A look forward to Arsenal’s 2015/16 season
Article by Cameron Clark
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This week Arsenal and Puma revealed their home kit for the 2015/16 season, and whenever this happens, for me it signifies the start of a new campaign and has now got me looking towards our next campaign.
Last season was, in my opinion, a very successful season. Another Champion’s League qualification, a 3rd place finish and another FA Cup. If you had given me that scenario at the start of the season I would’ve more than happily taken it, but there’s definitely a solid foundation now for us to really push on and mount a serious title challenge.
To be honest not a lot needs changing at this club, we have a strong starting 11 which challenged the teams we crumbled against last season (Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea etc) and for the first time in a long while I’ve been able to look at our bench and be happy with the choices we have at our disposal should something not go according to plan. However, we still lack that absolute star quality through the spine. For instance, if you take a look at any of the successful teams in Europe, they each have that one class player they can rely on up top week in week out, they have the Costa’s, the Aguero’s, the Messi’s etc. We don’t have that.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Giroud. Ever since he joined I’ve loved watching him play. He’s a different kind of striker to anyone else at Arsenal. He’s content at playing that one-two hold up play and bringing our midfielders into the attack, but I just don’t think he has the calibre to win us the league all by himself. We’ve been linked with countless forward players already this season, from Martinez to Ibrahimović and in my opinion, those are the kinds of forwards we need. Someone that that opposition’s defence genuinely fears when they’re in on goal, bearing down on the net. Will Wenger go for someone like that? I don’t know, but it’s looking unlikely. Arséne clearly admires Giroud and is willing to sick by him at all costs. He believes he has enough to win us the league, I can’t say I agree with him but at the end of the day, I’m not Wenger, Arséne knows best.
Now onto the midfield. In my opinion we have one of the best midfields in the league. The way we interlink and counter attack through the middle is absolutely mesmerising at times, and with our new found hero in the form of Francis Coquelin, we look extremely stable…BUT, again, there is room for improvement. I think the fact that Wenger continually plays Santi Cazorla as a DM shows that we may need to look into that area of the market again. Yes, Jack Wilshere can also play there, and believe me I think Jack is one of, if not the best midfielder we have at the moment, especially after that performance against Slovenia. Having said that I just don’t think it would hurt to bring someone of real calibre into the spine of the midfield, someone like Vidal or Schneiderlin could really add another element to our team and would be no hindrance to our squad going forward for next season.
Swiftly moving on, the defence. Now this is a section of the team that I’m not too sure about. The defence has been fairly inconsistent this season, with the only one really playing well on a consistent basis being Laurent Koscielny. Nacho Monreal has improved greatly over the course of this season but I feel the most reliable person at the back has undoubtedly been Koscielny. I’m not sure what we should do about this, do we give Gabriel a proper go instead of using him occasionally, do we stick with Mertesacker, or do we delve into the transfer market for a world class centre back? I personally believe we need someone new. I really get anxious when Mertesacker is playing against these world class forwards and he looks too shaky on the ball, now who do we go for? Again, that’s up to Wenger but we definitely need someone else at the back instead of the BFG, it’s just finding that someone.
Finally to the goalkeeper. Now we’ve all seen Wojciech Szczesny’s cigarette antics, and frankly it’s not acceptable. He shows continual disrespect of Arséne Wenger and it angers me. His ego has well and truly overtaken him and to be quite frank, he’s an average goalkeeper at best. Ospina has come in and done a very good job, however, like Giroud, he’s not a world class goalkeeper, he’s not Petr Cech. Now the deal for Cech looks all but done, Arsenal Fan TV have even reported that Ivan Gazidis himself has confirmed that there has been contact over his signature. If we were able to sign someone of his calibre it will be an enormous step forward. A Premier League proven, world class goalkeeper for a discounted price. You’d have to be insane to turn an opportunity like that down. I think this signing is essential and should be our top priority for the summer.
All in all, we are only two or three signings away from mounting a serious title challenge and being the Arsenal that strike fear into the opposition once again. It could be a very, very exciting season for us Arsenal fans, let’s see what happens.
