Can we really mount a challenge next season?

[GunnGunn]

Not miserable, just realistic at the end of the day.

I feel sorry for anyone who thinks we can seriously mount a challenge for the title next season, we will be in another dog fight for our top 4 status, as it is every season.

Its not realistic to expect this team to compete with Man Utd or City, who will not be quiet in this window regardless of what that french tit thinks.

What makes me laugh is why so many people are happy that we finished 3rd, why is that? So we can get through the group stages and then get f***ked in the knockouts?

Us finishing outside of the top 4 probably would have been more productive than finishing inside it, now Wenger has yet another excuse not to spend the money that we obviously have.

So forgive me if i am not celebrating like we have won a trophy, we were not even f***ing runners up and yet Wenger has brainwahsed everyone into thinking that CL football is the be all, its f***ing not, winning titles is.

[Leody]

Honestly, our defense is really poor. Not the quality to challenge for a title, you don't win titles trying to win every game 6-5. Good defending is FAR more consistent than goal scoring ever is, and should be the focus.

I honestly would only keep maybe 2 players out of our back four and goal keeper if I were trying to build a title contending side next season, Sagna and maybe TV. The rest are not champion level quality.

And it's not down to the tactics, I'm tired of that excuse.

[Hammered Pizza]

Give Per a chance. I think he really has the quality.

[GunnGunn]

Koscielny has been head and shoulders above Vermaelen this season, we are weak at LB and in goal but the true culprit of our bad defending is purely tactical.

Anyone with a modicum of intelligence can see that. Stick Vidic and Terry in our defence and bring back Cafu and Maldini and we would still concede silly goals.

The shape of our team from top to bottom is wrong.

[ThereIsBearCum]

in a word, no

[Leody]

Tactics certainly don't help, but they're not the only reason. You could play like we do with better talent and be just fine.

Better talent on the pitch today and we have a shutout playing the way we did. And several other matches this season you could say the same when we were beat with a simple longball or somebody was out of position or Szczesny was napping in goal and didn't come out.

[Plymouth Gooner]

Not miserable, just realistic at the end of the day.

I feel sorry for anyone who thinks we can seriously mount a challenge for the title next season, we will be in another dog fight for our top 4 status, as it is every season.

Its not realistic to expect this team to compete with Man Utd or City, who will not be quiet in this window regardless of what that french tit thinks.

What makes me laugh is why so many people are happy that we finished 3rd, why is that? So we can get through the group stages and then get f***ked in the knockouts?

Us finishing outside of the top 4 probably would have been more productive than finishing inside it, now Wenger has yet another excuse not to spend the money that we obviously have.

So forgive me if i am not celebrating like we have won a trophy, we were not even f***ing runners up and yet Wenger has brainwahsed everyone into thinking that CL football is the be all, its f***ing not, winning titles is.

I agree with you but let's enjoy today and worry about that tomorrow! At the start of the day this result was what we wanted, we got the result, even if the way we went about getting it wasn't ideal.

[ivan itchybum]

Koscielny has been head and shoulders above Vermaelen this season, we are weak at LB and in goal but the true culprit of our bad defending is purely tactical.

Anyone with a modicum of intelligence can see that. Stick Vidic and Terry in our defence and bring back Cafu and Maldini and we would still concede silly goals.

The shape of our team from top to bottom is wrong.

I kind of agree but verm and kos just can't play with eachother imo they're both too similar, mertesacker will be good next season imo... people wrote him off so early this season

[elkanofan]

Not miserable, just realistic at the end of the day.

Thing is

the bigger picture is

your not going to be happy if your right.

So why focus so much on the negative. It dosen't really help? You or anyone else really.

I'm more positive but being cynical all the time, just losses it's value since how do you benefit from it?

It's true we have fought so hard to basically move sideways, we have moved up one place since last season, but compared to last year, we finished on a high, we don't or shouldn't have to worry about CL playoffs (Or if Chelsea win do we, I'm not sure) We already signed more firepower and look to sign more good players very soon like last year when we where beaten to Phil Jones and spend 3 months in vein trying to sort out Captain petulance and Mercenasri.

I'd say cautious optimism here. better than being just straight negative!

Long wait till next august! long wait till July so we see where we are at!

[Hammered Pizza]

If we get a good start, and the others are a little slow out of the trap, then we might have a fun season.

Won't win it, but would be nice to secure Champions League football with a few games to go. A good Cup run would be nice too

[Maxduke]

If you can sign 4 or 5 of the players you've been linked to like Kagawa, Vertonghen, M'Vila, etc. then I think you might but realistically I doubt Wenger will buy that many.

