Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew was shocked by the news that club captain Fabricio Coloccini wants to leave the club in January, as reported by The Independent.
Coloccini’s demands are just another blow to Newcastle and Pardew who are just two points above the Premier League relegation zone and without an away win all season ahead of their visit to Norwich this afternoon.
The Argentinian defender has reported personal problems and wants to head back to South America and join boyhood club San Lorenzo this month.
The 30-year-old was set to lead the team out at Carrow Road today but it is yet to be seen what frame of mind he and his manager will be in going into the vital Premier League clash.
If Coloccini does push through the move, Newcastle will be left with very little defensive cover and will need to sign at least one defender in this window or face a long second half of the season.
Steven Taylor is still injured and so Mike Williamson would be the only recognised central defender at the club but freeing up Coloccini’s high wages could give Pardew some extra funds to spend.
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awful form these past few months has seen them slide irrevocably down the league table and exit at the third round of the FA Cup, and with manager Alan Pardew admitting that the club are now in a relegation dogfight, will the pressure start to mount even further on the man in charge? Or to put it more pertinently, can he survive in the role for the foreseeable future?
After being handed a scarcely believable new eight-year deal by Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias, it seems even when the club is trying to consolidate, take a long-term view and plan for the future that they leave themselves open to mockery. It’s irrational on almost every level and never before has a manager earned such a deal in the game based on so little success.
It doesn’t explain at all why he was given a new contract when there was seemingly no pressure from Pardew’s side to hand him one, while the length of it, even if you approach it from the viewpoint that it was supposed to scare off potential rivals for his signature and protect the club with a healthy compensatory package doesn’t quite explain why eight years and not say four or five? However, it’s been mooted by many supporters now that the only thing keeping Pardew in his job is the compensation package the club would have to fork out to fire him and when it gets to that point and that’s your only reason for keeping someone around, you know you’re on sticky ground.
Pardew signed his new deal on September 27th and since then the team have recorded just three Premier League victories and five across all competitions, against Bordeaux, Club Brugges, West Brom, Wigan and QPR. During that 22-game run they’ve lost 12 games and drawn five, conceding 40 goals and keeping just four clean sheets. This is a horror run, the sort that ends managerial reigns at clubs no matter what contract they have.
They now sit just two points above the drop zone after 21 games and following the humiliating loss to Brighton away from home, Pardew started to sound like a man trying to dig his way out of a hole: “We need to get our best players back and quickly. We need to sustain ourselves and make sure we’re a Premier League team next season. We want to stay there but we are in real danger and we need to get our best players out on the pitch. We’re not too big to go down and we accept that. We need to make sure we are a Premier League team next season. Our team today is a shadow of the team we can put out.
“Not once this season have I had my best side out. We’re not too big to go down. I think it is important to spend. We lost Cheik and Demba, one to African Nations and one to a transfer. The most important thing for us is our Premier League status now because we’ve put ourselves at risk with all the injuries and the run we’re on. We need to make sure we’re a Premier League side next season. We’re not hiding from that. We need our best players back.”
Ah, injuries, the manager’s go-to defensive position, blame mitigating factors outside of your control for you waning influence on the side. Nevertheless, Pardew may actually have a point this season and aside from Demba Ba, who has now left the club, each and every key member of the side that were so successful in finishing fifth last term has endured a spell on the sidelines – Yohan Cabaye, Jonas Gutierrez, Papiss Cisse, Tim Krul, Steven Taylor, Cheick Tiote and Hatem Ben Arfa.
The problem with Newcastle’s squad is that there is a very strong first eleven there, but dig a little deeper and the support cast simply isn’t up to scratch, as the Brighton display brought home; Dan Gosling, Romain Amalfitano and Xisco (yes, he’s still there somehow) do little other than eat up valuable wages. This has left youngsters such as Shane Ferguson and Gael Bigirimana to unfairly carry the burden when it should really be up to the more senior players to step up.
The club currently have the second-worst defensive record in the entire league after leaking 11 goals in two games against Manchester United and Arsenal and it seems at times like Fabricio Coloccini, who looks in dire need of a rest, is having to put out fires all across the back four and Mike Williamson, Davide Santon, James Perch and Tim Krul’s form just isn’t a patch on what it was last campaign. The January signing of the impressive Mathieu Debuchy is a step in the right direction and when they have a fully fit side back, they should have enough if confidence isn’t at such a low level by then to stay up, but more investment is required.
