Alexis Sanchez. Mathieu Débuchy. David Ospina. Calum Chambers. Danny Welbeck. And people still brand this transfer window as terrible.
I get the point that we should have added a defender in order to complete the unit, is that enough to label Arsène Wenger’s job as horrible?
I don’t know what you think about it but I haven’t experienced such an intense and exciting transfer session for ages.
I do believe that unveiling Alexis Sanchez and Mathieu Débuchy later than what has been done could have lifted spirits among us Gooners; the excitement has long gone since both deals were announced at very early stages but this shouldn’t make us lose correct perspective.
In my humble opinion, Arsène Wenger brought in players who should be seen as upgrades and not simply as replacements.
David Ospina is far a better goalkeeper than Lukasz Fabianski. The Colombian is younger, proven at a higher level and will provide real competition to Wojciech Szczesny, something Lukasz Fabianski has never been able to do; same goes for Mathieu Débuchy, who is younger than Bacary Sagna but as powerful and reliable as the former Gunner. It’s no coincidence Mathieu Débuchy was keeping Bacary Sagna out of France national team, as much as I loved Bacary Sagna, our new right-back looks very good.
Then come Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck.
The Chilean has just scored his first two goals for the club, looks like a real fighter with great skills and speed – which was something we really lack towards the end of last season; he can play both centrally or wide, can run tirelessly for hours and become the ideal outlet for Mesut Özil, Santi Cazorla and other midfielders to slip balls through any opponent’s defensive line.
The England international, latest in time to join the Gunners, could finally flourish at the Arsenal and fulfill the talent he obviously has. The guy has speed and power, can move across the offensive line and score those goals we are currently missing due to Olivier Giroud’s injury and Yaya Sanogo’s poor form.
He might not be a big name but he could prove to be a real bargain at £ 16m.
Same applies to Calum Chambers, arrived as a back-up right-back and mainly deployed as centre-back, with excellent results. At just 19 years of age, the Englishman looks as composed, strong and focused as a veteran and will provide vital cover for both Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny.
Is he worse than Thomas Vermaelen during the last two seasons? I don’t think so.
As I said, we should have bought an additional defender in order to have a better cover at the back but is this enough to brand this transfers windows as terrible?
Hector Bellerín and Isaac Hayden might need to be involved more often with the first-team during the next four months, is that much of a nightmare?
Mikel Arteta will be back after the international break and take his place in front of back-four, Mathieu Flamini will step in when needed and we also have Calum Chambers (plus Francis Coquelin) who can play there, was a defensive midfielder that much a priority? We will need to replace Mikel Arteta at some point but we are not so desperate at the moment.
Smile Gunners, Arsène Wenger invested some £ 80m in this window and strengthened every position with some wise deals. He brought in a big name for the second consecutive summer and he proved he is willing to that again, if the opportunity pops-up.
That was hard to imagine a couple of years ago.
Let’s cheers on what we got, it’s not that bad after all.
Andrea Rosati
Italian living in Switzerland, Gooner since mid-nineties, when the Gunners defeated my hometown team, in Copenhagen. I started my own blog and podcast (www.clockenditalia.com) after after some experiences with Italian websites and football magazines. Covering Arsenal Women with the occasional rant about the boys.
Sanchez and Welbeck both excite me. I rate Danny Welbeck and he will make our team twice as mobile. Calum Chambers is a great signing. Fantastically mature. To me Debuchy and Ospina are purely replacements. Debuchy is good and on a par with Bacary Sagna. Something does bother me though and why should I not say what I feel? Both Arteta and Flamini are factually too weak to keep the bigger marauding teams and players out. Big mistake not to buy a big strong DM. We clearly need a CB as Calum Chambers is covering for both full back and CB. Not ideal if injuries mount up. Returning to Welbeck. He is young and has been at United since a little boy. He will have had the perfect football education. He has played for England many times and in a central striking role will score many goals. In the matches he played as a CF at United his scoring figures are excellent. As a winger not so good, but that is the same for any winger, barring Ronaldo. So both good and bad business, but not signing defenders will come back to haunt us. Wenger is not on point these days and makes some bad mistakes, IMHO.
Hi Sean,
thanks for your comment, I do rate Danny Welbeck too and I am sure he’ll provide the team with some qualities both Olivier Giroud and Yaya Sanogo are missing – so I am really excited to see him in action.
As I said, we should have signed one more defender but I am not sure this will haunt us, at the ond of the day the window reopens on January, 1st and I am sure Arsène Wenger will strenghten (Winston Reid?) the area.
Also, I do feel Mikel Arteta can do the job in front of the back four, he needs not to be left alone against taller and more powerful players so the whole team will have to defend better in big games.
We can’t blame one player if the whole team is not doing what expected, batterings at Anfiled and Stamford Bridge were due to bad focus and dedication by the whole team, not this or that player – in my opinion.
Cheers!
Yes, we have upgraded; but there are serious issues which have not been addressed. We only signed Wellbeck because of the injury to Giroud. If Wellbeck gets injured, we have no goalscorer. Sanogo is simply not good enough. In fact, he is a joke. Tell me one team he will get into in the top half of the table. Podolski cannot play as a central striker, neither does Wenger trust Campbell in that role. Having said all of that, we can cope up top now. Thre real issue is at the back. Time and time and time again last season we were cut to ribbons on the counter attack because Arteta and Flamini simply cannot cover the back four. There is again a lack of strength through the spine – which was exposed horribly against the top teams – conceding a plethora of goals against Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea. Should anything happen to Koscielny or Mertasacker – and one or both will be injured or suspended at some point – and we have no cover at centre back. None.
Now I love Wenger and the team, but this issue simply hasnt been addressed. A strong midfielder and a centre back cover. A simple, clear necessity. Instead, we will come up short again, and finish fourth.
Hi Quince,
I feel your frustration but I do believe we can challenge big teams all the way this year. My concerns are not about this or that player, I am more worried about the time needed by the team to gel. New players need time to get into the groove, this might cost us important points in the league.
We’ll see what happens in the coming months, I am sure Arsène Wenger will add players shall someone come up short or be injured – we can definitely compete with the current squad.
Let’s wait and see, it’s going to be a long season and hopefully we won’t collapse – we have numbers to rotate players more that we used to do.
Cheers