Mick Appleton
As the window shut on Wednesday, I sat and took stock of what had changed with the squad since the end of last season. The questions I asked myself were
(1) “have we shifted the dead wood?”
(2) “have we signed better players?” (br>
and (3) “are we in a better position to challenge for trophies?”.
The answers were as follows:
(1) Yes. The majority of the players I wanted gone have either been sold or, as in the case of Vela, Bendtner & Denilson, been loaned out, the obvious exceptions being Almunia (who we can't give away with Green Shield Stamps), Rosicky, Diaby and Arshavin. Hopefully, with the new arrivals, Rosicky and Arshavin's appearances will be restricted and Almunia is so far down the pecking order that he is never likely to don the beloved shirt ever again. Hopefully, the loan deals will become permanent and the three amigos will never darken our doors ever again.
(2) For me, the answer to this question is also mostly yes. Gervinho is a better player than Vela, Bendtner, Chamakh, Walcott and Arshavin, and will be one of the first names on the team sheet. Santos, in my opinion, is a better bet than Clichy, and he is definitely better than the permanently-injured Gibbs. I was in a panic when we hadn't sold Traoré: I thought we were going to continue with a sick-note, a liability or our first-choice right-back as our left-back options. The only other option was choosing to take our best centre-back and using him there. This could not be allowed to happen. Santos' signing and the subsequent sale of Traoré mean that we're in a much better position now.
Mertersacker is exactly what I've been calling for since we lost Sol Campbell the first time, a big ball-winning monster. His introduction beside TV will surely mean that Squillaci has kicked his last ball for the club. Hopefully, it will also mean that Djourou's appearances are limited. I've already heard a lot of negativity from my fellow Gooners about Jenkinson, but I feel he deserves a chance to prove himself, and the fact that he has been thrown in at the deep end is not his fault. He needed to be introduced slowly, but our lack of depth has forced him into the spotlight way too quickly. I have seen signs from him, and the fact that he's a life-long Arsenal fan should mean that, at the very least, we should get 100% commitment from him: that means he is ahead of the hapless Eboué in my reckoning.
Now we come to the most contentious issues, the replacement of Cesc & Na$ri. I was calling for us to sign Arteta three years ago, when Cesc's move to Barcelona first reared its ugly head. I know he has had his injury problems in the last two seasons, but he was carrying the whole team on his back. At Arsenal he will almost certainly be rotated with Song, Frimpong, Ramsey, Benayoun and Diaby (I hope not with Diaby, but Arsène loves him) and his lack of international football will mean he has opportunities to rest and recuperate. All that being said, I do not think he is as good as Cesc, but he is a good-quality, experienced addition and Wilshere and Ramsey will only benefit from his presence.
Benayoun is another good, experienced player who will fit in to our pass-and-move style. Again, he is probably not as good as Na$ri, but, if we can get full commitment and consistency from him, I'd rather have that than a player whose thoughts were elsewhere and who could be a superstar one day or anonymous the next, depending on his mood. Park Chu-Young's signing signalled the end of Bendtner, which I'm over the moon about. I also hope it means I will never have to suffer Chamakh ever again. Park has a decent pedigree, and I would much rather see him than either of the pair already mentioned or Vela, so - again - I think we've improved.
(3) This one is a maybe. Unfortunately, by the time the business was done, we were already out of the title race. Eight points behind the Manchester teams and six behind Chelsea and Liverpool mean its a consolidating season in the league and a massive effort is required to achieve top-four status. I still think we're not good enough to win the Champions League but we should progress to the knockout stages: the last eight looks our limit. In the other two competitions, we have the same chance as anyone. If you draw a top-four side away, you're probably out. If you get mostly home draws, you've got a chance. I think Wenger will stick with the policy of playing a stronger team in the Carling Cup, so we must hope to go one better this season, as winning a trophy is very important for this group of players. You only had to witness our implosion after we lost last year’s final to realise how important confidence and a winning mentality is.
All in all, I think we've gone forward. We didn't get the stellar signings that many Gooners were crying out for, but we haven't really done that in the Wenger era. Many of our big-name players, such as Henry, Bergkamp and Vieira, were either struggling at their clubs or virtual unknowns when we signed them, and they didn't cost us the sums that Man U, City, Liverpool and Chelsea have been paying in the last five years. What we must remember is that we tried to sign the same players that our main rivals did, but lost out on wages in the case of Phil Jones and Juan Mata, and I think we will have to get used to that. We lost Na$ri for the same reason, and it's our wage structure that restricts us more than the transfer fees, so even if we had a sugar daddy, we'd still lose out unless the structure is changed or abandoned.
After Old Trafford, the only way is up, and I believe we are better equipped now than we have been for the last few seasons to go on to re-establish ourselves as serious contenders for the main prizes, so let’s all get behind the team and do our bit to help the Club back on the path to silverware.