It’s easy to blame the manager in certain situations such as this but Pardew’s dreadful long ball tactics really haven’t helped matters and have been more than partly to blame for their horrific form, with the side increasingly looking like it lacks a coherent plan not only to stop the opposition, but a style of their own to go to when the going gets tough. At present, he looks short of ideas to address and arrest the decline.
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Changing managers can often give way to the much-needed honeymoon effect, but unless the systemic problems are actually looked at and tackled, as Sunderland surely attest to, form is only temporary, a lack of class is permanent. Sacking Pardew right now isn’t quite the answer, for their problems will ease just as soon as their injury table load does, but it’s clear that he needs to be more proactive and get a hold on where things have gone wrong, because at the moment he looks clueless about what system and style the side needs to pursue with.
With the calendar relenting a tad to more one-game weeks and winnable fixtures against Norwich, Reading and Aston Villa up next, Pardew’s fate could be decided by not only the superficial battles he has to fight in the media, but the substantive ones out on the pitch between now and the end of the month. You have to ask yourself, is Pardew the man to turn things around for the Magpies? When once the response to that was easy to muster, with things going on as they are, it is only going to continue to get murkier by the week.
Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris added insult to injury for Arsenal after declaring their clash with Liverpool will pose a much tougher test, the Mirror reports.
Spurs claimed a crucial 2-1 victory in the North London derby at White Hart Lane on Sunday that lifted them back above Chelsea into third and left the Gunners with a mountain to climb if they’re to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
And while Lloris basked in the glory of a Derby victory he urged his team mates to remain focused before admitting the trip to Anfield is one he considers a daunting assignment for Andre Villas-Boas’ side.
“We don’t know what can happen so we have to keep going, not look at the other teams and be focused on ourselves,” the French international stated.
“But it will be another game next Sunday. Liverpool are playing maybe the best football in the Premier League at this moment. They proved that in their last game against Wigan. It will be a very difficult game but very exciting game in Anfield.
The French stopper also reiterated that now is the time to kick on and that Champions League football is far from being sewn up for the Lilywhites.
“The season is not finished,” he added.
“There are 10 games to go so we have to keep concentration and be focused on the end of the season.
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“Of course it’s better to be in this position than Arsenal although we have to keep a lucidity of the situation. The most important thing is to be in the Champions League next season and I think we have to keep our ambition.”
It’s a name that’s been linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur for nearly a season now, but as the transfer speculation heats up regarding the club’s potential swoop for Hamburg forward Heung-Min Son, some supporters are already turning their attention to where the Korean might fit in their side.
While the club’s interest in Son can be traced back to the summer of 2012, it’s believed that the 20-year-old’s hesitation in signing an extension to a contract that expires next season could see him leave the Imtech Arena for as little as £8.5million.
And further still, if a report in this morning’s Independent is to be believed, the player himself is said to be keen on the prospect of linking up with Andre Villas-Boas’ side, too.
But with the team screaming out for a forward of the highest calibre and several other elements of the side needing addressing come the summer, can Spurs really afford to invest the best part of £10million in a player whose age and inexperience ensures a potential deal remains very much an eight-figure gamble?
The cynics among the Lilywhites support won’t even necessarily need to have seen the Chuncheon-born talent play, to raise suspicions about the club’s motivation to acquire his signature this summer. Barely out of his teens and adjoined with a lofty reputation forged on the continent, Son bears the hallmark and resale value of the sort of player that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy loves to bring to the club.
Throw in the usual skepticism that follows the import of a player with the marketing capacity to unlock the lucrative Asian market and perhaps it’s understandable that not all supporters are jumping out of their seat at the prospect of the South Korean making the move to N17.
But regardless of what Son might bring to the club off the pitch, he also has the capacity to have a profound effect on the field of play. His signing might please Levy, but don’t think for five minutes that Son might find himself out of his depth in the white side of North London.
After joining the Bundesliga side at the tender age of only 16, Son has had to endure the usual sort of labeling that comes with such a high-profile at such a young age. Certainly, the ‘Asian Lionel Messi’ was a tag did little to encourage his development when he first arrived on German shores.
But if the pressure did little to aid his evolution from a fledgling, enigmatic youth player, it’s not done much to harm him, either.
Still three months off his 21st birthday, Son can already lay claim to 13 caps for his country, 67 top-flight appearances for Hamburg and an extremely impressive 17 Bundesliga goals to go with them – nine of which have come during the 2012/13 campaign.
The finished article, Son most certainly is not, but don’t let his age belie his capabilities. Equally adept with either foot, Son offers a threat from anywhere across a front attacking three and what’s more, he doesn’t seem to have a preference where, either.
