It has been an exciting summer, hasn’t it? One of the best-ever
World Cups was just the beginning. We now live in a time where Arsenal Football
Club will, on occasion, send currency to another club and get an actual player
in return! What a novel concept! The Boss may have one or two more of those
exchanges to make, but I figure I can’t put off the season preview any longer…not
with the Charity Shield coming up in just a few short days. Ahead of our first
encounter with the Dirty Petro-Dollar All-Stars, let’s take a look at the state
of the squad and how I think this season will shake out.
(Note: For readability’s
sake, I’m going to cut this into two halves.)
Goalkeepers:
1 – Wojciech Szczesny
13 – David Ospina
50 – Damian Martinez
13 – David Ospina
50 – Damian Martinez
We are legitimately
two-deep at the goalkeeper position for the first time in living memory.
Astonishingly, half the world still seems to underrate young Wojciech Szczesny despite the fact that he won the Golden Glove award last season as the league’s finest netminder. He is still prone to the vagaries of youth and relative inexperience, but his shot-stopping is top-class. Hearteningly, he has also markedly improved on his command of the penalty area and his communication with the defense. Put another way, if you were one of the people screaming for us to sign Iker Casillas and start him ahead of the Pole in Goal, you truly ought to have your head examined.
Arsene Wenger has publically named Szczesny as the
first-choice keeper, for now. We all know that, historically, Szczesny has
suffered from concentration lapses in the absence of serious competition. You may recall a period last season when he was temporarily displaced by a
revitalized Lukasz Fabianski. Fab’s injury put paid to that plan though, and of
course he has since moved on to Swansea City.
What a replacement we got for him, though. I admittedly have
not seen much of David Ospina in action, what with his former tenure
at the 16th-place team in the French league. However, Ospina
is a highly-experienced international for Colombia, and he was one of the many
from that nation who dazzled at this past World Cup. Had they not been outrageously
shafted by the referees in the Brazil game, we’re probably talking about a
World Cup semifinalist pressing Szczesny hard for the No. 1 shirt. He looked
cool and collected during the tournament, and seems like a
no-frills counterpoint to our more flamboyant incumbent.
Ospina will begin his Arsenal tenure on the bench for the league matches, but it’s
important to note that he’ll start in both the League and FA Cups – and having
that depth as opposed to the inexperienced Damian Martinez will allow us to seriously
challenge on both of those fronts.
Defenders:
2 – Mathieu Debuchy
3 – Kieran Gibbs
4 – Per Mertesacker
5 – Thomas Vermaelen
6 – Laurent Koscielny
18 – Nacho Monreal
21 – Callum Chambers
39 – Hector Bellerin
42 – Isaac Hayden
51 – Ignasi Miquel
Should Arsenal have a glaring weakness in the overall squad, it would be here. Don’t get me wrong – Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny were the finest center-half pairing in the division last season. Their strengths are complimentary - Koscielny’s speed and athleticism covers for Mertesacker’s lack of pace, while the Big Fucking German’s unparalleled positioning and reading of the game gives Koscielny the freedom to play with more range.
3 – Kieran Gibbs
4 – Per Mertesacker
5 – Thomas Vermaelen
6 – Laurent Koscielny
18 – Nacho Monreal
21 – Callum Chambers
39 – Hector Bellerin
42 – Isaac Hayden
51 – Ignasi Miquel
Should Arsenal have a glaring weakness in the overall squad, it would be here. Don’t get me wrong – Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny were the finest center-half pairing in the division last season. Their strengths are complimentary - Koscielny’s speed and athleticism covers for Mertesacker’s lack of pace, while the Big Fucking German’s unparalleled positioning and reading of the game gives Koscielny the freedom to play with more range.
The issue lies in depth, however. Callum Chambers
looks like an exciting prospect, but he’s on less than 30 senior appearances
and is apparently being groomed for central midfield. He may have to
start straightaway though with Mertesacker still short of match fitness. He
will be one of the key players that will determine how well we begin the season in that event, so it's crucial that he hits the ground running. No pressure, kid.
Thomas Vermaelen remains here for the moment, but he is clearly
coming to the end of his time with the club. Manchester United and Barcelona are possible destinations, though I don’t see how he improves
either of them. Frankly, Tommy has been a shadow of himself for over a year, and
he is far too prone to concentration lapses. Given some of the issues we have
at fullback – more on that in a second – mistake-free center half play is vital
to Arsenal’s success. TV5 does not fit the description at this stage.
That leaves us with a kiddie corps as the only cover
for Kos and the BFG. Chambers looks comfortable at this level, but there is
nothing that I saw in the preseason friendlies that fills me with confidence
about Isaac Hayden and Ignasi Miquel. I’ve been reading that Miquel looked good
here and there in those games, but I can’t agree. Both guys are the type of player that should
be out on loan somewhere to get experience, but I fear that we may have to rely
on one of them in big games should there be any injury or suspension issues.
