So far Arsenal have just the addition of young French under 20 international striker Yaya Sanogo to their name in terms of incoming players this summer. We are desperate for some more additions however as the club continues to struggle to answer our pleas because of being outbid, slow or inflated prices, or whatever other excuses Wenger can think of, we are quite simply starting to get very concerned that with the Premier League season being under 3 weeks away that we won’t be ready in time.

At this current moment we are no better than last year and it looks set to be a battle for 3rd and 4th place alongside the usual suspects of Spurs, Chelsea and even possibly Liverpool and Everton. It’s not going to be easy, especially as all of our rivals have been strengthening, but has it ever crossed your mind that technically we are worse than last year?

Arsenal have let a whole host of players go this summer, some of which will make little to absolutely no difference to the squad, but also some that had a chance of being a fringe player that could have stepped in when we needed them. We let a load of youth and reserve players go this summer, 14 if I am correct and this included the likes of Sanchez Watt and Craig Eastmond who were never going to make it, so these players haven’t really changed anything in the squad, except free up some small wages and some possibly squad places, depending on their age.

We have also released Arshavin, Denilson and Squillaci. All three never really had a chance of playing for Arsenal again, although I know a lot of people still liked Arshavin. I certainly did and felt he was an option if we needed him, however on £75k per week he wasn’t worth it. So these players too haven’t made a difference to our squad.

But now we come onto some players who have actually made our overall team weaker by leaving. Santos, Mannone, Djourou and Coquelin have all left this summer. The first two have left on a permanent deal and I felt Mannone especially was a disappointment to leave. I felt Don Vito could have provided cover for Szczesny, especially as I thought Fabianski was on his way out. But it is with Djourou and Coquelin that I am particularly disappointed about losing. At the moment we have just two fit centre backs and even then Koscielny is on alert with a possible injury problem. Although Djourou wasn’t the best defender he would have provided admirable cover in situations like this. Coquelin too could have actually got a lot of games this season, as Arteta becomes older and so probably will lose a lot of his stamina and fitness.

With all these exits and possibly still 4 players to go in Gervinho, Bendtner, Chamakh and Park, it technically makes our squad worse than last season. Not because of the players that have left because the majority never played, but we are worse in the sense that our backup players have been reduced and so if a mass injury list does occur we are basically screwed at the moment. Wenger has got a hell of a lot of spending to do in this last remaining month, not just to strengthen the first team but also the backup squad players, unless he plans on promoting half of the reserves squad, which in itself isn’t something I wouldn’t be overly surprised by.

12 thoughts on “Have Arsenal actually got weaker this summer?

  1. The title of this blog made me ‘wek’. I hope its contents aren’t as misleading as the title.

  2. How the hell do you know if arsenal are weaker than last year, are you at training everyday, you lot have very short memories, a couple of weeks ago we was stronger because we have not sold anyone. Go and support another team as I bored of everyone moaning, do you honestly think you know best, what players to sign, formation, players diets, training it’s stupid. We could spend 200 million and still finish forth, I am telling you right now we will get of to a flyer next season the team has gelled and things will start to happen, and I also think wenger will strengthen in jan when the market is not so inflated and we will be top and wenger won’t have any pressure in the market as we won’t seem desperate. Have faith, I for the last eight years have looked at what’s gone on and thought we have no chance but this year I fill confident I think keeping players is just as good as signing one, just look at how many players have improved for us. I have a feeling you fans will eat your words and wenger will be smug. You heard the faith here first. If you don’t have faith there is another team in north London your welcome to support who don’t play in champions league who play at a stadium that is overrun with rats and who would love to be where we are at the moment.

  3. You are a bit of a joke, the modern day arsenal fan. Have you stopped to actually look at the quality of fringe players that went on the Asia tour ?. Arshavin aside, these players more than make up for all those who have left. Alll I read from you is moaning about the club. Everybody can see we need players so I would be amazed if those paid to buy players don’t know this. Give them a break, we have a month to go

  4. surely to be weaker than last year we have to lose players that actually played last season, I am not talking a few mins as a sub or playing in the domestic cups and CL dead rubbers. I am talking important CL matches and premier league as a starter. so lets look at the players that have left or are leaving

    squillaci, 0 epl starts, 0 Important CL starts
    denilson, 0, 0
    arshavin 0, 0
    djourou 0, 0
    park 0, 0
    bendtner 0, 0
    chamakh 0, 0
    santos 3, 3
    coquelin 3, 2
    mannone 9, 4
    gervinho 12, 3

    so of the 11, only 4 actually started important matches last season. santos made all his apps before he was replaced by monreal. I am certain that frimpong and yennaris can cover coquelins 5 starts. whilst mannone only got in because both our keepers were injured, Martinez is more than capable of being 3rd choice. as for gervinho, he made half of his appearances as a winger and the other half as girouds back up, I believe that ryo, gnabry and sanogo are more than capable of making 15 starts between them and capable of scoring 7 goals.