“I don’t care where I play,” were the South Korean’s words upon breaking into the team in Hamburg.
“The main thing is I’m in the game. I can play right, left, as a forward or behind. What the coach says, I’ll do. I don’t have a favourite position. I’ll be anywhere and always on the throttle.”
With Tottenham’s lack of attacking potency past the duo of Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon being woefully exposed in recent games, oh how Villas-Boas’ side could do with Son’s talents now, as opposed to three or four months down the track.
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He offers pace, close control, an admirable work ethic but most importantly, a goal threat when positioned out on the flank. This season has seen the South Korean stationed out on the right-hand side more often than not for Thorsten Fink’s side and while supporters will be mindful of the worth that they place on current incumbent Aaron Lennon, Son would offer Villas-Boas a completely different option in terms of setting his side up.
The notion of recreating the 4-3-3 that the Portuguese enjoyed so much success with at Porto has largely been made redundant due to several factors, but the lack of another goalscoring winger has been one of the most poignant. Son’s composure in front of goal could open some more doors for Villas-Boas tactically and ease some of the goalscoring burden that Bale has had to shoulder for far too long this season.
For as efficient as Son might be in front of goal, despite his ability to play as a central striker he wouldn’t really offer Spurs a viable option as a long-term centre forward and that must be the priority at White Hart Lane this summer. But should the 20-year-old continue to stall upon a new deal at Hamburg, there’s absolutely no reason why the club shouldn’t pay the rumoured £8.5million fee that the German club are asking for.
Even at such a cut-price figure, there can be no denying that any deal to take Heung-Min Son to White Hart Lane will be something of a gamble. But if the £15million that Manchester United have recently shelled out to take Wilfried Zaha to Old Trafford can be deemed as something resembling a good investment, then Son’s signature must surely be a potential steal.
James Milner hopes to help Manchester City move on from their failed title bid by securing the FA Cup trophy.
Manchester United’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Monday ended City’s hopes of successfully defending their league crown.
Milner admits his side is bitterly disappointed to have failed to defend the Premier League title but hopes to end the season with silverware by securing the FA Cup title.
City will take on Wigan in the final next month and Milner is desperate to add the FA Cup to the Etihad Stadium trophy cabinet.
“It hurts,” Milner told Sky Sports News. “Well done to Manchester United, they’re obviously a strong team and the league doesn’t lie, so they deserve the league.
“We’re massively disappointed, but it fuels the fire for next season and we’re desperate to go again next season to try and win it back.
“Hopefully we can finish this season with silverware.”
The England international feels City must take inspiration from United’s efforts this season in the 2013/14 campaign.
Milner believes United have used the disappointment of missing out on the Premier League title last season as motivation this term, and he feels City must do the same next year as they bid to wrestle the title back.
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He added: “We’ve seen how hard it is to retain the title and how much they (United) used that disappointment from last season to drive them on this year.
“They’ve been very good in the league, very solid and seem to grind out results every week. They’ve deserved it and we have to look at where we’ve gone wrong and try to put that right.”
New Stoke City manager Mark Hughes is keen on brining wanatway Aston Villa midfielder Stephen Ireland to the Britannia Stadium, according to the Daily Mirror.
Ireland worked with Hughes while the pair were at Manchester City and the central midfielder put in some impressive displays landing him the 2008-09 player of the year award at the Etihad.
Ireland is set to be keen on linking up with his former boss once again and Villa are not going to stand in the Irish internationals way if he demands a move.
Villa are keen on losing the 26 year olds £30,000-a-week wages from their bill in order to bring in some fresh blood to improve on last season’s low finish.
New Everton boss Roberto Martinez is also interested in the midfielder and he would be the sort of player that the Toffees would go for with their slim budget.
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West Brom have told Jerome Thomas and Gonzalo Jara Reyes they can leave the club as they are not in the plans of Steve Clarke.
Free agent Thomas has struggled for first-team football at the Hawthorns in the past season under Steve Clarke and even spent time away on loan at Championship side Leeds United.
As a result, he will be allowed to depart on a Bosman-free transfer along with Jara Reyes, who has reached his one-year option period which will not be taken up.
Sporting & Technical Director Richard Garlick said on the club’s website: “Both Jerome and Gonzalo have played important roles in helping the club reach and stay in the Premier League since joining us four years ago.
“They have found first-team opportunities harder to come by this season and had spells out on loan. They both leave with our best wishes.”
