very true Bobby. I thought Arteta and Carzola were excellent signings.
Apart from Lasagne, Arsenal need a new defence. 2 centre backs and a left back is needed badly. Wont happen though and until it does, Arsenal wont win league titles or CL. You dont have any steel in the side.
Its all tippy tappy happy clappy football with no OOOMPH. Where are the Petit? The Vieiria, Adams and Keown type players??
Not enough leaders on pitch either apart from Wilshere.
I don't think changing the whole defense would be the answer. Of course I do get annoyed seeing stupid mistakes and own goals and unnecessary red cards by Koscielny. Him and Vermaelen have been having highs and lows (more lows) but they're generally good players. Mertesacker is a good solid centre half.
Sagna is one of the best right backs in the league (despite some poor performances of late) and Gibbs has been improving a lot.
I think we look shaken and frail because of our system. Our system exposes defenders in such a way that it makes our defence look worse than it actually is. It is a very heavy burden to defend when you don't get enough support from other areas.
They don't know how to defend as a team. Our wingers still don't track back, after much talk about Arshavin's lazyness for instance. He was just chosen as a scapegoat. Now he barely plays, but that old problem is still there.
Another huge problem I see with this team is Wenger's reluctance to change formation according to the players that are available or especially according to the opposition we're facing.
We have a very nimble and skilful midfield trio of midfielders in Arteta, Cazorla and Wilshere. But on paper this is good only for one thing: creating. What about destruction? If you are going to commit 3 forwards who barely track back, leaving only 3 in the midfield, then the least you could do is use a strong and defensive minded guy among those 3.
But all we have is Arteta, and when he's not playing we have Coquelin.
But Wenger refuses to address this. Song was too offensive for a DM at most times, but at least he had physicality. With Arteta, we don't have even this. He is a great player, but he should be the 2nd in this midfield or at least part of a DM duo. It's suicidal to use him alone in this role.
Our team in this particular formation is so unbalanced, more concerned with control of possession, creativity and tikki takka, that it neglects almost completely the defensive side.
Wenger is so stubborn with this 4-3-3 of his that he'd rather use players out of position, instead of reworking his system in order to get the best out of them. Therefore we get Ramsey as a winger, Arteta as the defensive midfielder, and now we had Cazorla as a winger in this last match.
All of this doesn't sound like a manager doing good work and making good use of his resources.
I'm beginning to think it's time for Wenger to climb one level up and be a part of the board, allowing a more modern and dynamic manager to take over.
