Wenger's squad dilema

Spurs bound: Vertonghen

Following the signing of Lukas Podolski from Cologne and the seemingly imminent arrival of another striker, Olivier Giroud from Montpelier, many football pundits believe that Arsene Wenger should now focus on strengthening the defensive aspect of his squad.  While this is admittedly an area in which the Gunners have struggled in recent seasons, Wenger will find it difficult to persuade a top quality centre half to move to the Emirates this summer; mainly due to the widely held belief that Vermaelen and Koscielny are Arsenal’s first choice defensive pairing. With Per Mertesacker ready to fill in should either become unavailable, it will be a tough task for Wenger to convince any potential new defensive signing that they will enjoy ample first team opportunities. A clear example of this has already been seen during this summer’s pursuit of Ajax defender Jan Vertonghen. The Belgian has stated several times that his preferred destination would be White Hart Lane, even though this will result in him swapping Champions League football with the Dutch champions for Europa League football with North London’s second best team. In this instance Tottenham have a clear advantage over the Gunners as with Ledley King likely to retire, Michael Dawson suffering from injury and William Gallas enduring a torrid end to the season,  places in their central defence are not set in stone and so they can effectively guarantee Vertonghen a starting place. Therefore if Wenger does sell Squillaci and Djourou over the summer, he will have to either promote a centre half from within the squad, such as Kyle Bartley, or sign a less experienced, unheralded defender.

Signing an experienced goalkeeper should also be a priority for Wenger, as Wojciech Szczesny currently does not have anyone at the club to seriously challenge him for the number one jersey. Manuel Almunia has been released, following the culmination of his contract, Vito Mannone is seeking a permanent move to Hull City after a successful loan spell with the Championship club and Lukas Fabianski is also seeking a move away from North London having grown frustrated at his constant selection on the bench. The sheer presence of an experienced, quality goalkeeper would effectively force Szczesny to fight for his place in the team and consequently lead to a significant improvement in his development and performances, as towards the end of the season the Polish goalkeeper seemed to become slightly complacent and his consistency clearly waned as a result.

Strangely, the most deficient area of Arsenal’s squad is not in the defence or the goalkeeping position, but rather the midfield. While Wenger has an abundance of central midfield options, the Gunners do not possess enough players capable of playing on the wings. Over recent seasons the manager has often opted to select creative central midfielders in these wide positions rather than out and out wingers. While this does not bring the best out these central players (it is no surprise that Rosicky came to the fore once he was moved into the middle of the park) the major negative aspect of this tactic is that Arsenal’s forward play tends to become narrower, as the likes of Arshavin and Rosicky will naturally drift inside, making the Gunners’ attack more predictable and easier to read and defend against. Conversely, with natural wingers deployed in these positions, the pitch automatically becomes wider while the threat of pace also causes the opposition’s defence to sit slightly deeper, creating more space for the midfield to create opportunities.

Theo Walcott, Gervinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ryo Miyaichi are the players from the current squad who seem to fit the bill as potential wingers. Yet while Walcott has the pace to race past any defender, he rarely exploits his most potent weapon and his final ball is often of poor quality. The Englishman also does not see himself as a wide player and has expressed his desire to be utilised as a central striker on several occasions, while his future is also uncertain with Arsenal yet to open contract negotiations with the player entering the final year of his contract. Gervinho is the Gunners’ most direct player, his skilful and speedy forward runs brought a new dimension to the Arsenal attack, however in similar fashion to Walcott, his decisions in the final third are often appalling. It is this aspect of his game which the Ivory Coast international must work on in his second season in the Premier League. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain possesses fantastic pace, skill and strength. Added to these qualities the young Englishman also seems to hold no fear, however many feel that his best position will be in the centre of the midfield and in fact he performed brilliantly there in the home leg of Arsenal’s Champions League tie against AC Milan. Ryo Miyaichi also proved his great potential while on loan at Bolton this season and at Feyenoord last term, however he is still very much a raw talent and it is rumoured that he will be sent out on loan once again this coming season.

The signing of Podolski has provided Wenger with another option for the wide position, as he is deployed on the left of a front three by Germany manager Joachim Loew. While several pundits have been quick to criticise Podolski for his apparent lack of influence on the two games he has played so far at Euro 2012, his performance in the recent win against Holland was particularly impressive; showcasing the defensive side of his game as he worked extremely hard to track back and nullify the threat of Arjen Robben, something which Arshavin has never done in an Arsenal shirt.

With the return of Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby and Emmanuel Frimpong from their respective injuries, Wenger will have an abundance of central midfield options. We can only hope that he will not choose to push some of these players out wide, as was experimented with, with Aaron Ramsey at times last season. I understand that this tactic can provide the team with more defensive stability when the opposition have the ball, but it ultimately inhibits our own attack. Wenger must surely address this issue in the summer transfer window and sign at least one out and out winger.