What are YOUR expectations for this season? + Polls
Arsenal’s much anticipated Premier League campaign begins this Sunday with a trip to Anfield to face rivals Liverpool. The fixture is the perfect chance for fans to wet their appetites ahead of a long season for Arsene Wenger’s new-look outfit.
The Frenchman promised experience would top his summer shopping list, and he didn’t dissapoint. Arsenal beat a host of top clubs to sign Marouane Chamakh from Bordeaux, while exciting Lorient centre half Laurent Koscielny also signed on.
However, the Gunners are yet to replace William Gallas at the heart of the defence, meaning either rookie Johan Djourou or new-boy Koscielny face a baptism of fire.
Added to that, the worrying goalkeeping situation is still unresolved with Wenger refusing to purchase an adequate no.1 for the coming season, instead staying with the inconsistent Manuel Almunia in goal.
Gooner Talk want to know YOUR thoughts and expectations for the new season. You can vote in the polls below, while also letting us know your feelings in the comments section.
Polls
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Not too confident about Sunday given the players we have missing and the usual bad luck arsenal players have with injuries in the international breaks.
We’ll get into the Champions League anyway, but get a quality keeper and we’d win the title!! Not so sure if there’s a realistic target out there though…
we wil b lucky to get 4th with the current squad- wenger keeps saying wel win the league- it sounds foolish and noone believes r takes hm seriously- surly someone around the club must hav the cop on to know the anger that exists amngst the fanbase at the minute- if only wenger wasnt so stuborn he mite listen
Wenger will get another defender and if he doesn’t force Fabianski to start I don’t see much of a problem for us.
Same ol’ Arsenal, same ol’ problem. Players missing before season starts, signs of what to look forward to.
Wenger has seriously destroyed the fans expectations for this season… I seriously cant blame cesc for wanting out.
After the barce game, he said we needed to invest and get some decent players in… i knew it would only be 2-3 players, But as long as wenger is our manager i will refuse to watch pay to watch arsenal, as we know our money goes in to Wengers back pocket.
where song? injured or having a rest?
Gooner P that is a bit harsh, it’s not in his back pocket. I think what blows me away more than anything is that he leaves it so late to get in the quality we need. He could have gotten Chamakh when we desperately needed a striker last year and who knows where we would have finished. I think AW is a penny wise and a pound foolish.
What Delusional 31 fans voted we’d be coming first with this current backline honestly shows how absolutely sold that some Arsenal fans are on the sputum that comes out of Arsene Wengers mouth.
Now with a decent keeper and 1 or 2 Quality (sorry I’ve watched every pre season game and Laurent Koscielny is not quality he’s a back up at best) defenders we might be in with a chance, that being said our attack look immaculate and could easily unlock any defense in the world in my opinion.
Is arshavin playing on sunday? If he plays I am sure arsenal wil win 🙂
koscielny experienced,i don’t think so,that is a joke of a signing,as for chamakh this guy will be a waste,we will get steam rolled on sunday,we can’t defend,weak midfield and the goal keepers are sh*t,we will get hammered.I really hope this is wengers last season at the club,he’s to stubborn to make us win things again…..
@ba ba ba ba ba i’m lovin it: Song’s been training all of this week. He could start, but is more likely to make the bench.
It’s just frustrating to know that we just need that little bit of extra quality and experience and Arsene just ignores it at all times. We need a quality central defender, a defensive midfield cover for Song and quite significantly a new goalkeeper who is commanding and consistent. If he just reinforced the squad with 3 more quality signings I have no doubts we would give Man U and Chelsea nightmares. But I guess we’ll see. A Frustrated but Faithful Gunner 4 Life…
@Nicgooner: He should be fit enough. Again, starting the game might come to soon for him.
not that we had a phenomenal defence in the first place, but i do worry that our central defence will be really weak this year. it has been totally gutted, and it now really really looks quite soft to me. right now we’ve got one performer and two question marks. we could really do with just one more performer. hangelaand you know you want to come!
were only 2 signings away from winning the league and i think everyone knows that. A defender and a goalkeeper will get us the league. I’m sure Wenger will buy a defender, however I’m not so sure he will buy a goalkeeper. i also dont think he will buy a proven defender to start next to TV, maybe as a sub. I think we will finish in top 3 even though we might not buy the players needed.
