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Well the window has SLAMMED SHUT(now that the extension has closed) and despite many of us being on suicide watch last night, we have conducted a fair amount of business. Most notably being the second consecutive summer marquee signing.
Is this the future - one marquee signing every summer with a selection of support acts?
The summer started really well for once. We did most of our business early and signed 3 really good players. However, it just feels more could have been done. I am content with Welbeck had he been in addition to a strong defensive player.
I echo that.
In goal I think we are weaker in the short term but stronger in the medium to long term with the loss of Flappy and the gain of Ospina.
In midfield, we have more options (going forward), but are there too many options and will we get the chemistry right? If we do, what happens to those left out?
Up front - we have improved marginally from the end of last season, but significantly from where we were yesterday. Anything that keeps Sanogo out (assuming that actually is Wenger's plan) has to be wonderful.
But in defence, we are significantly weaker as there is no cover to speak of and there will be little in the way of support from the midfield which is alarming given the plethora of high profile midfielders at the club.
We really need a better strategy for addressing areas of need at this Club.
It is the same old problems with Wenger again and again. Sure he loves the club and we'll miss him when he leaves but it is this sort of mismanagement of the squad, season on season, that makes us look as if we are content with scraping top four and maybe a cup.
There is one spot open now for the top four and I'm really not sure we'll take it. We keep 'getting by' yet at some point it'll bite us on our arse. With our history of injuries, a worrying lack of goals and a thin defence Wenger has managed to turn huge optimism off the back of winning the cup into the usual mixture of doubt and concern looking ahead.
Once again we've taken a punt on a young player to make a success of a role he hasn't been proven in. Just like we are with Walcott and Alexis upfront, Chambers at the back. Meanwhile we have one of the best attacking mid's in the world playing out wide and a ropey left back as cover for CB. I'm really not sure what Wenger expects from this squad, I really don't.
The defence is a serious worry and I knew the club had no back up plan when selling Verm. An injury to Kos or Merts leaves us in serious trouble. I don't know what Wenger is thinking.
Welbeck is far from first choice and can't believe we actually spent that much money on him. He's far from prolific so we're gambling. At least it keeps Sanogo out of the team. But what if Wenger starts playing Welbeck on the flanks with Sanogo still starting? I doubt Danny would agree to moving here if not given a chance but you never know with Wenger.
It was a promising start to the window but I don't think we have enough there. Sanchez was a very good buy but I have no idea how influential he'll be in this sort of squad. We've got the same problems when it comes to creating goals. Also, with Welbeck in, what does that mean for Sanchez playing up front?
Central midfield still isn't good enough and we need someone to really step their game up. We needed a DM for the defensive side. On the creative, let's hope Welbeck up front changes the shape of the way we play.
Overall, it's a decent window and it's obvious we have money to spend but it still feels like we have an unbalanced squad and haven't really addressed the key issues. Cover for defence. A strong DM. A world class striker.
Happy with the signings we did make, although I won't lie and say Welbeck was my preferred choice as striker, but he's a new option none the less.
Very disappointed we've left ourselves short at the back though, I don't understand the logic there. It's guaranteed to bite us in the arse.
Also disappointed we didn't get an upgrade in centre midfield. I fear that will be our undoing against the better sides again.
Good signings, and we have the quantity of players in centre mid (if not the quality).
But the prospect of Chambers and Monreal as 3rd and 4th choice centre backs is really quite frightening. Chambers looks a great prospect but needs to be given time.
I actually don't think we are any weaker in defense compared to last season. We virtually went the whole of last season with 3 CBs with Sagna as our third choice, since Vermaelen was always injured. Mertesacker and Koscielny generally have decent injury records and while I'm not going to say that Chambers is better than Vermaelen, he is much smarter positionally and already looks like he can hold his own. He's still learning and has mistakes in him but so did Vermaelen, and strangely I feel much more assured in our defense with Chambers in it than I ever did with Tommy.
I'm not saying we have enough depth there, which we clearly don't, but we have no less than we did last season.
Is it 6 or 7 defenders at the club? We'll see Monreal play a major role and Flamini slot in at the back on many occasions over the coming season. That's not good. Keeping Kos healthy is going to be the main priority, like keeping Giroud healthy last year was key. Not sure why we take such gambles. Can it really have been so hard to find a bit of defensive cover over the last few months?
Alexis a great signing. Chambers even better over the long term and I think we'll end up paying £10mill less than Utd for the better player. Debuchy looks at least as good as Sagna. Ospina, nobody knows yet. Keeping Santi was a plus, looks like he's slowly recovering a bit of form.
Welbeck, like anyone we could have signed, falls into the "better than Sanogo" category. It's all unknown from there, maybe he'll make a difference, maybe he won't. We've had players like this before and got nothing from them. Have to hope it's different this time.
£60mill odd spent, I think we've done okay all in all given how ludicrous the market has become. Now it's up to Wenger to prove he can find a way to arrange this lot in an effective way.
We aren't winning the title. Another couple of big signings next summer and maybe. But we are still short in key areas. We have enough to get 4th place again, maybe 3rd.
I wouldn't group all defenders together
In terms of numbers we have enough fullbacks, although we need to get a decent LB that can stay fit. We only have 3 CBs though so we need one more.