Send striker suggestions to M. Wenger, Arsenal Football Club, 75 Drayton Park
48 comments January 17th, 2010
Arsene Wenger needs your help. He has money to spend, but doesn’t know how to spend it. He roughly knows the sort of thing he wants, but can’t seem to find it. He needs a personal shopper. He might well need you.
The ideal candidate will:
- be able to spot a bargain
- be more interested in what’s up and coming than last season’s trends
- have an enormous francophonic bias
Applications to Arsenal Football Club, London. Include CV, photograph, and possibly your Championship Manager record. Note: we will not be accepting any more applications from you, Damien Comolli. Please stop calling.
In seriousness, Arsene is struggling to find the striker he admits we may need:
“I am thinking, but I must confess I am not close. I cannot find a player to convince me.”
That sounds like Arsene has interviewed a succession of strikers, none of whom have found a sufficient answer to his one and only question: “Why should I sign you?”
I’m not convinced he’ll buy a forward this January, and if this Times article is to be believed perhaps he doesn’t need to. 15 different players have hit the net for us this season, and we’re on course to break the Premier League goalscoring record. On the other side of this striker-shaped coin, UEFA technical director Andy Roxburgh points out just what it is a truly world class forward could offer our system in the absence of Robin van Persie:
“If you look at Barcelona, you see the striker’s main role is often to open up defences to allow others to score. The Shearer-type centreforward is going and that’s why players like Didier Drogba and Torres are so prized because they do both for you: they have the ability to play up top and be finishers, but they also create room for teammates with their power and skilful play.”
However, there aren’t many of that calibre of players out there. That, and consideration for the potential of the likes of Bendtner, Walcott, and Vela, is Arsene’s problem.
Today, Andrey Arshavin is likely to again lead the line, supported by Eduardo and Tomas Rosicky. Nasri, Fabregas and Diaby will be the midfield trio, though who plays as the most defensively of that three is still up for debate. At the back, Gael Clichy will “at least” be on the bench, which is a huge and timely boost.
United and especially Chelsea really laid down the gauntlet yesterday. We’ll need a big performance to beat a side likely to be given some buoyancy following the arrival of a new manager. Come On You Reds.