Meanwhile, Steven Reid and Zoltan Gera are waiting to see if they will be kept on despite both failing to make enough appearances to guarantee another year.
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Striker Marc-Antoine Fortune is out of contract at the end of next month but could be offered another 12 months, while Albion must decide whether to turn Macedonian defender Goarn Popov’s loan spell from Dynamo Kyiv into a permanent arrangement.
There are three key duels in the offering at Old Trafford as two teams, with 12 League Cup wins between them, although Liverpool with eight successes are twice as successful as United, clash for a place in Round 4 of the Capital One Cup.
SUAREZ v VIDIC
After his lengthy suspension for biting Branislav Ivanavic, Luis Suarez is expected to return to the Liverpool team, despite Daniel Sturridge’s goal-laden start to the Premier League season.
Suarez has everything a central defender hates; pace, guile, nous, not to mention being a bit sneaky, ok, a lot sneaky. The Uruguayan will be fresh, certainly, chomping at the bit, hopefully, and who knows he may just have taken on board ALL the rhetoric that he OWES Liverpool and the fans payback for the way they stood by him when many were in favour of shipping him out. In the old days a senior pro would have taken him behind the bike sheds and pointed out to the striker the error of his ways.
Vidic has the kind of strength and tenacity that strikers do not like and a striker of the character of senior Suarez isn’t the kind of individual who relishes a battle. A warrior-like Vidic would win a clash like that every day of the week. The United skipper has learned from his red cards when faced with Torres in the past and if either of these two protagonists sees red at OT the bookies’ money would be on Suarez.
There’s little doubt Suarez will get a chance or two in the tie, but that is all he will need.
AGGER v VAN PERSIE
On paper, and more than likely on grass, the Dutchman will be the winner eight times out of ten. The fact that this is a one-off cup tie does not diminish van Persie’s superiority over Agger who, despite his defensive qualities, is susceptible to the kind of guile and pace the United man possesses.
While van Persie will be deadly in the Liverpool penalty area, so too will Agger at the other end. But the Dane is obviously a more accomplished defender than Robin who is more reliant on his aerial ability in the attacking third than marking a defender at set pieces.
Van Persie will get chances, and probably more than Suarez, which does not bode well for Liverpool’s chances. Last season the Dutchman’s chance to goal conversion rate was 22% compared to Suarez’s 16.1%, which then puts the onus on the marker assigned to them on the night. It was also noticeable last season how reliant Brendan Rogers’ team was on Suarez who contributed to 44% of Liverpool’s goal tally, goals scored and assists, whereas United had 20 different players netting at least one league goal, a club record.
ROONEY v GERRARD
While the first two head-to-heads are attack v defence, the outcome of this tie of the Capital One Cup Round 3 could well hinge on the clash between two Liverpudlians.
It is becoming increasingly apparent that Wayne’s future is likely to be in a deeper role than as a lone striker or any striker for that matter. Much better at moving on to the ball and goal wards than with his back to the target, he has a chance to establish a new barometer by which a midfield player is judged.
Some statement when he is operating in an era enriched by Gerrard and Lampard, but both of those players will be long retired before Rooney assumed the mantle of top midfield man. Crucially the United man is more comfortable than either of those senior pros sitting just behind a striker or pair of strikers, but at Old Trafford he will find Gerrard snapping at his ankles any time the ball and Rooney get into the final third.
While Rooney is just as capable as Gerrard of bursting forward, it is the Liverpool skipper who would edge it in terms of tenacity when a lung-busting break is called for, again and again. Gerrard is also the better tackler and despite the improvement in Wayne’s passing over the last couple of seasons, Gerrard is still the pass master and is more likely to catch his England colleague out by drawing him on and hitting a counter-attacking pass than vice-versa.
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Not long ago, it appeared English football had reverted back to the dark ages, with no light at the end of the tunnel.
Perhaps such a condemnation was rather premature, considering the Three Lions comfortably qualified for the World Cup in Brazil, albeit in a rather laboured and uninspiring fashion.
But more than simply FIFA rankings and our place at the world’s greatest footballing spectacle at stake, the slow but steady decline of the national team, the unfulfilled potential of our supposed golden generation, epitomised concerns about the manner in which we view, teach and train football in England.
Harry Redknapp summarised the issue perfectly in his column for the Sun in June this year, after an incredibly poor showing from the Young Lions in last summer’s U21 European Championship, arguing; “The overriding problem we all face is that English football must change. And it has to come from the very top of the game. We do not know how to play football. We just boot the ball up the pitch and it gets us nowhere.
