The fans of Arsenal football club of England have seen it all, they have suffered with the team, they have gotten insults from rival fans, they pay the highest tickets to watch their team play, yet its been more than 10 years since they last won the league, still, they the fans remain as loyal as ever, home tickets always sold out, they hardly complain, they still make enough noise and cheer the team during matches, they are proud of their team, and rightly so, at their best element, the team plays the best of soccer you can get in the world.
But then, there is a need to reward loyalty, and how best can the club repay the fans? No better way than winning the EPL 2015/2016 trophy for them. There has been a lot of heart breaks in recent seasons, there has been excuses of injuries to key players at crucial periods of those past seasons, sale of important influential players, need I mention them? Van Persie, Fabregas, Nasri, Adebayor at moments where the fans and most analyst feel they would have swung the league title in Favour of Arsenal had they not gone, especially as those players have gone on to win various trophies since leaving arsenal, with Van Persie almost single handedly gifting Manchester united the league trophy in his very first season with Manchester united, there has also been the excuse of building a new stadium during this period, and trying to pay debt, hence the required sale of those players also affecting their ability to splash the cash during the transfer window, but now, there is a fast changing scenario at the northern part of London, in the last 2 or 3 seasons, Arsenal and Arsene Wenger has spent big in the transfer window, with the acquisition of big name players like Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and most recently Peter Cech, and then, the FA cup has been won back to back with back to back community shield triumphs, but your guess is as good as mine as to what the missing piece is- the Barclay's premier league.
This is where the team has had the biggest of disappointments in recent years, with almost the same thing happening every season, having hopes of winning the league, and then ending the season as either 3rd/4th so now that arsenal is enjoying a good 2015/2016 season, what must be done to consolidate this and avoid another setback, LEST THIS ONE ALSO SLIPS AWAY.
learn how to win ugly: the team is traditionally known to play the beautiful way, at least as seen under the guidance of Arsene Wenger, but then, the league in England is so cruel and beautiful possession football never guarantees you the 3 points, some opponents will just sit back, allow you to have all the possession, defend tightly and hit you on the counter attack, arsenal has suffered when facing opponents that adopt this style of play against Arsenal, most notably from Chelsea and Manchester united, at the end of the day, this teams get points off arsenal with this negative style. So arsenal also needs to adopt this style, most especially for the away games so as to avoid massive annihilation as witnessed against Manchester city(losing 6-3), Liverpool (losing 5-1) in seasons past, with big important away games to both Manchester teams, and tough fixtures remaining in the EPL this 2015/2016 season, and with relaxation threatened teams always having that surprise package, arsenal just has to learn to win ugly and dirty, and win is a win, as long as its 3 points in the bag, its a hallmark of champions. This sort of give the teams two identities, one for the home games, the other for the away matches. Judging by wenger’s words after arsenal’s match against Newcastle in the 2015/2016 season at emirates stadium, “it was a performance that was more mental(strength) and solidarity than fluency and brilliance but overall I like that we have shown this kind of quality”, it is clear that Wenger has learnt something new.
Sign victor wanyama: with injuries to the duo of Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin, it is obvious that arsenal needs to sign another defensive midfielder. Especially with the injury problems that Wilshere and Arteta have, and given the fact that Flamini is well over 30 years old and lacking the grit of Coquelin, it is clear that this current arsenal side is short in the middle of the park. While there is Calum Chambers and Alex Chamberlain who can play there also, when trying to win the league, there is no need to experiment because the team will suffer a lot from it, so, it will be better to sign another Mifielder with the experience and who is not cup-tied. STEP IN VICTOR WANYAMA.
What arsenal stands to gain from signing him; [A]experience, victor is not new to the epl, so there will be little need for adaptation, moreover, he has also played for celtic, and he has some champions league minutes under his belt.
[B] grit and physicality: since the exit of Patrick Vieira from arsenal, the team has lacked a tall tough tackling midfielder that will take after him…..arsenal has found it difficult to get another Patrick. Victor has the right attributes to fill in this gap standing at over 6 feet and very strong, and tackles toughly, it will always be difficult for opponents full of flair to get past him, this is the kind of player needs to lock up and boss its midfield.
