League goals for Arsenal this season:
351 comments April 13th, 2007
Emmanuel Adebayor 6
Aleksandr Hleb 2
Tomas Rosicky 1
Julio Baptista 1
Freddie Ljungberg 0
Denilson 0
Jeremie Aliadiere 0
Theo Walcott 0
Cesc Fabregas 0
Spectacular, for all the wrong reasons. Some of these players have had half-decent seasons. Emmanuel Adebayor has shown great work-rate and excellent hold-up play, but six league goals is proof that he ought to be supplemented by another poacher (not, it seems, Julio Baptista). Cesc Fabregas is a wonderful talent, but now hasn’t scored in his last 47 appearances. The rest… well, there’s little defence. If it wasn’t for the efforts of Henry, Van Persie, and occasionally Gilberto, then Lord knows where we’d be.
So what’s the answer? Well, a quick look at the Premiership’s top scorers shows that buying pedigree can work: Drogba, McCarthy, Martins, Yakubu, Johnson, Anelka, Bent, and Kuyt were all bought for significant fees on the back of excellent scoring records in the past. When was the last time Arsene bought a player who’d been top goalscorer in his league the previous season? Now might be the time to break the habit of a lifetime.
But they’re all strikers. What we really lack is goals from midfield – a Lampard or a Ronaldo. Well, I get the feeling they’re out of our price range. Arsene’s challenge this summer is to find the players who will banish this season’s shameful figures to the deepest pits of our memories, without breaking the bank.
Speaking of the finances, it seems the takeover by Stan Kroenke is creeping ever closer. Over on arseblog.com, a member of the Arsenal Supporters Trust will be talking about the situation on the arsecast – it almost certainly will be worth a listen.