“In international football you cannot just hit and hope because you give the ball away. It’s all about possession, retaining the ball, controlling the game. We need coaches who believe in that ideal.”
Extrapolate the current trend further, and you can only see the Three Lions moving backwards as a footballing entity. A view clearly shared by new FA chief Greg Dyke, who a few months ago instigated his own committee to get to the heart of the intrinsic issues the national game currently faces.
But before we receive Dyke’s recommendations around March-time next year, there are already signs that things are changing for the better. The source; the current Premier League campaign.
In a season completely different to any other, where Tottenham broke their transfer record three times in the same window, Manchester United have transformed into uncomfortable mid-tablers and Arsene Wenger spent £42million on a single player, as if someone somewhere in the footballing heavens had hit the reset button and instigated a ground-zero scenario not too dissimilar to the end of Fight club, it’s surprisingly been the football purists that have managed to progress, whilst the hoof-ball enthusiasts have failed to dominate.
The purists I’m referring to in particular are Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal.
The fact Arsene Wenger is now reaping the rewards for over a decade’s worth of stubbornness when it comes to his footballing philosophy is no coincidence. With Mesut Ozil seemingly the final piece of the purist jigsaw falling into place, Arsenal are now topping the Premier League table, and barring Manchester City’s home form are undoubtedly playing the best football in the country right now.
Compare that to Chelsea, a side who Jose Mourinho has transformed from free-thinking experimentalists, often to their own demise at times last season, into a gang of Special-One-fearing robots, and you begin to see my point.
The Blues are currently five points off the league leaders, despite trumping their summer spending by some £20million in the offseason, which I’d argue has something to do with the fact only 60% of their goals this season have come from open play, in comparison to Arsenal’s 83%.
At the same time, Everton and Liverpool have both emerged as dark horses this season. The Reds are currently in second place with 30 points, whilst their local rivals aren’t too far behind in fifth with 28.
Over the last few years, both clubs have sought transformation into aesthetically pleasing sides after suffering from brief identity crises.
Following campaign upon campaign of stagnation, the Anfield outfit turned to Brendan Rodgers, a manager famed for his faith in possession football and bringing through youngsters.
And it’s through that philosophical belief that he’s got the Liverpool house in order, donning the youngest roster in the entire division and insisting upon a style of football that emphasises control of the ball as the key to success.
This season they’ve averaged 55% possession per match and a pass completion ratio of 85%, with the latter statistic only bettered by Arsenal, City and Swansea. Their 57 long balls per match is also the fourth-fewest in the league.
In a similar fashion, Everton’s loss of David Moyes had many at Goodison fearing the worst. But if anything, the appointment of Roberto Martinez has pushed the Toffees even closer towards his predecessor’s ultimate aim of Champions League qualification.
The Spaniard has insisted upon a style of football sharply deviating from the former Everton gaffer’s more traditional and direct approach, that’s seen them claim the fifth-highest possession rate in the league and a pass success rate of 83% this season.
With more emphasis on inventive attack than solid defence, and smooth transitions between 3-4-3 and 4-5-1 formations, the Merseysiders have become incredibly pleasing on the eye. Subsequently, results are improving all the time, best illustrated by four points claimed in their last two Premier League fixtures against Manchester United and Arsenal.
However, what’s most impressive about Everton’s transformation is the fact they were largely considered to be a long ball side, albeit more classy than your average West Ham or Stoke outfit, just a matter of months ago.
Martinez has been able to create an incredibly different, more productive and inventive style of football out of essentially the same group of players, which should serve as a lesson in mind for those Three Lions neysays who argue our entrenched hit-and-hope culture is incapable of change.
If Phil Jagileka and Gareth Barry can be at the heart-beat of a team who outplayed Arsenal at the Emirates last weekend, any home-grown talent can.
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Furthermore, at the centre of each club’s successful escapades this year has been a glowing British contingent. At Arsenal, Welshman Aaron Ramsey is leading the scoring charts, with eight goals and five assists in 14 starts. Jack Wilshere, Theo Wacott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Kerian Gibbs too have all contributed; their influence would have been key if they’d managed to stay off the sidelines.
For Everton, Phil Jagielka, Irishman James McCarthy, Gareth Barry, Leighton Baines and Leon Osman have all been vital to the cause, but it’s Ross Barkley – perhaps the greatest technical talent of his generation – who’s been receiving the rave reviews for his impact in the final third.
And at Liverpool, although Luis Suarez has been the star of the show, the efforts of Daniel Sturridge, Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Jordan Henderson and Raheem Sterling should not go unnoticed.