If wenger does not fill in the gaps that need filling we will finish lower then last yr. FACT!
If he does bring in atleast 2-3 players then i could see us challenging for everything & maybe even wining something.
Goal keeper (id be happy with mark schwazer for this season)
CB Sedar tasci or Per mertsacker (both would be ideal)
DM mascherano
These 3-4 players & were well equiped.. Otherwise its same’ol same’ol.
Given and a decent centre-half and we’d win the league.
We need a keeper, Given, schwarzer etc. Vincent Kompany, he is quality in two of our problem areas CB and DM so he adds flexability and depth and Philippe Mexes. All experienced, affordable and quality
If no gkis bought and a strong cb to replce Gqllas nothing will happen trophywise.
Hopefully Wenger will use Frimpong ahead of Denilson for defensive cover!!
No Wenger has not kept his promises at all. Only Koscielny comes in while Gallas, Sol, Senderos, and Silvestre all leave. That makes us weaker than last year in back, and that’s before injuries take their toll. Our defense has been neglected again.
article in the sun showed the reasons why o’neill quit villa and one of them that fridal wants to join fulham and today also in the sun that shwarzer wants to join us. is this mean we could get shwarzer in the end ???
We’ll be champion this season..in fact we’ll do a double..may even get the league cup .. as for CL may be into semi final .. you’ll see..
Looks like Wenger is still trying to bring Scharwzer over if recent reports are to be reliable and i hope it will happen in the next 2 days before the liverpool match opener.
1) He is experienced and will be match fit
2) A keeper will not need to spend alot of time integrating with the squad compared to an outfield people.
3) It will be ridiculous to start Almunia or Fabianski(why is his name even here?) this sunday and sign Scharwzer afterwards and suddenly have a new number 1.
4) Wenger knows that the keeping issue is more important(worse) than the CB situation. CB we can always fall back to Norhdveit.
On a last note, if Wenger can get someone like Saphic or Mexes who have an abundance of experience then we really do have a near perfect squad. Forget Micah Richards, Cahill, Tasci, Zapata, they are expensive and aren’t really seasoned players. But for me the priority is a keeper, Almunia have the skills but no mental strength. Fabianski should not be a professional player.
We definitely need a good goalie and a central defender, but given the option of choosing one or the other I would go for a goalie and definitely get rid of Almunia who has lost us more points in a season plus he hasn’t done to well in the games he’s played during friendlies, and if Fabianski thinks he is going to be No.1 he’s got to be joking. He might be okay for Poland but not in the premier league or champions league for that matter. No we need a good strong goalie who can show his metal in big games and come out on top.
none with this squad..still gonna watch the games though
We can only hope that Liverpool trash us seriously on sunday, than even wenger sees that we need: a goaly, two defenders + defensive coaching and a defensive midfielder for Song. Also we need new coaches all over to avoid injuries all the F…… time. I mean Song, diaby, Cesc, V.Persie, Denilson, Bendtner are all out before the season start, and with our luck we can add nasri, chamach, vermalen, wilshere to that list as well. It looks bad guys, we had a better team last season, we lost Gallas which is a blow, and we got no-one to take his place. I think we`ll get anything from 4th-6th ålace this year.
Give that Arsenal don’t have any world class defenders or a goalie will mean that they will let in a huge amount of goals. Vermaelen is good, but not among the best, Koscielny has shown in pre-season that he most likely will turn out as a huge flop signing, with him running aroung like a headless chicken all around the defence, never actually producing any challanges or covering any runs. Djourou is “too cool”, meaning that he makes mistakes in the defence when clearing the ball or passing at the back. Also his marking and positioning are not at the top. It has to be said that Clichy and Sagna are aslo quite inconsisten in defence. All in all, all Arsenals defenders are inconsistent and mistake ridden. When it comes to midfield, the most consistent performer has to be Cesc, at least last season. Everyone loves Song, but he is slow and doesn’t get around to track back or tackler as often as winners of EPL should. When it comes to attacking, the team has the nessessary firepower, though they seem to lack a bit on the mental side, seen how they sometimes miss opportunities and go a whole game without creating anything at all. But to be at the top, gunners need a lively midfielder like Essien, who has eternal stamina and like to be stuck in a challange, as well as storming forward. And someone like Makalele in his prime time, tackles everything and seems to be everywhere. A top goalie wouldn’t hurt either.