As for the fullback slots, our two starters are definitely
good enough. I have been a vocal fan of the Mathieu Debuchy signing right from
jump. Normally, the loss of a player like Bacary Sagna to a direct rival (an
occurrence that happens too frequently for my liking) has had a dispiriting
effect on the team. This time, we’ve replaced him with the very man that kept
him out of France’s starting XI at the World Cup. Seriously, Wenger had the
full-on “deal with it” shades going on here. It’s safe to say that the right
back position is not a problem given that Chambers can
provide cover there, along with the fact that Hector Bellerin looked highly
impressive in some of the summer friendlies.
Left back, however…
The thing is, I like Kieran Gibbs as a player. He’s
defensively underrated and generally does well going forward. As we well know,
however, he’s made of especially-brittle porcelain. You simply cannot bank on
Gibbs playing more than 60-70% of our matches. With that in mind, the backup
LB slot all of a sudden becomes drastically important, and the issue with that is that
Nacho Monreal currently holds it. I don’t even think that Monreal is a bad
player per se, but I do believe that he is not well-suited to the Premier
League. He struggles with physical opponents, and he often makes mental
mistakes when under pressure. Monreal is skilled on the ball and does well in attacking phases of play, but put him against a tough, pacy winger
and he’s all over the shop.
We have a strong enough defense to compete on any front you
care to name if our first-choice back four play every match of
consequence. But, if they don’t, I’m afraid we simply don’t have the cover to
seriously challenge for the highest honors.
Central Midfielders:
8 – Mikel Arteta
10 – Jack Wilshere
16 – Aaron Ramsey
20 – Mathieu Flamini
24 – Abou Diaby
34 – Francis Coquelin
53 – Kristoffer Olsson
56 – Jon Toral
8 – Mikel Arteta
10 – Jack Wilshere
16 – Aaron Ramsey
20 – Mathieu Flamini
24 – Abou Diaby
34 – Francis Coquelin
53 – Kristoffer Olsson
56 – Jon Toral
We Arsenal supporters do love to be divisive at times, and
this is the position that is currently the flashpoint for much of it. There is
a numerous Gooner contingent that believes we are short here, that we
need the prototypical midfield destroyer in order to compete with the best. Me? I think we already have him. For some reason, Mathieu Flamini didn’t
play much towards the end of last season, and I thought that it was a massive
mistake on Wenger’s part.
Flamini is everything that a successful team needs – he is
energetic, communicative, and a win-at-all-costs character. The win-loss
records with him in and out of the team speak for themselves. He does tend to
make the odd loose pass here and there, but for me it’s worth it to have his
spark in the center of the field. At the very least, he should play in all of
the big matches.
As for Mikel Arteta, he has often been one of the first
names on the teamsheet in recent years. But, I thought he struggled at times last
season, and ideally he should platoon with Flamini. The Spaniard
is a different sort of player, of course. It makes sense to have him out
there against the smaller teams at home, when we’re looking to pass them to
death. He does not have the same engine that Flam does though, and his
increasing years means that he should be deployed more sparingly anyway.
There is far less question around who is first choice for
the more forward-thinking of the midfield pair. What can be said about Aaron
Ramsey that hasn’t been already? I cannot think of a single player on this
or any other team who has shown as big of a V-sign to his detractors as the
Welsh Jesus. A few short years ago, the lunatic fringe of our support wanted
this guy drawn and quartered with his head on a pike in front of the Emirates
as a warning to others. Sure, he had not developed the way we had wanted – not least because his leg was shattered in a million pieces by that awful
troglodyte Ryan Shawcross. The talent was always there though, and he has more
than repaid Arsene’s faith in him. He carried us through long stretches of last
season with his propensity for heroic goals...the FA Cup-winning tally speaks
for itself, along with the countless other times he popped up with a late run
into the box to finish smartly.
Just think about how many more opportunities for those late
runs will be there given the rest of the firepower we have up top. I’m already
salivating about it, as I’m sure he is.
That takes us to the enigma that is Jack Wilshere. The kid
is obviously gifted, but is the mentality there? His form dipped sharply at the
tail end of last season, but he still got games – arguably more for a lack of
options than anything else at times. However, we just got done talking about
how Ramsey managed to put it all together after a bedding-in time. People
forget that Wilshere is still young, still learning, still growing. There is a
damn special player in there, and the odd ciggie doesn’t change that. The onus
will be on him though, especially in this brave new Arsenal world where there
is serious competition for places. I tend to think that Jack will rise to the
occasion and seriously contribute to our success, but whether that comes off or
not can only be determined by the man himself. Here’s hoping.
The remainder are either guys that will get a few run-outs
in the League Cup (Kris Olsson, Jon Toral) and those who are unconvincing for
various reasons (Francis Coquelin, Abou Diaby). You just can’t bank on Diaby staying
match fit for any length of time, and I don’t think Coquelin quite has the
chops to play at a top-four club. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him loaned out
once again before the window closes, though Arsene may want to keep him around
for his versatility – he can cover at right back along with defensive midfield.