[elkanofan]

Honestly, our defense is really poor. Not the quality to challenge for a title, you don't win titles trying to win every game 6-5. Good defending is FAR more consistent than goal scoring ever is, and should be the focus.

I honestly would only keep maybe 2 players out of our back four and goal keeper if I were trying to build a title contending side next season, Sagna and maybe TV. The rest are not champion level quality.

And it's not down to the tactics, I'm tired of that excuse.

Its the midfield which is the issue. Today Coq just didn't get started until the secound half. Song was too far up the pitch again. Rosicky wasn't at his demonic best which didn't help. We need M'Vila, we need a stable no adventurous DM!

The midfield is key to any team, we have two very talented defenders and Mert who is very good, give them adequate protection and we should see improvement.

Even Beckenbauer and Baresi would struggle not to concede which whats infront of them in terms of balance.

[Arsenal~Fanatic]

So let me see how far we are away and what can be done. If we are serious about competing for the title that is..

Without any Bias, Koscielny has been by far our best defender this season. He has rarely put a foot wrong individually and its been our defensive organization or the lack off it to be blamed for most of our woes. Vermaelen is a top quality defender but why does he hop off leaving his fellow CB exposed more often than not ? Why can't wenger slap his wrsits saying he is a fecking defender first and foremost. Mertesacker has done well for his first season and contrary to poular opinion Djouoru is good enough for a back-up CB.What we need is a sound approach to defence, by that i mean defending in numbers, safety first approach, not trying to be too clever in our half like song does. We haven't shown an iota of improvement when it comes to defending set-pieces. Jenkinson was clearly out of depth allowing the attacker to get wrong side of him. He showed good heart but for me he is too raw/inexperienced and below the level required for a backup RB of title challenging team. We need to ship him out on loan and get a real full back as a cover to Sagna. I don't buy the argument of using our best Cb this season as a cover to Sagna. We need to get a LB too who is astute defensively but he should be a real upgrade on GIbbs/Santos. We do not need a LB just to make up numbers.

We have clearly missed those 15-20 assists and 10-15 goals Cesc used to produce from the midfield this season. Song has an impressive 15[i think] assists but he is our main DM and any creativity/assists should be a bonus and not a norm. We simply cannot rely on a 31 year old Rosicky and Wilshere[out with a long term injury] to do the play-making. Unless we buy an out and CAM/play-maker we will struggle to break teams down on a consistent basis.

We have to keep Robin at any cost. We have signed Podolski who can play on the LHS and as a CF but we need an out and out goal poacher who can come and score off the bench, somebody like a Hernandez.

Coming to the hotly contested topic, even the staunchest admirers of Szczesny will agree he has not had a great season. He was poor in the last game while he wasn't great today either with him being partly responsible for West Brom's first goal. We need an experienced head between the sticks expecially with the kind of defence we have. somebody who can organize, is commanding has a cool head and somebody who can be kind of a mentor for Szczesny to learn from the sidelines. Howard anybody ?

So to mount a real challenge for the title we would need,

1] To keep RVP

2] To sign a striker

3] To sign a CAM

4] Sign an experienced GK

5] To sign a RB as a cover for Sagna

6] A LB if we can afford and left with funds after the above 5.

[mel4]

NO

....because we don't have a good 11 yet
....because we have a sub 7 (ramsey, gervinho, jenkinson, chamarkh, djourou, fabianski, arshavin) that will not win an intramural 6-aside game even in the university competition in canada
....because we have a bottled water throwing/flipping coach who neglects what a defence should be like
....

[Fran Solo]

GK: Szczesny is not a world class goalkeeper yet, but I don't think we need a new 1st team GK. He reminds me to Joe Hart some years ago. City had enough money to buy a world class GK, but they trusted him instead. Szczesny is not worse than De Gea or Courtois.
CB: Koscielny, Vermaelen and Mertesacker are acceptable.
LB: Maybe we need to buy a new one if we have the money, but Gibbs and Santos are decent enough.
RB: Sagna is world class, but we have no one that can be a good sub here.
DM: Maybe we need a new one to cover Song.
CM: We have trouble in this position almost all season because of injury. Won't be a trouble anymore if Arteta, Wilshere and Diaby are fit.
AM: Rosicky needs a sub, and it is not Ramsey.
LW: Podolski, Gervinho, Ox, Santos.
RW: Walcott, Gervinh, Ox
ST: We have Podolski here next season.
2 or 3 good signings will make us stronger, but I think players quality is not our main problem. We already have enough quality. It was the drive, the motivation and the ambition that was lacking. I hope Bould can make a difference next season.