Arsenation

As I write this Arsenal have just beaten Brighton in the cup, have another championship side in the next round in Blackburn and sitting on the back of a five vs one victory over West Ham. We are four days away from the close of the transfer window and my guess is that we will not be signing anyone in it. There are many reasons as to why Arsenal will not be spending any money and for me the main one is the fact that Wenger will not allow himself too.

 

There are many possibilities for this and I will list off a few.

1) Wenger cannot find quality to improve the current squad.

2) Wenger is happy that he has two players for every position.

3) Wenger has set himself a wage budget for the season which the club wage structure is at the top end of.

4) We don’t actually have the £100 million that both the board and manager have confirmed is there.

5) Wenger is not wanting to spend the cash because he is wanting to give his replacement the best possible chance of replacing him.

For me personally and my own opinion is that we can forget about points one and two. I could name five players who we could sign who would improve the squad. Villa, McCarthy, Jovetic, Shaw, Hummels. All five we could sign and still have money over to keep for a rainy day. Arsenal have a quality top six don’t get me wrong but clubs like the Manchester duo have at least a quality top ten.

By saying that we have two players for every position limits us to playing one formation. If we decided to mix it up and play 442 we would be missing by my calculations two forwards. We have one for every position playing 4231 but not 442 or 343.

The next three points are the reason why I cannot see any benefit from Wenger moving upstairs once a new manager comes in. Wenger has to much power at the club and would in a round about way do to Arsenal what Abramovich does at Chelsea. Wenger would still make the decisions on who comes to the club and what wage they should be on. It would suffocate the squad, coaching team and most of all the manager. It is going to be one big task to step in to Wengers shoes as it is with out having the great man scrutinizing every decision made.

Wenger has recently said that he sets the wage structure at the club and that he wants no player to be on a massive wage difference from everyone else. This is the reason why Almunia was on 70K a week and Bendtner on 60k. The two Manchester sides are happy to bounce about 250k a week for player and for me I am glad that Wenger has not gone to this level. I can also see why Nasri, RVP decided to leave when they see players of poor quality getting paid around the same as they are. I don’t regret losing these players as we made good money out of them and built a more balanced squad from the sales. This is also the reason why we do not make marquee signings the kind of signing we need to start challenging again at the top and not see a top four finish as a victory.

It has been widely reported by anyone with power at the club that we have got money and it has been said to be 100 million in the bank. Give this money to Martin O Neil and he will spend the lot and moan about not being given enough money then sulk and leave just as the season starts. Give it to a manager like David Moyes and he will spend what he needs to improve the squad and would save half for a rainy day. For me the new manager has to be one who understands and has achieved at a club where money has been at a premium so will not spend for the sake of spending.

This moves on nicely to the last point and the fact that Wenger could potentially go to PSG or Madrid at the end of his contract in 2014 and Wenger wants to give the next manager every chance of building a squad. One he wants to allow Arsenal to move forward and challenge for major honors, I just personally hope that Wenger will allow for the new manager to blossom with a handshake of (don’t you muck up my hard work). If Wenger does get a role on the board then he has the potential to limit Arsenal moving forward as he will have control on everything from wages to purchases and maybe a say in picking the side.

I must stress that I am not in the Wenger out brigade and have all the time in the world for the great man. I just believe that if he wanted to move upstairs to the board that opportunity passed two seasons ago. There is now to much pressure on him to deliver a trophy and if he fails to do so by the end of his contract he will take it upon himself to assist the new manager in getting that trophy. I feel Wenger has the potential to be a great ambassador for Arsenal and hope he comes back one day in this capacity.

Many thanks for reading

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After Sanga became the latest player to want out, we have noticed that Wenger has changed the goal posts on how he wants to see Arsenal move forward. He no longer will tolerate anyone taking on the good name of the club. Wenger would be the first to admit that he has been guilty of this with the likes of Cesc and Na$ri to name but two.

Song said he wanted a better deal, Wenger stood his ground and said “show me you deserve the pay rise”. Song decided that he would sulk instead, Wenger told him there and then he had no future.

Fair enough Song went on to leave for Barcelona but a Wenger of old would have done all he could to try to keep the player at the club. Then when the player gives that extra season playing at 70% you can see that they are not giving 100% so it is a waste of time as the squad suffers.

Wenger has also confirmed in his most recent press release that his project is flawed, bringing in under valued players developing them to be world class players.When these players become World Class they want the money and leave the club for more money. Loyalty is going from the game. I cannot say gone simply because of players like Giggs and Scholes who stayed at Manchester United for there whole careers. Then you look over to Spain and Messi who has just signed a new six year deal to stay at Barcelona. Success breeds loyalty to and this is another reason for the failure of Wenger’s project.

 

Now on to the positives, today five young British talents signed new long term contracts. All five have a huge future for club and country, this also shows how Arsenal have gone full circle from no British talent to a squad full. With a potential for six British players playing at the same time in the Arsenal first team. We need to make sure that Walcott signs the new contract and we should meet him halfway. In the game on Monday against Reading Walcott was impressive, he for me deserves the right to play through the middle. I get frustrated by listening to so called Arsenal fans say Walcott is rubbish sell him…

The guy is our top goal scorer, he is our top assist maker and all from if being honest being a bit part player this season. If I was Walcott listening to these people I would be on the phone to RVP asking how much greener the grass is in Manchester. I would never forgive the club for spending seven years making Walcott the player who dominates the player stats to allow for him to leave without a fight to keep him.

 

The January transfer window is around the corner with the club saying they have 50 million to spend well I say save some of that cash and give Walcott the contact he deserves.

 

Thanks for your time and if you like this please do follow me on twitter @duckford10 for Arsenal related tweets.