    we used 23 starters in the league last season, 3 of those started 3 or 4 matches and 3 more started 6 or less, even if you take out the deadwood that hasn’t left the first team squad contains 22 players. that doesn’t include the likes of Martinez, miquel, gnabry, yennaris, zelalem who look certain to make the step up. all the players are a year more experienced and have gelled, apart from sanogo.

    so are we weaker?…….I don’t think so

  5. As of 31 July:
    ManU – weaker, lost SAF = – 10 points. No real strengthening in their squad either. Zaha coming in but… At best #3
    Manc – stronger than last season. Balotelli didn’t really contribute but Tevez did. However, losing Tevez is offset by the likes of Fernandinho, Jovetic, Navas and Negredo. Currently my favourite for 2nd again.
    Chelsea – way stronger. Mourinho +10 points. I’m really impressed by Lukaku and fear he’ll haunt us just like Drogba did for so many years. I also believe Schürrle will be a good signing.
    Arsenal, a little stronger. I disagree that we are in fact weaker as I’m looking forward watching some of the younger players picking up the glove from e.g. Squillaci; Eisfeld, Gnabry, Miyachi, Miquel. We can expect Wilshere to have a good season, Ramsey played really well in the latter stages last season and AOC will likely improve on a relatively poor 2012/13. However, I’m disappointed Coquelin is farmed out as he is for me, the perfect squad player as he can play well in a number of positions. He should have always been a sub. Currently I expect Arsenal to fight it out with ManU for 3rd with us coming out on top.
    What about Spurs, Everton and Liverpool? If Spurs keep Bale, they’ll likely force themselves up to 3rd, just ahead of ManU. Paulinho is an excellent signing and will inject much needed skills to their midfield. Liverpool, if the lose Suarez, they’re scramble to be in the top half. Everton, around 7-10. Sunderland is a dark horse that may surprise the PL.
    IF Arsenal do get Suarez, or someone of that level, we will be up there with Chelsea and ManC. Suarez got my vote as the best player last season (the season as a whole). He is a match winning player. Bale played excellent in Dec, Jan and Feb but was more anonymous the remaining months.
    Let’s just hope that Arsenal sign 1-3 world class players, someone who will push someone from last year’s starting XI out. The alleged 70m transfer kit doesn’t sound so impressive if Spurs have already signed 2 players for a combined £24m and are (reportedly) set to complete another £25m signing… In addition, £50m for Suarez kind of negates the ability to sign another one except Cesc who I would welcome. Those two without losing any more players would be a dream come through, quality wise. Suarez personality…?

  6. You have forgotten to factor in the exciting young players that were in Asia for Pre-season. I think they are more than enough to make up for the dead woods that have left. Besides, let us wait till the widow closes before we make conclusions.

  7. I believe those saying Arsenal has got weaker are the frustrated ones because the club has not yet bought anyone. You can’t get weaker by keeping all your good players who were 4th in the league last season. One point to note about last season is that some of those players had not known each other well nor had some of them, e.g. Giroud, Podolski, Cazorla and Monreal, got used to EPL. This is a different case now. More importantly, however, is the fact that all the deadwood have been shown the exit door. Hence the players left are the quality ones and the promising youngsters. With just a few quality additions our team will be strong contenders for the EPL title. Whereas pre-season may not exactly determine the direction a team will take in the coming season it seems like a premonition of things to come. The season when Arsenal performed very badly in preseason and lost the Emirates cup is the very season when we lost 8-2 to Man U and was forced into a last minute mad rush to buy players! However two of these players namely Per Mertesacker and Mikel Arteta have turned out to be our best players. So to answer the question is our team better or worse than last season I wish to contend that it is much better because the players now know each other well and have confidence due to the solid performance at the end of last season. Their preseason Asia tour has further added onto this confidence.

  8. i dont really thnk we’ve grown weak,i have a feeling proffesor wanted ths guyz out to create space for incoming ones whch we yet to see.

  9. I love the more positive attitude of the comments from BC, T2T and Mohamed. On many blogs you see the comments are negative but it’s nice to see positive arsenal fans for a change.

  10. Whilst agreeing we are not weaker, our strengths and boldened by one more thing, Wenger! Now this man may be stubborn, slow, whtever.. etc BUT is a damn good COACH. I expect the team having gelled and learnt from this genuius for a season to be much much improved overall, even those saying wenger out know that Wenger with quality players could be the best coach on the planet, all the top teams have changed coaches, The League Mourinho is coming back to is not the same as he left, teams like Swansea, Everton, Fulham, Newcastle.. can beat anyone on their day… could yet be a very interesting Season

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