Wow, what a final day of the season, don’t think I have any nails left. Man United going from winning the title in the 91st minute to losing it in the 93rd, Liverpool losing again to provide us yet laughs, but most importantly, The Arsenal beating West Brom 3 – 2 to secure us 3rd.
Before we start, I would just like to thank Benayoun for all the effort he’s put in for our 3rd place bid, even getting on the score sheet today. I think Wenger should seriously consider signing him long term.
Anyway, this blog post is going to be about what Wenger, and the team as a whole need to do next. (Signing Benayoun counts as the 1st one.)
2. Tie van Persie down to a long term contract. Yes, I know it seems obvious, but this should be the first thing on Wenger’s mind, before signing new players. What’s the point in buying players if you’re going to sell your best ones.
3. Buy a defender. I know Wenger says we’re constantly fine for defenders, but we’re really not. Fine, Sagna, Vermaelan, Koscienly and Gibbs are good, but when one of them/a few of them are injured, what happens? We concede goals. Just like today, we should have never conceded 2 goals against West Brom. We need to invest in 1 or 2 defenders.
4. Buy a creative midfielder. Arteta did the job this season, but when he got injured we went worryingly down hill. Today’s win against West Brom was our first without Arteta, and that is a worrying stat. Yes, we have Jack Wilshere, but the money is there and Wenger needs to spend it.
5. Buy a Vieria type player. We really need someone to stand just in front of the defence and take no sh*t from anybody. We’ve lacked a player like this since Vieria left, and if the M’Vila singing proves to be true, it will be another step forward for Arsenal.
6. Challenge for trophies. I know this sounds stupid, but we really do need to win a trophy soon. Even if it’s the FA Cup, we need to show our competitive edge and show we really mean business.
7. Challenge for 2nd place. Bit unrealistic for next season, but it’s achievable maybe within the next 3 – 4 seasons. We have the money, we have the quality, we just need to do it. Maybe if we really showed our competitive edge again we could challenge for the title.
What are your ideas? Let me know in the comments below.
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Agree with most of your recommendations but not too sure for 5.6 and 7.
5)Why exactly do we need another Viera when we have Song,Coquelin,Diaby and Frimpong available right now? We just need to keep them fit and improving as they did this season. Buying another DM would simply force us to get rid of 1-2 of the above…not a good thing.
6)It would be nice but NOT essential to win a trophy. We do need to win a title however . Why is a title more important than a trophy? Because a title signals that the Club has reached the stability and the maturity that represents a potential dynasty. A trophy is often a one off deal like Birmingham’s Carling Cup or the Spuds. They are still a lesser team for all that silverware.
7)WHY should we aim for 2nd? What’s the difference between aiming for 3rd or 2nd? We need to aim for the top and prove to all true Gooners that we have the mental strength, will to win. talent, application and consistency to earn the EPL title.
Here’s to a remarkable turnaround from September to May…..if we can stay relatively injury free next season and with the team we have,plus a few more like Podolski, we are right up there to win it.
good post, basically the same or simlar things i talked about in my blogs in recent weeks, my personal things on what we have to before and during next season are:
1. renew RvP contract and sign Benayoun permanently
2. sign a creative Midfielder, 1st option Kagawa
3. sign a defensive midfielder, 1st option M’villa (i think we have already done this)
4. sign a defender, basically anyone to replace either Djourou or Squillaci or both.
5. go for all trophies. you said to go for 2nd place, but i think we can go 1 better.
basically anything from 2-5 now is just a bonus. we renew RvP and get Benayoun we will be title contenders for sure next season. as long as we dont slip up as much as this season.