Dreamsignings would be: Mexes, Zapata, Akinfeev, De Rossi, Sissoko
The reason we didn’t win any trophies was because of defense. Look at our defense last year, and look at it now. It’s gotten worse, and the keeper situation is just as bad. That’s not good at all. We are going to have to rely on our attack far too much, but I’m hoping every gooner steps up and plays hard because if they do we can challenge anyone for the title. It’s not always about who you have, it’s about how they play. Have some faith!
@ Ole, that is one of the most morbidly pessimistic reads ever. Your comment says it all really – you are actually wanting the team to lose to prove youself right… not the kind of support this club needs thank you very much.
its funny that every season , ‘fans’ predict us to go down like watford, yet we always come close to the title…only loosing it when we bottle it or when injury strikes us and own goal strikes for united…….do u know wat fans do? THEY SUPPORT THEIR TEAM!!!!!!
There is nothing wrong with our attack but last season our defence cost us dearly and we have got significantly worse. With a weakened defence we can only finish lower. My guess right now is 6th, but if we buy 2 of the 3 players we need we should finish comfortably in the top 4. Only if we buy all three and they are good signings do we stand a chance of winning the league.
I think Arsene too confident with his squad to doing better than last season but actually we don’t expect too much from Arsene co’s the squad not stronger enouch expecially in team concistancy and mentality. One more time, we definitely have to strengthen the team by signings top class player not chicken. We need someone powerful and quicly centre back and keeper.Arsene said that he will be bring some new player in good quality …we need something happen but in fact nothing happened.
@Adam: Sorry you don`t understand, I would love to be wrong, if arsenal win the league, you can rub it so badly in my face and I would love it! And i will not rub it in yours if I am correct because that is just sad. What fans say on this site, means fu** all. But i will be at the emirates against blackpool, and if you can heare anyone singing for the team it will probably be me!! My point is like gazzap, our defence was bad, now its even worse, unless we get mertesacker, who realy is the only one i want + at least Scwarzer in goal, we can get in trouble.
im expecting the top 5 to be united, chelski, city, arsenal, liverpool, and then spuds for relegation! haha… Schwarzer is still pretty mistake prone but hes still an improvement on what we’ve got.. how depressing is that. at least he can speak good english and commands well, plus hes pretty good at coming for corners etc. Wenger HAS to be looking to get in a CB asap.. i thought he said he’d have it all done by the emirates cup? or at least by the start of the season.. ffs.. hes actually getting stingier.. AMAZING!
@Dan supergunner, 100% Agreed!
2 signings (Keeper and CB) = top 3
1 signing CB = top 5
Theres no way he will not sign a CB, but I have my doubts regarding a keeper. If we go into this season with the current keepers then we may end up out of the top 4. I respect Arsene and we wouldn’t be where we are without him, but if he fails to invest in a new keeper then I wouldn’t mind seeing him go at the end of the season. Enough is enough, it has been a problem since Jens left and every gooner knew Almunia wasn’t good enough even before he got done at his near post twice in the CL final in 2006!
If we sign a keeper + CB we have a chance to win the league, thats how close we are, but we have been two signings short for 5 years now.
Schwarzer, Jagielka, Kompany and Hazard would cost us about 35 million, and I’m sure we’d win it if he had these players.
