Season Analysis, Summer Improvements Needed, 2008/09 Predictions

By K-PO, Proud Hardcore member of the Gooner Forum.

So it was a season of two halves for the Arsenal this term. From August to early January we dominated practically every game, played brilliant football, and lost only twice in all four competitions, all of which we were still involved in at that point. The highlight of these four months was the 7-0 victory versus Sparta Prague where we played better than Brazil in the ’70’s and Walcott got his first Champions League goals.

Then three events saw the beginning of Arsenal’s downfall.

• Tuesday, January 22, Arsenal’s 5-1 loss to Spurs
• Saturday, February 16, Arsenal’s 4-0 loss to Manchester United
• Saturday, February 23, Eduardo breaks his leg against Birmingham

Starting with our dismantling at Spurs, between then and our last fixture of March, the win at Bolton, we have nose dived in terms of results. We drew 6 times in all competitions, against AC Milan, Birmingham, Aston Villa, Wigan, ‘Boro, Liverpool, and Liverpool. And we lost against Chelsea. Then the final blows were dealt.

• Arsenal’s 4-2 loss against Liverpool at Anfield
• Arsenal’s 2-1 one loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford

So three depressing events let to our season ending. Two were avoidable, one wasn’t, and if one hadn’t happened, we could have been winning the title, not Man Utd. Also, we exited from both competitions because of questionable penalties.

Basically we need to look at the time when we fell apart, February to April, Birmingham to Man Utd, and ask our self what happened. Well here are all the results

Birmingham: 2:2 Game of Eduardo’s injury. McFadden 29, 95, Walcott 50, 55

Aston Villa: 1:1 Senderos og 28, Bendtner 94

AC Milan: 2:0 First English Team to win in San Siro. Fabregas 85, Adebayor 92

Wigan: 0:0

Boro: 1:1 Aliadiere 25, Toure 86

Chelsea: 1:2 Sagna 58, Dorgba, 72, 82

Bolton: Taylor 14, 44, Gallas 63, van Persie 69, Fabregas 90

Liverpool (UEFACL): 1:1, Adebayor 24, Kuyt 26

Liverpool (EPL): 1:1 Crouch 42, Bendtner 54

Liverpool (UEFACL): 2:4 Diaby 13, Adebayor, 84; Hyypia, 30, Torres 69, Gerrard, 85, Babel 90

Manchester United: 1:2 Adebayor 48, Ronaldo 53, Hargreaves 73

Now, one of two things happened in everyone of these games. 1. We went in front and ended up drawing or losing. 2. We went behind and then could only get a draw.

So, moving onto the the topic of this summer, what could we do to make sure that doesn’t happen again? Well, to find that out, we have to ask ourselves a few questions. What do you need to keep a lead, or come from behind to take the lead?

For Question #1, you need a solid defense. Clichy-Toure-Gallas-Sagna has one weak link. William Gallas. He is not a leader, nor a true Arsenal style player, nor a good partner to future legend Kolo Toure. We need a huge, dominating, no nonsense, inspiring centerback, a new Sol Campbell. That could be anybody, but I expect Wenger to sign a center back, even if it is just as a replacement for Senderos. Next, you would need a Defensive Midfielder, experienced and inspirational, to break up opponent’s moves, and start counter attacks. This player will be first on Wenger’s list for this summer.

For Questions #2, you need goals from midfield, and reliable goal scorers up front. Up front we have three reliable scorers in my opinion in Bendtner, van Persie, and Adebayor, and Eduardo, is he makes a full, healthy return. However, more importantly than reliable strikers, is goals from midfield. Three of four midfielders should be giving regular goals. Rosicky (when fit) and Fabregas are the only ones that can do that right now. However, I have faith in the emerging Walcott to become a regular goal scorer on the right wing. Hleb and Eboue cannot offer us regular goals. I’m just hoping Rosicky’s surgery works.

