Arsene Wenger says having 23 first team players fit could prove to be an ‘important luxury’ going into the final third of the season although he admits it makes picking a starting lineup harder.
With Francis Coquelin, Alexis Sanchez back after two months out and Tomas Rosicky, Danny Welbeck on the cusp of returns, there’s a depth to Arsenal’s squad that has been sorely lacking.
As things stand only Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla remain on the sidelines; a state of affairs that pleases the boss.
“The squad should all feel more confident,” he told Arsenal.com. “They should also feel more competition for places.
“My problem for selection will be bigger but when you look around you, you have players on the bench who can change the course of the game. That makes the squad stronger.
“The squad has responded remarkably well to play so many big games and win them. The fact that we suddenly have more choices at this crucial point in the season means that you can sometimes rest a player who needs a breather and that is an important luxury to have.
“If we want to compete on all fronts, that will be very important.”
Wenger also touched on how his players are always quick to help new faces settle. Reflecting on the integration of new signing Mohamed Elneny, who signed two weeks ago from FC Basle, he continued:
“We have such a good mentality in our dressing room that the players who come from outside the dressing room are welcomed.
“Everybody contributes to his integration in the team. He’s also a very respectful boy who wants to do very well, so that will be well accepted in the dressing room.”
Elneny looks like he could well make his Gunners debut in tomorrow’s FA 4th round game against Burnley. Should he take to the pitch he’ll be the 205th player to be fielded by Arsene Wenger.
“Respectful boy who wants to do well” sound Koloesque- Marvellous.
A bit off topic, but I had a dream the other night that Arsenal beat Barcelona 4-2 at the Camp Nou in the CL. Obviously I was very disappointed to wake up and find it did not happen, but hope my dream becomes a premonition!
Some would still moan at that result, letting 2 goals in!
OK, so we beat Barcelona at home but we’ll never win the CL if we keep letting goals in like that. Not the PL or FA Cup either. I blame Per because he’s too low so he’s shit. I also blame Debuchy whose unwillingness to fight for his spot has demoralised the team. Sell them both! And why’d we only manage 4 goals? We’ll never win anything without a world class striker. Giroud out! Wenger Out!
We did nearly beat Barcelona before, with a far worse team than what we have now. They notoriously don’t travel well in Europe, and from watching Inter Milan knock them out a few years ago under Maureen, the key is the home tie. You have to score as many goals as humanly possible at home and at the same time try not to concede that many goals, if any, ….and essentially defend your balls off in the away tie. In previous seasons the away goals have cost us, or we get boobed by a shocking referee’s decision, and Barca aren’t… Read more »
Can you imagine how up for it Bellerin and Sanchez will be.
Those two with a point to prove is mouth watering.
Depending who you ask, our squad is both far too thin and far too deep at the same time
I agree and disagree.
That’s both awesome and not so awesome.
Sorry, too far?
Perhaps, perhaps not.
It’s more of a balancing issue for me, as well as the uneven quality of said depth. We’re very midfield heavy, but the majority of our midfield are either not good enough (Arteta, Arteta, possibly Flamini, Arteta) have bad injury records (Ramsey, Flamini, as well Chamberlain if that’s where Wenger wants him eventually), or have even worse injury records (Wilshere, Rosicky), which makes things tricky if more than one of our first choice midfield triumvirate (Ozil, Cazorla and Coquelin) gets a long term injury,as has happened this season and resulted in the hard-working but pretty dire Flamini-Ramsey partnership. We also… Read more »
Finally someone who gets it. We have quantity not quality.
You look at our frontline which is only looking great because Giroud is on a purple patch, what happens when giroud gets injured? Theo has done nothing to prove he’s a genuine option as a CF and can score goals this season. People keep talking about danny, but the fact is he’s never been a great goal scorer to begin with and is definitely not reliable.
It was the best of squads, it was the worst …
Because we rely on injury prone players. No point planning a season around people you know won’t contribute what they should
Only Arsenal can have a squad that is the best of both worlds
Yeah nah
Schrödinger’s squad?
Hope the new lad gets a run out. Watch out for Joey Barton trying to start something though!
Those complaining about squad depth and that we need to buy buy buy should really look at City. Leicester City, the entire squad is put together for 17m quid and has no “World Class’Players. Even the other City have only Bony to back up Aguero. Some fans are deluded to think we lack squad depth. Wenger has ensured a rebuild includes experience in every position, plenty of players at 23/24 on the cusp of realising potential and plenty of younger hopefuls below. Add careful marquee signings in recent seasons and we should have recipe for success. Squad depth is not… Read more »
Definitely maybe/
No need to talk like a Man City fan
Don’t envy Arsene’s job picking a team when we get all our players back fit but what a fantastic squad!!
The only position i feel we have Genuine depth is our Midfield especially the cm/am area. I think Man city is the only team that comes close to matching the quality there.
Striking isn’t that strong…i’d only rate it slightly above average only because of giroud’s form this season.
We should have done whatever it took to buy Luis Suarez at the time. I feel like it’s going to be the same with aubameyang.
it was suarez or ozil i guess. and I know who id rather have..
I’d rather we had this full a squad at this time in the season than at the beginning.
But this is good, no?
Bring it the fuck on
So, does this mean we’re not going to sign Messi in this transfer window? This summer perhaps?
“The squad has responded remarkably well to play so many big games and win them.”
Which big games? Apart from City and Olympiakos, we’ve mostly failed to win our ‘big games’.
Hammering Man Utd still counts as a big game despite their woes
Apparently beating Bayern is a small game as well when it’s at the Emirates…………
Points-wise who’d have guessed that beating Leicester at their place was actually a big game as well…..
That was before the injuries kicked in. Like he rightly pointed out, we haven’t won a big game since city and olympiakos.
Aww con u imbecile!.the moment I start getting the arsenal feel gud feeling u ruin it!
Come on you Gunners! Excited to see Coq back up!
According to Mr G if he himself becomes ill and misses some work….his boss should declare him s*it and fire him. Arteta has been injured after a long term of representing himself and club with honor. He significantly contributed to continued CL inclusion and the open professional club we love. By the way Flamini is a stud
Arteta is a fucking gladiator. El capitan is going to lift the league trophy for us this year.