With the current squad I’m expecting us to be somewhere around the fifth place, certainly behind United, Chelsea and City
its a hard one to call.
our defence is proberly the worst in the top half of the premier league… FACT
our manager refuses to by the players we need and that are avalible in our price range
our squad is not as good as those around us (spurs, man ure, chelski, man citeh)
Some of our best players are injuryprone (clichy, diaby, van persie)
Most of our players are bottle jobs, hence our defeats to man ure and chelski home and away
we have no leader to rally the troops when the chips are down
the only way we are better than other teams is our superior playing style(but this can leave us vunerable to a counter attack)
our coach has no tactics, he thought we could out play barcalona. this also means we can not hold onto a score line if we do not have percession
without any more transfers. i predict we will;
finish fourth via goal differance
get to the fith round of the FA cup
lose in the quater final of the european cup
lose as soon as the kids have to play away in the league cup
outside top 5 if we dont sign anyone else. Wenger out!!!
Arsenal have a strong team already and I think replacing Eduardo with Chamakh was a good move but the defence needs a bit more strengthening if they are really going to challenge for the title. Defence hasn’t got enough depth for my liking, I think if either Koscielny or Vermaelen get injured our next defender in line Djourou might not be good enough to replace them. But still think they have enough about them to do better than last season the way things stand I think they are better than Chelsea, who haven’t strengthened at all and in fact have a weaker squad this year than they did last year.
I’d expect us to win a trophy. I think this will be the best season Arsenal will have had in 4 years but we’ll see what happens. I dont want to say something will happen and be wrong obviously but the F.A Cup is a realistic target, I just wish wenger would pick a competition and go for it. Instead of using 1st team players for BPL and UEFA and then 2nd team fellas for the rest
I know thats what he should do but we’d do far more better if we focused on one trophy instead of going for everything
no new keeper=absolutely no chance of a title win.. no chance.
young guns are saying that nordtveit is staying as was only told he would be if we didnt get another cb in, GREAT so we have vermaelen, crock djourou, rookie kos, and complete rookie nordtveit as the 4 cb’s… its hard to be optimistic about this season.. fabianski in goal and those lot as cb’s..
where is the money who was promised to us spent? Private apparment for Wenker and GAzidis??? Fukk we can forget it before it started. Thx you french kunt!!!
ugh. doom and gloom proclamations abound. i think we will win a trophy this year and if wenger buys a good defensive cb it very well could be the premier league.
Wenger should all alone take the blame for arsenal woes.Again he has refuse to strenghten the team where needed.What a pity….his time should be over if arsenal remain trophyless at the this season
I hope Wenger will take over the French national team coach. Then Arsenal will have a chance of success.
I think we are in a bad state, we are just 2 more signings away from success. But are we worst than Chelsea. They have an ageing squad, their forwards and no real defence either.
I think Wenger will do a lastminute.com on the 31st August. He will get a CB and a GK. If he also sells Almunina that would renew my confidence in him.
we will do better this year. if we finish 3rd or 2nd ill be a happy gooner. As long as we keep improving! Keep the faith
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoNbEgOi3-A&feature=player_embedded it s funny and is sad the same time
Our natural trend (5 last seasons) is 3rd…if we can improve that, we will be out of our natural performance (and finally we would give a step forward). If we will finish below 3rd, it means that we made a very bad job.
Unfortunately, and compared with the powerhouses of ManU & Chel$ki, we are weak one more time….our inexperienced team needs another kind of signings, not only “future” talents (Chamakh/Koscielny), we need current football talents, players from German/Holland/Italian sides that have demonstrated all their talent recently….
Why do we have to hear the same statements every season? we are financially solid, more than any EPL team, and our board refuse to sign experienced players…as last season we need 4 players at least, a goalkeeper, a CB, a DM ans a striker.
2 players are not enough let alone one! we will fail miserably if we only sign a gk & 1 centre half.
How can we stick with almunia and fabianski… So f***ing depressed. That video alone just shows we are f***ed with them in goal
just look at what we achieved previous season and imagine we have had a keeper and good striker available whole season. Probably Barca would have beaten us but not as easy as they did but in the league we would get at least 10 points more, maybe more. Back-up for Song also needed, i mean a guy who does better job than Denilson following Rooney at the Emirates
The only trophy that Arsenal is gonna win this season is the Emirates cup. I frankly believe that we will conduct no more transfers this season. He will say, the current team is enough and he believes in this squad. The one thing i am genuinely scared about is that we might drop out of the top4. and that i fear is going to happen. No defender, no gk, this is the team, period.