So my dream team for next year is this:

—-Adebayor—van Persie—-

Rosicky—————-Walcott

—–Fabregas—Y. Toure——–

Clichy—————-Sagna

—–Toure—-Mertesacker—-

———Almunia———–

bench: Fabianski, Song, Gilberto, Vela, Bendtner/Eduardo

Second Team:

—–Bendtner—Eduardo—

Vela——————Randall

—-Denilson—-Diaby——-

Traore————–Hoyte????

—-Song-Djourou?/Nordtveit—

——-Fabianski———–

Bench: Mannone, Nordtveit/Bartley, Merida, Gibbs, Barazite

If van Persie’s injuries continue I think Eduardo should take his first team spot for 2009/10, and Bendtner will come in on the the bench. If Rosicky’s injuries continue, he will be replaced my Carlos Vela, if he is a success in England.

I think that this squad has the perfect blend of youth and experience, and has a good enough second team. This team will challenge for the title next year, to the very end, and i predict AT LEAST second place in the League, and probably another trophy else.

Huntelaar or Gomez: The Safe Play

A lot of talk has been circulating about the need to purchase a new striker next season. Many mention Adebayor’s inconsistency and lack of efficiency, Eduardo’s inevitable lengthy recovery, Robin Van Persie’s injury riddled career and the youth of Nicklas Bendtner. On the other hand, some argue that we have plenty of options. We have Ade, RVP, Bendtner and Walcott for the beginning of next season, but we have Vela coming in and Eduardo poised to return. So who is right?

The fact is that they both, in a way, are right. On the one hand we do have a lot of strikers, but on the other hand, those strikers come with an asterisks.

Adebayor: Ade has had a great season. 30 goals is quite an accomplishment, especially for someone seeing their first full year as the number one at one of the worlds top clubs. At only 24, Adebayor will continue to get better and mature, which is fantastic news for Arsenal fans. But, as it is, Ade is not a finished product and he cannot do it all by himself. Adebayor will deliver next season, but it takes more than one player to win a title.

Robin Van Persie: There is little doubt that when healthy Robin possesses the talent to become on of the best players in the world. But there in lies the problem, [i]when[/i] he is healthy. Over the last several season Gooners have seen moments of his brilliance, but his legacy with Arsenal so far has been marred by long stretches on the injury table. The man may have talent but he is far from reliable week in week out.

Eduardo: Eduardo had the makings of a fantastic first campaign and a wonderful partnership with fellow striker Emmanuel Adebayor. However, a vicious tackle at Birmingham ruled him out for the rest of this season and most of next. And if we are to be honest, it is highly unlikely that he will be seen back on the pitch until at least February.

Nicklas Bendtner: A solid return this season for the young Dane. And in recent weeks he has shown potential to move from an old school center forward role to more of a link up role, like Bergkamp. As bright as his future might be, he is still young and learning and he is not ready to last a large part of a tough campaign as a starter. He will undoubtedly play a larger role next season but Bendtner still needs to do some maturing before he is ready to start week in week out.

Theo Walcott: Walcott has been the one glimmer of hope towards the end of a disappointing season. He as really matured into quite the player and we all look forward to seeing what he can do next season. But if one looks at where Walcott has been most deadly this season, it is not up front but on the wings. Walcott lacks the physique to play up in the box. He is too small and too weak to deal with large, burly center backs. On top of this, playing to far forward takes away from Walcott’s greatest asset, his pace. If we look back on where Walcott has been at his best this season it has been when he was when he received the ball on the wings up towards the half way line and had room to run. Walcott seems to have a real future with the club, but as a winger and not a striker. Next season he should really focus on playing out wide instead of up in the box.

Carlos Vela: While the young Mexican did have a rather successful U 20 World Cup as a striker, the youngster has played all season on the left wing in the midfield for Spanish outfit Osasuna, which also happens to be the roll he now fills for the senior Mexican squad. On top of all this, he is still just 19 years of age and has never played a game in the Premier League, so how much can we honestly expect from him next season?