From the depths of long-ball oblivion, the unpredictability of the current Premier League season has allowed the purist sides, prioritising technical ability and flair over mechanical stability, to shine through, with home-grown talents at the core.
It’s by no means a revolution to England’s footballing woes, but certainly serves as a suggestion we’re finally moving in the right direction. One can only hope that all three clubs maintain their strong form until the end of the season, demonstrating to the more traditionalist managers, including Roy Hodgson, that there is a vital correlation between results and the breed of football you choose to adopt.
Yet there is one sour note to finally end on. Wenger, Rodgers, Martinez; all philosophical dreamers and champagne football enthusiasts, none English. If the modern game is to be transformed, we need home-grown coaches teaching a style of play more common abroad than in the British isles.
Such an overhaul could take generations to fully materialise, but its the shining examples Arsenal, Everton and Liverpool are providing this season that will get the process in motion.
Lukas Podolski’s return to the Arsenal squad has come at the right time, coming back into the fold only a few games after Theo Walcott, and in turn sharpening Arsenal’s attack.
It’s the Arsenal way: you get one or two back from injury and one goes out again. Mesut Ozil has picked up a “shoulder injury,” though I’m sceptical about the legitimacy of it. Arsene Wenger seems to be playing a smart move by giving the German international a mini winter break after non-stop ninety-minute outings since his arrival in the Premier League.
But that isn’t so much of an issue. Jack Wilshere came back from his suspension, and the Arsenal midfield was never something to really worry about this season. The issue, rather, has been in attack, where Olivier Giroud has looked tired, ineffective in front of goal and subsequently lacking in confidence to grab a game by the scruff of the neck.
Podolski, upon his return at West Ham on Boxing Day, did far more than the Frenchman had for what seemed like a frustratingly long barren spell. The German added invention to Arsenal’s play at West Ham, incision and directness. There’s a matter of freshness too, but Podolski is the far more clinical of the two. He’s the forward who came to Arsenal in the summer of 2012 with the reputation as a goal scorer, and he certainly gave evidence of his qualities with a stunning left-footed effort, which, coincidentally, was supplied by Olivier Giroud and the other returning forward Theo Walcott.
It eases the pressure on Wenger going into the January window. Everyone knows this Arsenal team is not yet complete, though it’s also not to say it’s too far off. Can they win a trophy without a prolific centre-forward? It’s not impossible. Chelsea won the Europa League last season, as well as the Champions League and FA Cup the season before. And before any mention of Didier Drogba comes up, his numbers were clearly declining, as he tallied his lowest record of goals in a Chelsea shirt in his final season with the club. There’s also evidence in Europe of Juventus going through a season unbeaten without a prolific goal scorer. So yes, it can be done.
The problem Wenger faces is a matter of availability, in that none of the club’s likely top targets will be on the market in January. It would be unwise to buy for the sake of buying to simply appease the masses.
Loic Remy is a name that has been thrown out as a suggestion, but will the Frenchman fire a top Premier League side to the league title? According to reports on his loan spell from QPR, it is possible to pick him up from Newcastle this January, and he may well help to take Arsenal over the line this season. But what about the long term? If Remy was good enough to be a striker for one of those challenging for the title, one of the big teams would have picked him up while he was at Marseille. There will be a clamour again for Arsenal to go out and sign an elite forward in the summer, which could complicate the matter of having already signed a Remy-esque striker in January.
Arsenal do need reinforcements in the upcoming transfer window. A defender, either a centre-back or right-back, is a must. As well as that, and in spite of the team’s strength in midfield, another option, namely a direct player with pace and who can stretch the play, would be a welcome addition. Though Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s return shouldn’t be overlooked.
As for Arsenal’s current attack, which does feature four full internationals, there isn’t such an overwhelming need to spend (unnecessarily) if all four are fit and capable. Over Arsenal’s last four league games, Podolski, Giroud and Walcott have either scored or supplied for another; Nicklas Bendtner, too, would have had a goal had his effort at Manchester City not been wrongly ruled offside.
The issue is quality, not quantity. Arsenal are currently top of the Premier League and have a favourable home tie against Cardiff this midweek. Think of how effective the team’s attack would have been if Podolski and Walcott were not out injured for such lengthy spells. Podolski has been out since August.
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Both his and Walcott’s immediate impact upon their return has gifted Wenger some time to continue to work with what he has. For taking Arsenal to the summit of the Premier League on New Year’s Eve without two vital players, he deserves as much.