Yes, the transfer window was Arsenal’s best for as long as I can remember, I’d even go as far as calling it exceptional but talk of a top-four finish and a ‘rejuvenation’ are slightly premature at this point.
Arsenal certainly posses an exciting attacking threat going forward and the team looks incredibly pleasing to the eye. Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Wilshere, Aubameyang and Lacazette in the same line up is enough to get fans salivating and breaking out in a rash but let’s not get carried away.
Despite what is widely regarded by many as a great transfer window, the North London club still didn’t add a defensive midfielder of genuine quality and at least one solid centre back.
Arsenal have been lacking a defensive spine for years and the personnel Wenger has purchased simply don’t work as a unit. On any given day one of the four may shine with Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny or Monreal receiving praise for individual performances but rarely are they credited together.
The Emirates club will always score goals, especially now with the talent at their disposal but they may have to win games 5-4 or 7-6 because of frailty at the back. One suspects that the recruitment process is only half complete and that in summer Wenger will promote from his existing ranks or buy some established and influential players to shore up the defence.
N’Zonzi would have been a decent purchase and could yet still happen later this year but if you are looking for defenders, it may be an idea to ‘go Italian’ due to the fact that their game is the most defensive in the World.
I don’t want to appear to be a ‘Debbie Downer’, we should enjoy the moment. At least we didn’t have to endure a Kim Källström moment this year. Kim who? Exactly. He was purchased whilst injured, hardly got a kick and then went on to sell hamburgers outside a football ground in Sweden.
If you needed more evidence of how Arsenal’s dealings have improved, might I remind you of a few names such as Stefan Malz, Sebastien Squillaci, Igors Stepanovs and Oleg Luzhny, all of which were forgettable, if not forgivable?
At least this transfer window has the genuine ‘wow’ factor and gets the blood racing around the veins but we should be a little more cautious. The new players have to settle in and adjust to the style and pace of Arsenal’s game.
Mkhitaryan will be astonished with his newly found creative freedom, away from Mourinho’s restrictive clutches. One suspects that Aubameyang will have no such transitional problems. If these Two find their feet and combine as they did at Dortmund, anything is possible.
But it’s the back that Arsenal look vulnerable, not just on occasion but with every thrusting attack. Chaos ensues and the back line disintegrates like a stick of chalk in a glass of water. We may not have the solutions in defence but the attack looks incredible, it’s all so predictable and oh so Arsenal.