This leads me to my point: Arsenal should loan a striker, not buy one. When we analyze the true striking options for next season we appear to be stretched. Ade will surely be our number one with RVP partnering with him. But, as we have seen over three years now Van Persie is unreliable to be fit and will undoubtedly be out for periods of time this coming season. Bendtner is our third option but again, he is young and inconsistent and if RVP goes out, we would have little cover for Bendtner and Ade if one of them were to become injured as well. When Eduardo comes back, it will certainly be a boost but that wont be for quite some time and even then, it will take even more time for his to get back in the game. And while Walcott and Vela can both play up front, their speed and skill is better utilized on the wings rather than up front. Their focus should be giving us depth, speed and width next season, not playing up in the box.

In light of this, it would be most prudent to bring in another striker, such as Huntelaar or Mario Gomez on loan for a season with the option to buy. This would give us the depth we need next season as well as the flexibility we would require for future seasons. By going with the loan option we would be able to cover Eduardo and Van Persie for the next season without having to be tied down to anything should Van Persie manage to complete an injury free season and Eduardo manage to make a superb comeback and achieve the same form we saw this season. However, should the need arise to replace one of our strikers in seasons to come (a la Eduardo requires more time to get back to his same level or Van Persie fails to prove he can deliver) then having the option to purchase a striker like Huntelaar or Gomez come the end of next season could prove incredibly valuable, especially since they would have already played in the EPL with us for an entire season.

With Eduardo sure to be back for the 2009/2010 campaign Arsenal’s striker force will unquestionably be bolstered but his certain absence for most of next season combined with Robin’s inability to stay fit is a huge concern for Arsenal’s title assault. Bring in a striker on loan would allow us to add depth to the roster without running the risk of over crowding the position in the long run.

Triplec1988, proud member of The GoonerForum

www.goonerforum.com

Kompany, Ben Arfa and Yaya! Are we dreaming?

Last night I had a wonderful dream.

Arsenal went out and signed 3 world class players, This morning I woke up made a cup of tea sat down and started to visit a few Arsenal sites to see that we have been linked with Kompany, Ben Arfa and Yaya Toure!

Even some reports in the Sun saying that we had already agreed to sign Ben Arfa for £16m?? After last season with the Sun reporting that we had signed Rodrigo Palacio I wont get my hopes up until I see it on Arsenal.com

Surly this is too good to be true? Its only a matter of time before Wenger comes out on Arsenal.com and says he is not interested in them players? (Cry) Are we at the hands of some pranks again? its very easy to start a rumor online about a player coming to Arsenal, Sinbad (Rodrigo Palacio) showed us last summer what a fake blog and a Wikipedia account can do. The scary thing is every site then jumps on the bandwagon reporting the same false information.

But maybe…Just maybe Le boss will finally do it and crack open that old wallet and sign players who can do a job now and not in 2012.

Back to sleep I go, And I look forward to see who we are going to be linked with in the morning?

www.goonerforum.com

Jens Lehmann “Thanks for the memories”

The final home game of the season saw an end to a truly eventful Arsenal career, Love him or hate him Jens Lehmann will always have a special place in our hearts.

From 2003–2008 Jens has entertained us with his breathtaking saves and moments of madness, On the pitch Jens is nothing more then a true winner who hates to lose, Off the pitch he is a softly spoken gentle giant. Replacing David Seaman was never going to be an easy job, But Jens has achieved so much at Arsenal and some would even say more then Seaman?

In 2003-2004 Jens was key to Arsenal going the whole season unbeaten and becoming champions. He helped Arsenal to keep record “longest unbeaten league run” (49 league matches unbeaten)

In 2005 Lehmann put in a man-of-the-match performance against Manchester United in the FA Cup final. He made several important saves and demonstrated great positional sense to keep the score 0–0 after E/T and then crucially saved Scholes shot in the penalty shootout, which Arsenal won 5–4.

In 2006-2007 He was a key factor in his side’s first-ever accession to the Champions League final,During their run Arsenal broke the record for the most consecutive clean sheets in the Champions League with ten, breaking the record of seven that Milan had set just one year before. That run formed the bulk of an 853-minute spell without conceding a goal, overtaking the CL record for an individual goalkeeper set by Edwin van der Sar.

