Arsenal Action

[Sinbad]

Having now played 10 games in total this season its clear to me that our 3 new signings this summer have without doubt filled the holes of players who have moved on BUT haven't improved us a great deal.

Let me ask you something, Have the 3 new signings turned us from a top 4 side into a league title winning side?.. Well after losing our last 2 games and only 1pt out of our last 9pt the answer is clearly not.

So whats my opinion on the 3 new signings

Laurent Koscielny : Signed for a reported sum of £8.45m, MORE then what Spurs had paid for Rafael van der Vaart. Lets just say that he has had a poor start, Roasted by El Hadji Diouf and with mistakes vs WBA & Bolton and less then impressive last week up against Drogba. its hard to see WHY Arsenal paid so much money for a lightweight CB who has never played at this level and who looks and french 2nd division player. I know people are going to say its his first season in English football and he needs time? Well look at Thomas Vermaelen and the impact he had last season. A player with potential , not exactly a Keown or a Adams is he...

Marouane Chamakh : Signed on a free, don't get me wrong I feel Chamakh has added something to our team and with Wenger wanted to stick with this 4/5/1 a player like Chamakh upfront is perfect. But he is not a Drogba or a player who will score a solo wonder goal. He is nothing more then a decent target man who is good in the air but will miss loads of chances. And as Sunday vs the Chavs showed, in tight games vs very good teams you cant afford to miss chances. Is he the type of player thats going to score 20/30 goals a season? NO! is he better then what he had? YES..A good player but not exactly Henry or Bergkamp. But out of the 3 he has been our best signing this summer

Sébastien Squillaci : Signed in a deal worth €4m, a player who can do a job but is clearly not the big powerful CB we needed to deal with the likes of Drogba. Im happy we signed him as we were very short of numbers at the back, but is he the answer? NO. He is a Second choice french player with a long injury record, not exactly a Gallas or a Sol Campbell.

So a summary of our Transfer dealings.. None of these guys are bad players but we are no better then last season??

[damir]

I think Chamakh is excellent..koscielny is "nothing special" and Squillaci is a decent player

[Craigie]

Chamakh is an improvement on Eduardo.

Both CBs are a downgrade on Gallas, equal to Silvestre. Both CBs will definately improve though, and we have a lot more attacking force coming back from injury so in theory they should have less to do.

[stevedon]

I agree with you Sinbad, none of them are great.

I think it is fine to have 3 or 4 great players and the rest just "good or ok" as long as as a team they work for each other, become hard to beat and find ways of winning. The team is more inportant than the individuals and all that. These 3 signings seem to be team players so that should help.

As far as I can tell the best place to have your "great" players is down the spine of the team, especially up front. We have not got a truly great striker although some may argue in favour of RVP. There are a few potential greats dotted about, which is nice (Wilshere, Gibbs, Vermaelen?).

Overall though, I think we are a better team this season and my main concern is in goal.

[Gunner_X5]

Chamakh will need more time to adapt, but I think he brings us something different.

Kos has showed potential but is inexperienced, I belive he could be a much better play in a year or 2

Squallaci is a more solid backup, and its just our luck that vermalen has had a hefty spell out leaving these 2 cb's together alot.

[King Malta]

comparing Kos to Vermy is SO unfair....how many players have you seen adapt to a new league like Vermy did? Not many!!!

Kos looks to me like he'll be a very good Cb>

Chamakh...well I think the stats speak for themselves, Chamakh has been excellent so far and ads a new dimension up front, and he can score goals

[Craigie]

Arsenal and Barcelona are in a league of their own in terms of the front line play. The places you're expected to be and the runs you're meant to make and look for are at a higher level than players at other clubs have to deal with, so it will take any striker a while to get used to it.

We take for granted that players like Nasri, Fabregas, van Persie, Bendtner, Vela, even Wilshire have had years of being taught nothing but this type of play. Chamakh has spent a lot of time being told to hold the play up, be available in the air and to dive apparently, but it will take him time to adjust. Just because he's 26 doesn't mean he was going to instantly walk into the team and score 25 goals a season.

Also, Chamakh is a worker. He will give his all for 90 minutes. I can forgive a lack in play and technique for this kind of player because we don't really have many of them around. When you have lazy bastards like Arshavin around you need someone like him to be near him to cover him.

The only great player we've signed in the past 5 years is Vermaelen. Nasri was average for two years, Diaby has been good/hopeless since he came, Sagna had a great season but now isn't outstanding as a fullback and Arshavin, if he's not scoring or assisting he's doing absolutely nothing.

[Gunner_X5]

Arsenal and Barcelona are in a league of their own in terms of the front line play. The places you're expected to be and the runs you're meant to make and look for are at a higher level than players at other clubs have to deal with, so it will take any striker a while to get used to it.

We take for granted that players like Nasri, Fabregas, van Persie, Bendtner, Vela, even Wilshire have had years of being taught nothing but this type of play. Chamakh has spent a lot of time being told to hold the play up, be available in the air and to dive apparently, but it will take him time to adjust. Just because he's 26 doesn't mean he was going to instantly walk into the team and score 25 goals a season.

Also, Chamakh is a worker. He will give his all for 90 minutes. I can forgive a lack in play and technique for this kind of player because we don't really have many of them around. When you have lazy bastards like Arshavin around you need someone like him to be near him to cover him.

The only great player we've signed in the past 5 years is Vermaelen. Nasri was average for two years, Diaby has been good/hopeless since he came, Sagna had a great season but now isn't outstanding as a fullback and Arshavin, if he's not scoring or assisting he's doing absolutely nothing.

This post is so full of win

[Sp1r0r]

I'm always an optimist, so when things are going fine at the moment, I'm definitely gonna keep the feel good factor going.

Let's start with Chamakh. He has not been a great goalscorer, but 6 goals in 12 games is a decent return and the number of assists he has had and other contributions to our attacking play is there for all to see. Drogba wasn't the striker he was when he first joined Chelsea. He was just there to keep the ball and pass it on to Robben or Duff.

But I rather Chamakh stay the way he is. Look what happened with Adebayor, when he started becoming a better player, he no longer stayed up front, instead tried to take the opponent on by himself and trying to score great goals without doing the dirty work.

Plus we have van Persie, how can you have 2 players that is gonna score 25 goals a season ? Remember the season Anelka won the Golden Boot, Drogba didn't even score half as many.

Koscielny. I would say in the last 2 games, Djourou is now starting to fight Koscielny to be the 3rd choice defender. Koscielny is a better footballer technically but he does lack physical presence. That said, he is still a better player than Silvestre, so there's an improvement.

Squillaci. Yes, he might be 30, but that is not old for a defender. And he brings experience with him and some leadership qualities, which is why obviously Wenger made him captain in the absence of Fabregas. You may say he is no Campbell, but who really is ? I'd like to think that Squillaci is an improvement over Gallas, and based on Gallas recent performances, I'm not that wrong.

I don't see why are we complaining about. Look at Chelsea. Without Drogba and Lampard, they are not that great. Among Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd, I think we've done the most strengthening over the summer. Chelsea only bought Ramires but sold off Carvalho. Man Utd bought Hernandez but with Rooney not being himself, do not have the same goalscoring threat that Ronaldo and Rooney himself used to provide. Plus 4 draws in 8 games ain't really championship form. They haven't even played any of last season's top 5 yet.

Decent players but not Great ? Maybe. But good signings ? Hell yeah.