The transfer window has finally closed and Arsenal will continue through the rest of the season with the same squad that we had at Christmas.
There has been a lot of moaning from certain areas of the Arsenal fanbase that we failed to sign anyone and that moaning is being heavily fueled by the media. I heard myself shouting violently at Ian Dowie and Tony Cascarino on skysports news last night as they were questioning Arsene Wenger's sanity as a result of not adding to our squad.
To those who share their opinion I ask you this...... Who would we have signed?
Do we need a goalkeeper? - Fabianski's and Szczesny's form so far this year would suggest definitely not. Neither have done anything to warrant being dropped, let alone completely replaced and Almunia is a very good back up keeper to have.
No we do not need a keeper.
Do we need a defender? - Lets split this one up. At right back we have Mr consistency Sagna with Eboue in reserve so no-one needed there. Our choices for left back are Gael Clichy and Kieran Gibbs so who could you bring in above them? Centre back is a big call. We have TV5, Squillaci, Djourou and Koscielny as our main four central defenders. My opinion has always been you need three centre backs you could rely on week in, week out and in Vermaelen, Djourou and Kos I think we have them. Then you need players that can play there for the odd game here and there when we're desperate and Squillaci fills that role for me as much as Campbbell did the second half of last season. We also have Song that can comfortably play in the centre back role. There would have been no point in bringing in a player like Cahill or Jagielka or Upson or Woodgate purely because they are no better than the main central defenders we already have and then when everyone is fit we would have unhappiness in the camp because players aren't getting the games they feel they deserve and we would have to end up selling someone in the summer anyway.
No we do not need a defender.
Do we need anyone in midfield? - Would you drop Fabregas? Would you bring an experienced player in over the natural quality of Wilshere? Who would you bring in to replace Song in the DM role? But then again, maybe we need some cover, after all it's a long season and we're still competing in four competitions. It's not like we have a pool of players like Diaby, Denilson, Ramsey, Rosicky or even Nasri who can play in the middle of the park if called upon............ oh wait a minute!! Look at players that were available? Would someone like Charlie Adam really add that much to our squad?
No, we do not need a midfielder.
Should we bring in a striker? - Theo Van Nasregas (Not my invention but love the name!!) would slot into almost any side in the Premiership. We have Theo Walcott, RVP, Arshavin, Nasri, Chamakh, Bendtner fighting for our forward positions, how much more quality competition do we need? Andy Carroll? £35m + add ons? you're having a laugh!! Torres would be a fantastic addition to any squad but the question is do we NEED anyone and our financial structure does currently allow for luxuries that we do not need. Torres would fall into that category.
No, we do not need a striker.
I wrote a blog a few days ago about Wenger's transfer policy and last months activities so just how good our manager is. Our starting line up against Wigan cost £46.9m, that's less than Torres and if you take Nasri out of the line up then Andy Carroll just about covers the cost of the rest of the team. That is mental!!!!!
However I did give a chuckle when Arsenal.com announced the signing of Ryo Miyaichi, a player we agreed to sign over a month ago and have already loaned out so he can get his work permit, at about 11 o'clock last night. Surely that was someone with a sense of humour that put it up on the site as the transfer window closed.
January saw a record £225m pass across clubs in exchange for players services and now that madness has stopped we can get back to concentrating on what really matters, playing football, starting tonight when we host Everton in the Premier league.
We may not have seen any new faces come in but we haven't lost anyone of real significance either. We still have one of the strongest squads in the league and I believe we have more than enough talent to genuinely challenge for all four titles.
If you disagree, feel free to leave your comments below.
Till next time,
Goonerfish.
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