Changes needed | Thoughts on Wenger/Board | What Will January Bring?

                                         
Well, well, well….

Here we are again. The run up to Christmas, the time of the year in which our players fail to play to their ability and Gooners across the globe go wild. It is also known to be the media’s favourite time of year.

So why don’t we address these problems?

Because we don’t know how to. These problems we witness each and every season around this period of time are caused by a number of different issues. Lets crack on…

Now these are my views on the issues causing the poor performances.
                                                *Warning – you may not agree*

Firstly the refusal to change formation. When things aren’t going your way, you change and try something new. Just look what happened at Reading. We put Chamakh up top with Giroud and he actually had a good game. He fed off Giroud’s knock downs and hold up play which hasn’t been happening in the current formation, instead we lose possession. Now I’m not saying start with a 4-4-2, because we don’t have the players to play that formation for 90 minutes as our current wide players aren’t ‘real’ wingers like we used to have in Pires and Ljungberg . Instead we should just switch after 60 minutes if we aren’t creating much, for instance the Swansea game.

Secondly, the squad size. We have 26 first team players and 6 out on loan. Man Utd have 30 first team players. So in truth 4 players doesn’t have much of a difference, instead its the quality. I’m going to break down our squad and create a true picture of our real squad size in terms of quality.

Goalkeepers –  Szczesny | The other two are liabilities.

Defenders – Koscielny, Per, Vermaelen, Gibbs|Santos – can’t defend, Jenkinson –will be a good player in the future, Squillaci and Djourou – match made in hell

Midfielders – Santi, Wilshere, Arteta, Rosicky, Ramsey | Diaby – Crocked, Coquelin – too inconsistent, Arshavin – only plays when he wants

Forwards – Podolski, Giroud, Theo (leaving), Ox (current form worrying though) | Chamakh, 2 goals a season striker, Gervinho, loses the ball over and over again.

So if we look at it, we have 1 Goalkeeper, 4 defenders, 4 1/2 (Ramsey) Midfielders and 4 forwards that have the quality to play for Arsenal and make a positive contribution. And we know Wenger knows this himself as he continues to play Cazorla and Arteta even though they are out of steam. As a result, we have a lack of creativity in the side as we don’t have the energy to push the side forward in midfield. A midfield trio that would create lots of opportunities to score if they had a chance to revitalise themselves.

That lack of energy throughout the side was the difference between ourselves and Swansea yesterday. We had more possession, but couldn’t burst forward whereas Swansea had the ability to and also had the fitness to keep going till the end.

Time to move on….

The Board. Those two words have been used a lot recently. Sack The Board seems to be a popular one and in all honesty I can’t praise the board for anything. Not even our stadium because they still took advantage of the fans by charging ridiculous ticket prices. Did they invest the money from the tickets in the squad? No. Did they invest the money from Highbury Square? No. So where is the money going? Oh how its a good time to be a shareholder!

Yesterday we had a poor performance but the Black Scarf Movement protest went very well. There was little abuse of Wenger, there were no stupid comments made to the media and the board was the main focus as it should be. However, I believe Stan couldn’t care less what we think and will be sat in his home comforts oblivious to the protest.


And to finish…The January Transfer Window

Every year we dream of that late Christmas present from Mr Wenger. Every year we wake up from that dream with a pretty ‘Happy Christmas’ email from Mr Wenger. But no player attached. Can this year be any different?

I hope so because Wenger has already got me dreaming. Here’s what he said;

“This winter we will work very hard because we have some funds available,”

“It could happen that we buy two players, but I cannot reveal the names.”

“A loan [for Henry] is still a possibility, but we will still try to strengthen for the long term. Henry is the talent that you dream to have.”

The fact he said “I cannot reveal the names” implies that he has already identified his targets which will hopefully include a striker other than Henry. We cannot rely on Henry once again, he is a legend and will always be loved by everyone associated with Arsenal and admired by the world, but we should be moving forward instead of relying on Henry.

Well there you are, that’s your lot! Feels good to write once again, it’s been a long time.

Let us know what you think below and if you enjoy it give it a share!

Cheers

If you want to see more videos of the protest or fan interviews follow - https://twitter.com/arsenalfantv

Technorati Tags: Arsenal,gooners,wenger,board,stan,kroenke,henry,january,swansea