Since our season depends on one single game (Man Utd tomorrow) i have been thinking about our squad.
Many people say our team isnt big enough as highlighted by injuries. Look at the injuries & thats bullshit. We have had three big long term injuries. All to the same position. Our most important position. At the start of our season we had a midfield of:
Hleb Flamini Fabregas Rosicky
We were winning & winning well.
Then when Rosicky got injured it became:
Hleb Flamini Fabregas van Persie
We were still winning but van Persie was in an unfamiliar role & thus we lost a little of our attack. We still managed to maintain our early season form however.
The van Persie joined Rosicky in the Treatment room & we had:
Hleb Flamini Fabregas Eduardo
We were still getting results but not as convincingly. I do believe we could have kept going & won the title had the biggest injury not hit. When Eduardo broke his leg we lost our last player who can play on the Left without looking out of place.
Soon we had:
Hleb Flamini Fabregas Diaby
No offence to Diaby but he is not a LW. He is a quality CM which is where he should play. Diaby cuts inside too much & we lose our Left sided Attack.
I'm not however putting our collaspe down to that. Some players have not improved enough to be playing for a title chasing side. Alex Song, Phillipe Senderos & Nicholas Bendter are the biggest culprits.
Song had spent the previous season on Loan at Charlton & was looking like he was improving. Being involved in a relagation battle is one of the best ways to find out how good your defenders are. Justin Hoyte passed with flying colors after spending a season with Sunderland.
Senderos is a good CB but not as first backup. He should be fourth or fifth choice at best. Crocker wont be happy but Richard Dunne shouldent cost the earth & would be well worth the investment. Champions League football & potential title holders should be enough to convince him to come.
Bendter has not improved since last season. His goal talley proves that. In the League he has done very little with the chances he has gotten. Despite that he has scored two important goals this season (Tottenham & Villa) but he doesnt offer enough overall.
For some reason Peter Crouch cant get a run of games at Liverpool. rouch isnt the most skillfull player in the world but he does his job brilliantly. He's a tall target man who can hold up the ball, score & provide. His first touch isnt always great but his is still better than Bendter. Crouch would cost about Eight Million IMO. We could get about five for Bendter. Inter were intrested at the start of the season, hopefully they still are.
In goal, Manuel Almunia has had a great season but his backup isnt as good as he used to be. Jens Lehmann has been dropped for a reason. His performance has dropped. And his rants dont help him either. Good goalkeepers who are patient enough to wait their turn are few & far between so i havent got a recomendation for this just yet.
As much as i hate to say it, i think Gilberto's time is up. Denilson has shown quality in his few chances this season, mainly the Carling Cup. If Gilberto does go, hopefully Denilson will step up like Flamini did this season.
Right Back, Right Wing & Attacking Mid are fine as is. If Traore gets more games under his belt Left Back can be added to that list. When everyone is fit, Left Wing can also be added.
When it comes down to it, too much is being made of it. We have a big enough & good enough squad. But we need a small number of changes to make it Champions. Dunne, Crouch & a Sub Goalkeeper in for Senderos, Song & Bendter will do that for us.
Outside of that what needs to be done is simple. The players need to play together uninterrupted for a longer period of time. Not once this season have we gotten to play our first 11. The last time we won the league the team had been playing together consistantly. Dennis Bergkamp had four options before he even got the ball. He knew where Vieria, Pires, Ljungberg & Henry were going to be without even thinking about it. A full season of playing together & you can change Bergkamp for van Persie, Vieria for Fabregas, Pires for Rosicky, Ljungberg for Hleb & Henry for Adebayour.
At the start of the season i picked Arsenal to win the League, without the three injuries i mentioned above i believe i would have been right. If what i said above is done, next season a League title, one cup & a Campions league final are the mininum we should achieve.
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