[C] a point to prove: signing a top class player of this caliber will send out a warning signal to all rival teams of arsenal, teams like Manchester city, Leicester city and spurs who are fellow title contenders will be very scared and would be jiltery, this signing will make everyone to stop belittling arsenal and see them as the biggest threat.
At what cost? A little over 30 million pounds will be enough to get him, could have been less if it was the summer transfer window, but this amount is not bad for a team trying to win the EPL Wenger, go get your man.
Will Southampton allow him to leave? With 30 million pounds or a little more, the saints will have no choice, they can get another replacement from the sale of victor, so why keep a player unhappy?
Does victor want to leave? Oh yes, very well, he has done it all for the saints, he stayed with them when the others left, he has nothing left to offer them, Southampton are not challenging fro the league, they cannot make the European spots this season, they have little chance of winning any cup, and they are currently not in any European competition, whereas, arsenal is currently challenging for the EPL title, will definitely qualify for Europe next season, are strong favourites to win the FA cup again, and are currently in the champions league round of 16, so for him, this will be the big step forward at just the perfect time.
Sign a goal scoring winger: when your first choice striker is not a demon of scoring lots of goals, and is bound to miss glorious goal scoring opportunities, and given the fact that arsenal midfielders are players full of flair, who hardly shoot but always pass, then, the team needs goal scoring wingers in the mould of Marco Reus or Aubameyang. While I must admit the fact that it will be very difficult to sign either Reus or Aubameyang this January transfer window, as it will take extremely high crazy figures to sign them, and they may not be willing to leave now, arsenal needs to have another winger that can bang in loads of goals like ALEXIS SANCHEZ. With theo Walcott not sure of the position he wants to play, alongside his injury problems, with chamberlain not currently on the level he ought to be, with Joel Campbell just staring to get a run of first team appearances, and with Danny Welbeck still out injured, arsenal needs a goal scoring winger ro be added to the squad to boost their ranks, not forgetting the fact that even when fully fit, Welbeck, Walcott, Campbell and Chamberlain have not got loads of goals in them. Real Madrid has Bale and C.ronaldo, who assist Benzema, Barcelona has got Neymar and Messi alongside suarez, Bayern Munich has got Lewandowski, Muller and Robben/Douglas Costa, that is why this teams score loads of goals.
FROM WENGER'S PERSPECTIVE: The Frenchman is in his 20th season at arsenal, and the manager who christined him a SPECIALIST in failure has the same number of EPL trophies as ARSENE WENGER, so in a season which has seen Jose mourinho get sacked after having a disastrous half of the campaign with Chelsea, only managing to put them in 16th position, and in a season in which other big teams like Manchester united and Manchester city have not gotten it right as they should have done, it is the perfect time for Wenger to grab his opportunities with both hands and dominate the EPL and prove that his 20 seasons in England has got him the mighty experience needed, lest he be re-branded a specialist in failure for leading the EPL table by Christmas and not doing all within his power to make sure arsenal wins the EPL 2015/2016 trophy and allowing this one to also slip away. Arsene Wenger will want to gain the respect of others, so even if it means changing his style( by playing ugly and spending big in the January transfer window) who says Wenger will not splash the cash? 50 million pounds is not too much to spend in this January transfer window and banish the demon of not lifting the EPL trophy.
In conclusion, with arsenal striker Olivier Giroud challenging Alan Shearer to explain where arsenal needs to strengthen, I hope he and Arsene Wenger can get to see this article and know where arsenal needs to strengthen. With Manchester city inconsistent this season, and having a tendency to falter, and their season hanging on hopes of Kun Aguero and Vicent Kompany staying fit, with Leicester City not seen as real title challengers with a thin squad, and with Manchester united having a relatively bad season, this is just the perfect chance for Arsenal football club of England to strengthen their team, and reward fans with the 2015/2016 EPL trophy and hold on very tight with some very much needed level of consistency and concentration in all their remaining matches, taking them like a final, any player called upon at anytime should please try to bring in their A game, and prove that they are worthy of the shirt, and be ready to lose their blood for the team, LEST THIS ONE ALSO SLIPS AWAY.
As written by:
ADEKANYE OPEOLUWA (WEST)
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Please do watch out for the continuation of my series: BATTLE FOR SUPREMACY, #BFS the attacking midfielder’s edition featuring: Ronaldinho vs Zidane vs Dennis Bergkamp. Gracias. HAPPY NEW YEAR.
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