Last night’s performance means that Arsenal will win trophies this year.

By 1970’s Gooner

While chatting over dinner the question was put to Arsene Wenger by some of the Arsenal directors:

“What would you do if we gave you £100m to spend on new players?” His answer was of course very revealing: “I would give it back to you”

Judging by last night’s excellent performance against Newcastle he was right.

You are only as good as your bench. This old football saying is very true in today’s highly demanding Premiership where the road to deliverance is like a marathon where every bit of each team’s components is tested to the full.

The components necessary to win trophies include not only ability, strength, determination, will and tenacity.

What is also required is a pool of players who although not usually expected to be named in the first eleven every week are nevertheless capable of performing at the highest level when they are called upon.

This is vitally important when you take into consideration injuries, loss of form, suspensions and international tournaments like the Africa Nations Cup which inevitably force managers to rely on all of their squad.

This was therefore an important match for Arsenal Football Club.

It was the litmus test that the young guns had to go through so that they could convince Wenger that there is strength in depth in this squad and that there is no need to spend any of that £100m that was offered to him by the Board.

And these young guns will be called upon on many occasions this season as the injury list will not go away and the Africa Nations Cup is slowly getting nearer.

One aspect that seems to characterize this new Arsenal side is the real strength in depth that exists in the squad. And by real I mean that this squad has quality replacements in all positions.

Take for example the forward positions. Bendtner’s wonderful performance last night culminated in another excellent headed goal for the Arsenal.

He has proved that Adebayor’s departure for a month at the Africa Nations Cup will not be that painful. The same goes for Eduardo who will need these games to acclimatise himself with English football even more by then.

Look at the wide midfield positions where along with Hleb and Rosicky there is Eboue who has shown last night that he is a wonderful and powerful winger on an equal if not higher footing than them.

He would of course fill in at right back when required. And there is young Walcott who will, with more concentration and experience, be more than a viable alternative.

Consider central midfield where Diarra is the snitch of the year at £2m! Not to mention Denilson who is fast becoming the next star after Fabregas.

Song who although played in central defence is to me a very promising central midfielder. I rather rate him in that position having watched him put in an excellent performance for Charlton away at Man Utd last season.

Look at Traore and you think that you are seeing double. So mush resemblance to a young Ashley Cole and Gael Clichy is uncanny!

There are indeed a lot of choices open to Wenger.

When I suggested in one of my preseason postings titled: “Strength in depth eases Wenger’s team selection worries for the coming season” that there was a lot of strength in depth in the squad there was a lot of negative reaction from some readers who wanted Wenger to buy big.

Now no one is complaining.

I do not need to go on. But this performance last night has convinced me that Arsenal will win trophies this season.

Please note the use of the plural.

Keep well.

Who should partner Robin Van Persie?

By 1970’s Gooner

For regular visitors to this site my views have been made clear. Robin Van Persie is not really a centre forward in the sense that he is not a strong physical front target man.

He is better deployed behind or next to a strong centre forward and not as a lone
striker.

I also believe that Wenger needs to sign another experienced forward. This is for both football and practical reasons.

Football reasons

The current squad consists of four forward players. Eduardo may be a goal scorer but he is not a front target man.

In a way his style of play is more like Robin’s. Playing them together will not necessarily offer them the environment they seek to score their goals.

Adebayor is a target man and so is Bendtner. Adebayor will do a good job but goals do not come that easily to him and Bendtner is not yet trusted by Wenger to start games.

Another aspect to take into account is the relative lack of experience in this area.

Robin Van Persie and Adebayor are only 23 and 22 respectively. The addition of Eduardo to the squad (aged 24) does not of course do much to increase the average age.

The practical reasons are equally important

Account has also to be taken of injury, suspensions, loss of form and the Africa Cup of Nations.

Remember what happened last season when injuries to Henry and Van Persie in particular deprived the team of its two most lethal forwards? RVP was also close to getting a second yellow card against Blackburn.

Taking into account that Adebayor will be away at the Africa Cup of Nations for about a month then it becomes obvious that the squad will lose serious depth.

Now if a premiership experienced forward with goal scoring ability was recruited (there is talk of Anelka again) then it suddenly gives a very attractive outlook indeed to this Arsenal team.

But assuming that Wenger does not recruit anyone else who should partner RVP?

To my mind it’s a straight race between Adebayor and Bendtner. Barring availability constraints I would opt for Bendtner because he is stronger and more physical than Adebayor.

In this way he provides a different option to Arsenal’s intricate but often predictable style of play. But this is my own biased view if you like!

As you may be aware, for the last week we run a poll on this site on this very question: Who should partner RVP?

In total 734 votes were cast. They would have been many more because the number of visits to the site during that period reached new heights but Google’s new poll facility kept breaking down!

The results are interesting. The player who played most in that position so far, Hleb, received the least votes with only 11%.

Obviously most of you do not think that he will be able to hold on to that position when other players get fit, as indeed was the case for the game against Blackburn.

Most votes went to Eduardo with 45%. Obviously a lot of Arsenal fans are pinning their hopes on the new recruit, trusting Wenger in his judgment.

This is so even if Eduardo did not really feature much during the pre-season and the early stages of the campaign.

The more surprising result is the close number of votes between Adebayor (23%) and Bendtner (21%). It seems that there is a lot more trust being placed on the young lad by the fans than Wenger is prepared to show.

If Wenger does not get the cheque book out then he may well find himself having to trust young Bendtner sooner than he thinks.


Who should partner RVP? Poll results:

Eduardo Da Silva 45%
Emmanuel Adebayor 23%
Nicklas Bendtner 21%
Alexander Hleb 11%

Total votes cast: 734

Thanks for your support, comments and votes!

