each year and of course Arsene is nowhere as ambitious as he once was to demand higher objectives as he has litarlly became Arsenal after so many years. board calls the club business brand and the game soccer. Wenger still believes we’re doing fine and likes Walcott as our striker. even fans will forget all this midway through season and believe in this lost cause. doom
The funny thing is that there are strikers available on the market. Manjukic, Zaza, Benteke even Diego Costa might not be Arsene’s dream transfers, but would do just fine as temporary solutions.
Buddy all good names but Costa? Really? He’s like the most despised person among Arsenal fans, I’d say, after his shenanigans against us last year. That level of dirty we don’t need, thank you.
Every summer its the same bs. Year after year. We keep deluding ourselves that this time it will be different. Well guess what it’s the same fucking thing everytime. Wenger is really starting to piss everyone off. Not sure wtf is he waiting for. When a man says “I like Theo in that position” you know he’s completely lost it
Silly season it’s over yet!
Crap. Isn’t.
Well most people have been saying it but the Wenger apologise has always call anyone that say its time for this man to go is not a true fan or glory hunter.serious is there any football club in the world that is run this way?the answer is no and a manager that hate to spend the club money,well Sunday is there same old same arsenal ruining the weekend as it been happen for over a decade.