On the 4th may 2008 vs Everton He was given a standing ovation at the final whistle as he bowed and clapped to the fans. Later that day, Wenger confirmed that it was Lehmann’s farewell appearance.

From all of the members of www.goonerforum.com We would like to say thank you and god bless.

Favorite memory of Jens?

For me it has to be the penalty save in the last min of the champions league semi final away to Villarreal.

Enjoy

Some more classic moments

Club	Season	Premiership			FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Others		Total
		App			App		App		App		App		App
Arsenal	2007–08	7			3		0		3		0		13
	2006–07	36			0		0		8		0		44
	2005–06	38			0		0		8		1		47
	2004–05	28			5		0		7		1		41
	2003–04	38			5		0		10		1		54
	Subtotal	147			13		0		36		3		199

The Gooner Forum

With One Fixture Left, Arsene Has Some Signing to Do

Flamini: Gone

So it has finally come down to one game. Arsenal will come in 3rd place this season, with the final day of the season to decide who will win the title, Chelsea or Manchester United. So, as a club, we have some reflection to do. What was the decisive moment? What players held the team back this year? What additions need to be made? 

Well here’s how I see it: Arsenal’s title chances ended in late February against Birmingham City, where Eduardo broke his leg. Our season went downhill from there. There have been several players to blame for our lack of success, and for me, the main culprits and Eboue and Senderos. They need to be the first to leave. First of all, they are not good enough to play at Arsenal, and they have better players behind them in the pecking order in Song and Walcott. The next three players who have to leave have been caught between Generations, and those players are Lehmann, Gilberto, Gallas and J. Hoyte. So, with these six exits, plus that of Flamini, who signed for Milan today, these two teams will be the first and second squads:

—-Adebayor—van Persie—

Rosicky—————-Hleb

—–Fabregas–New Signing—

Clichy—————–Sagna

—–Toure—New Signing—-

——–Almunia————

—Bendtner—Barazite/Eduardo—

Vela———————-Walcott

—-Denilson—Diaby———-

Traore——————New Signing

—–Song—-Djourou———–

——-Fabianski—————

Bench: Mannone, Nordtveit, Merida, Gibbs, Barazite/Sunu

So those are the signings we need to make. A defensive midfielder, similar to Flamini, a big, huge, towering, stronger center-back, and a back-up right back. 

1. Defensive Midfielder Options

• Jean Makoun- He is a Cameroonian defensive midfielder, and is a ball-winner, very aggressive, and strong in the tackle. He also has a similar ability to Flamini with “ghosting” in to the box. 
• Loic Perrin- The St. Etienne man is another defensive midfielder, who is very good at going on sudden bursts forward, and is also very strong in the tackle aswell. 
• Stephane Sessegnon- the Frenchman cn be read about by clicking here. 
• Alex Song- This boy really has emerged this season, especially for Cameroon. I think we have all been impressed with him, and could become a great center midfielder alongside Cesc, and we wouldn’t have to pay anything. 
• Abou Diaby- Although most of us haven’t been impressed with him on the left wing, that is not his natural position, and I can definitely see potential for him in the center midfield position. He has a great passing range and skill on the ball, and is more than willing to get stuck in. 
• Gilberto Silva- He is an option, and Wenger has said that he wants him to stay. I think that he has been fine when he has started, but he has gotten to old to be able to adapt to the game when he comes on after 70 minutes. 

1. Center Back 

• Per Mertesacker- The German 6′6 man is idle for Arsenal’s current team in my opinion, and is my preference. He is a no nonsense 23-year-old, and gets the occasional goal for Werder Bremen. He has five years of experience in the Bundesliga with Hannover and Bremen. He was brilliant for Germany in the 2006 World Cup, and would be an ideal signing. 
• Ron Vlaar- He captained the Dutch u-21’s to victory in the European Championships of 2007. He has been playing for Rotterdam for two years, and has made two appearances for Holland. He looks like he will be a great player, especially if he gets in the hands of Arsene Wenger.
• Cristian Zapata- The Columbian man is my least preferred of the three. I think he is a great player, especially to be starting as a defender in Italy at 21 is a great achievement. However, I think he is too attacking minded to partner Toure, and would be Gallas and Toure all over again. However, he is a great player, and would be more than willing to give him a chance. 