© e-Media Group 2015 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of @e_media_group
Follow e-Arsenal on Twitter - Click Here
e-Football are looking for Arsenal fans as writers! Interested? Contact us here for more info!
This week Arsenal and Puma revealed their home kit for the 2015/16 season, and whenever this happens, for me it signifies the start of a new campaign and has now got me looking towards our next campaign.
Last season was, in my opinion, a very successful season. Another Champion’s League qualification, a 3rd place finish and another FA Cup. If you had given me that scenario at the start of the season I would’ve more than happily taken it, but there’s definitely a solid foundation now for us to really push on and mount a serious title challenge.
To be honest not a lot needs changing at this club, we have a strong starting 11 which challenged the teams we crumbled against last season (Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea etc) and for the first time in a long while I’ve been able to look at our bench and be happy with the choices we have at our disposal should something not go according to plan. However, we still lack that absolute star quality through the spine. For instance, if you take a look at any of the successful teams in Europe, they each have that one class player they can rely on up top week in week out, they have the Costa’s, the Aguero’s, the Messi’s etc. We don’t have that.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Giroud. Ever since he joined I’ve loved watching him play. He’s a different kind of striker to anyone else at Arsenal. He’s content at playing that one-two hold up play and bringing our midfielders into the attack, but I just don’t think he has the calibre to win us the league all by himself. We’ve been linked with countless forward players already this season, from Martinez to Ibrahimović and in my opinion, those are the kinds of forwards we need. Someone that that opposition’s defence genuinely fears when they’re in on goal, bearing down on the net. Will Wenger go for someone like that? I don’t know, but it’s looking unlikely. Arséne clearly admires Giroud and is willing to sick by him at all costs. He believes he has enough to win us the league, I can’t say I agree with him but at the end of the day, I’m not Wenger, Arséne knows best.
Now onto the midfield. In my opinion we have one of the best midfields in the league. The way we interlink and counter attack through the middle is absolutely mesmerising at times, and with our new found hero in the form of Francis Coquelin, we look extremely stable…BUT, again, there is room for improvement. I think the fact that Wenger continually plays Santi Cazorla as a DM shows that we may need to look into that area of the market again. Yes, Jack Wilshere can also play there, and believe me I think Jack is one of, if not the best midfielder we have at the moment, especially after that performance against Slovenia. Having said that I just don’t think it would hurt to bring someone of real calibre into the spine of the midfield, someone like Vidal or Schneiderlin could really add another element to our team and would be no hindrance to our squad going forward for next season.
Swiftly moving on, the defence. Now this is a section of the team that I’m not too sure about. The defence has been fairly inconsistent this season, with the only one really playing well on a consistent basis being Laurent Koscielny. Nacho Monreal has improved greatly over the course of this season but I feel the most reliable person at the back has undoubtedly been Koscielny. I’m not sure what we should do about this, do we give Gabriel a proper go instead of using him occasionally, do we stick with Mertesacker, or do we delve into the transfer market for a world class centre back? I personally believe we need someone new. I really get anxious when Mertesacker is playing against these world class forwards and he looks too shaky on the ball, now who do we go for? Again, that’s up to Wenger but we definitely need someone else at the back instead of the BFG, it’s just finding that someone.
Finally to the goalkeeper. Now we’ve all seen Wojciech Szczesny’s cigarette antics, and frankly it’s not acceptable. He shows continual disrespect of Arséne Wenger and it angers me. His ego has well and truly overtaken him and to be quite frank, he’s an average goalkeeper at best. Ospina has come in and done a very good job, however, like Giroud, he’s not a world class goalkeeper, he’s not Petr Cech. Now the deal for Cech looks all but done, Arsenal Fan TV have even reported that Ivan Gazidis himself has confirmed that there has been contact over his signature. If we were able to sign someone of his calibre it will be an enormous step forward. A Premier League proven, world class goalkeeper for a discounted price. You’d have to be insane to turn an opportunity like that down. I think this signing is essential and should be our top priority for the summer.
All in all, we are only two or three signings away from mounting a serious title challenge and being the Arsenal that strike fear into the opposition once again. It could be a very, very exciting season for us Arsenal fans, let’s see what happens.
© e-Media Group 2015 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of @e_media_group
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