Lehmann’s clanger hides Wenger’s and Arsenal’s sins

Bendtner should start every game. It makes more tactical sense

Hleb is top scorer, Robin needs a Batman and Fabregas is the real captain

By 1970's Gooner

There were three very positive aspects to come out of this tough encounter in Prague (apart from the win).

The first was the resilience and character to tough it out against very physical opponents. The second was the midfielders finding their goal scoring touch; at last. And the third was the vast potential that exists in this team when the proper centre forwards return to give it balance and extra scoring potential.

Resilience

This attitude expressed itself in the game against Ajax in Amsterdam for the pre season tournament. We all commented on it but I think we put it at the back of our minds thinking that it was probably a one off.

Or at least we wanted to wait for more games until we were convinced. I am now convinced that this Arsenal team will be no easy push overs this season. And this augurs well for the tricky encounter against Blackburn next Sunday.

What in particular impressed me was Fabregas’s contribution. He has moved on this season up the ladder of what will eventually lead him to world stardom and star status.

This year he is more confident about his scoring ability thus he takes more shots at goal rather than passing the ball; it was usually to Henry last season.

Maybe the latter’s absence has forced him to look at other alternatives.

He has also added steel to his game. His tackle on Tomas Repka was the turning point of the game for me. It forced Repka out of the game and also gave the signal to his team mates that “we will not be intimidated”.

He is the real captain of the team.

The midfielders are finding their goal scoring touch

In the absence of Henry last season, goals were difficult to find especially since the midfielders were not chipping in with their expected contribution.

Well three of the four goals scored so far in have come from midfielders. And the other was a penalty which was not won by a forward player.

The difference this season is of course Hleb’s contribution which is in direct contrast to last year where he was afraid put his boot in and more importantly to shoot. He is in fact top scorer now!

The contribution from the midfielders is more important than one may suppose. This is because of the formation that Arsenal are deploying at the moment.

The lone forward up front is indeed lone and his primary task is first to bring other players in. So if the midfielders don’t score you are in trouble. As we were last year.

The return of a proper centre forward

This team is crying out for a proper centre forward. A tall, strong and physical player who can hold the ball and bring players into the game.

Robin van Persie isn’t that player. He is better deployed behind or next to a strong centre forward and not as a lone striker.

This was very evident last season when Henry was around and now with Bendtner in the friendlies. This is probably the way Wenger intends to deploy RVP when Adebayor returns.

My view on Bendtner’s utilization is that he is indeed ready to do a job for Wenger. As regular visitors to this site are aware.

Lack of support for RVP puts more strain on the midfield and defence as the ball keeps coming back. When this imbalance is corrected this team has the potential to increase its efficiency quite substantially.

And surprise a lot of people.


Bendtner should start every game. It makes more tactical sense

Arsenal look ready to hit the ground running, more so than the others

Strength in depth eases Wenger’s team selection worries for the coming season

Bendtner should start every game. It makes more tactical sense

By 1970's Gooner

There were two tactical weaknesses apparent during Arsenal’s first game of the season against Fulham at the Emirates. The first concerned Hleb’s positioning during the game and the other the obvious lack of a strong centre forward.

In my preview of this game (and considering that Wenger was not going to select Bendtner) I favoured Hleb to partner Van Persie over Eduardo even if the latter had been available.

Hleb looked sharper and rejuvenated during the pre season relishing his new role behind Van Persie and getting on the score sheet too. A feat which he promptly repeated again in a real game.

However what he tended to do a lot during the game was to drop deep into midfield and try and dictate play from there.

This crowded out Fabregas and Flamini not only in terms of space but more importantly restricting Fabregas from running the show as only he knows how.

And I think that we all agree that Fabregas is much better at it than Hleb; who has shown however that he can replace Fabregas if need be.

This had another negative effect. There was no support for Van Persie which restricted his passing options when he was able to receive the ball.

The second tactical weakness concerns the role of Van Persie himself. He is better deployed behind or next to a strong centre forward and not as a lone striker.

This was very evident last season when Henry was around and now with Bendtner in the friendlies. This is probably the way Wenger intends to deploy him when Adebayor returns.

However he chose not do so for this game probably because, as he has said recently, he does not consider Bendtner ready for the Premiership yet.

In my posting after the Ajax game for the Amsterdam Tournament I argued that Bendtner was the new fox in the box that we have for so long been looking for and that he should be starting against Fulham.

Wenger I think has underestimated the boy’s capabilities. The answer is staring him in his face yet he refuses to see it.

Bendtner has proved more than capable of playing that role and it clearly showed when he was brought on the pitch at 72 minutes.

This had a multiple of positive effects as you often get in football games when a weakness is corrected.

The introduction of a strong and tall centre forward raffled the opposing defence and allowed Van Persie to play off him thus becoming more effective himself. Additionally Hleb’s repositioning on the left flank (to make room for Bendtner) released Fabregas to weave his magic.

Bob’s your uncle Fabregas releases the killer ball that Hleb dispatched into the net on 90 minutes for the winner.

The latest news is that Eduardo has joined Adebayor on the injury list. Bendtner, if called upon, is well capable of performing well in the Champion’s League qualifier.

We have set up a poll on the issue of who should partner Robin Van Persie. Please cast your vote and leave a comment!


Bendtner makes a case for starting against Fulham

Strength in depth eases Wenger’s team selection worries for the coming season


Ed: Can Asa or anyone linking here from the "Same old Arsenal" blog please contact me using the comments box as the link from Arsenal Analysis" does not appear to be working!