1. Right Back

• I really have no idea who would be a good back up right back, and it seems like all the boys from the Reserves are average (Paul Rodgers, Abu Ogogo, Kerrea Gilbert, Anton Blackwood). If you have any ideas for a good right back, dont post a reply, join the Forum, and start a thread. 

By K-PO, proud hardcore member of the Gooner Forum, and main man of the blog

Stephane Sessegnon to replace Flamini

Arsenal manger Arsene Wenger has reportedly been in contact with French club Le Mans asking about the availability of tough defensive midfielder Stephane Sessegnon.

Giles Grimandi Has been sent to watch the player a number of times this season and has been very impressed with the hard working ball winner.

Le Mans also claim to have had an approach from Newcastle Utd. Sessegnon is an Benin international & had gave a impressive displays at the African Cup of Nations.

Sessegnon, 23, is highly regarded in France as a tough defensive midfielder who has an eye for goals, Scoring 4 goals in 40 games for Le Man including 2 last season in the same game vs Lyon.

He will be the seen by Wenger as the perfect replacement for AC Milan bound Mathieu Flamini, And is valued at around £4m.

Full name	Stéphane Sessegnon
Date of birth	June 1, 1984 (1984-06-01) (age 23)
Place of birth	Allahe, Benin
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder

Flamini, Just Go Already!

by natsteel

I have three words for Mathieu Flamini… just go already!

He obviously doesn’t want to stay or he would’ve signed the deal already. He won’t look half the player he did this season without Cesc next to him. Milan don’t play like Arsenal and he will have to adapt. Remember how long it took him to adapt here - THREE YEARS!! Does he think the Milan board, coaching staff, and especially the fans will be as patient with him as Arsenal was? They should boo the shit out of him if Wenger puts him on the bench on Sunday or especially if he gets in the game. We don’t need an ungrateful, greedy player who thinks he’s bigger than the club.

If he was committed to the club he would sign the deal and put in another good year (he’s only had ONE!!) and then look to ask for a wage increase after next season. But no, he wants the money and he wants it NOW!!! He’d rather play for a lesser team who may not even be in the CL next year for an extra 5-10k a week. Is that really the kind of player we want at Arsenal. It shows that for Flamini winning trophies and playing good football are nowhere near as important as money. I mean, he’s had one good season!! And he’s let this hang over the club since before January while we were in the middle of our first title run-in in 3 years.

Look at Kolo Toure… a true Arsenal professional. He’s been here for over five years won the league, the FA Cup, and been to the Champions League final. He’s got the most seniority on the team aside from Gilberto and he’s not one of the top paid players. Do you hear him complaining?? No. He’s in the press talking about how he wants to become an Arsenal legend which doesn’t come with a price tag. The fact is he’s quibbling over 5-10k pounds a week when right now he makes more in a week than most people in England make all year. All the players at the club make a bit of a sacrifice when it comes to wages due to the club’s wage structure but they are willing to do it because Arsene and the club brought them through as youngsters and we are trying to achieve something that people seem to think can’t be done.

This team has a chance to do what no other Arsenal team ever has… win the European Cup. They would forever be Arsenal legends and more players should be like Cesc and Kolo who have both said that that is the most important thing. Cesc and Kolo could leave and make WAY more money tomorrow if they wanted but they’re dedicated to the club. At this point, it’s not even a matter of waiting for him to make a decision… I want the club to take the offer off the table and say you’re not the kind of player and person we want at Arsenal. This club has values and traditions that mean a lot to the supporters and everyone at the club, and Flamini’s behavior has shown that he does not hold those values or want to share in those traditions. At this point, for me, he can’t leave quick enough. Flamini’s behavior has been like saying “Fuck You1!!” to the club and the supporters… now it’s time for us to say it back.

If you want to discuss Flamini, don’t just leave a comment - come interact with your fellow Gooners at The Gooner Forum.