My Wish List for Arsene Wenger

I don’t know about you, but I’m still buzzing after our 5-3 win against Chelsea yesterday. With the exception of Stoke v Newcastle tomorrow, after the rest of the weekend’s fixtures we find ourselves 7th in the league, sitting on 16 points. That’s three points off third place, even though Newcastle and Sp*rs currently have a game in hand. And even though we’ve taken a battering from most neutrals and voices of the media, we have the same number of points now that we gained from equivalent fixtures last season (thanks to @MickTheGooner for that stat).

Even though we’re on pretty good form right now, I’m sure most Gooners will still admit to being concerned with several areas of our squad.  We’re not the complete package yet, but there are things we can do to improve. Well, things that Arsene Wenger can do. Here’s a short wish list of what I think are the most important things he can do in the short-term future:

1) Defensive Coach

Yep, we’re still all over the place at the back. Three out of four of our arguably first choice back line were absent at Stamford Bridge, yet the four that started all had well over 100 international caps between them. So they should have been solid right? Well they weren’t. And it wasn’t because any of them are bad players.

There’s just something not quite happening with our defence. Per Mertesacker and Andre Santos are new signings, still adapting to the increased intensity and pace of the English game. Carl Jenkinson is young, and has been thrown into the deep end much earlier than Wenger would have liked. Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen and Kieran Gibbs have all had injury problems, as has Laurent Koscielny. Johan Djourou is spending more time playing out of position at right back, than his favoured central spot.

So that gives you a kind of idea as to why we might be struggling at the back. But even when we have first choice defenders playing, there’s still the same sense of unease and fear. And we are often subject to criminal like performances at the back. What can we do to correct this?

For months and months, the suggestion of bringing in a defensive coach has been circulating pretty much everywhere in Gooner talk. It’s such a simple solution too. It’s not really going to damage our wage structure, it wouldn’t affect squad harmony (I’ll explain below) and it would deeply satisfy the fans that have been desperate for this to happen, as I say, for ages.

Why not bring in someone like Martin Keown? Nigel Winterburn? I’m sure Wenger could even tempt Tony Adams back to England for a specialist role at the club. These guys are Arsenal legends (hence the not affecting squad harmony), would command the respect of every single defender at the club, and provide exceptional experience and advice to cement the gaps so often exploited at the back.

Wenger’s usual reply to this suggestion is that he, and his staff, has the necessary experience to train the defence. Very true, and no one would suggest they are unfit in the roles they have. But we need some fresh blood in our coaching ranks – something that hasn’t happened for too long. Someone to give new ideas, and hopefully spark something, anything that can sure up the defensive ranks.

Worst-case scenario, someone new comes in, nothing changes and it proves Wenger was right all the long and we don’t question his coaching decisions again. Best-case scenario, someone new comes in, and our defence becomes tighter and stronger and we concede less goals. So it’s win-win for Wenger, isn’t it?

For something that would be such little hassle, but could solve so much, I have no idea why it hasn’t happened yet. My only hope is that it will. And fast.

2) Transfer Activity

Everyone loves pointing out that having £50m in the bank won’t keep clean sheets, or score us goals. Wenger built his strongest teams on the same policy he still uses today, but the difference is that our rivals didn’t have the financial muscle they possess today. Man City and Chelsea, bankrolled by money that’s come from means I probably don’t want to know, Man United and Liverpool, funded by wealthy Americans, and Sp*rs, financed by ‘Arry’s brainwashing techniques on Daniel Levy, have all spent big in the transfer window in recent years.

Since 2003, these sides have all had net spends in excess of £100m in the transfer market. Ours is a profit of £5m. I’m proud of our financially policy, we do it the way it’s supposed to be done. But the rules have been re-written since Wenger’s last great team. Everyone is spending except us. Yeah, we’ll always be up there or there abouts. But if we want to be challenging for major honours every year (which we do) then we need to alter our policy, and use the money we’ve generated through our prudent approach.

I’m not talking crazy spending. But there’s £50m in the bank for this season, so why not make use of it?

For the first time in a long while, I’m very happy with our GK situation. No need to spend there. Defensively, we have a set of very good players as I mentioned previously, and when they are all fit there’s plenty to choose from. Maybe another addition for added cover? I’ve seen us linked to Ajax and Belgium international Jan Vertonghen, a typical Wenger-like signing who can play at CB, LB or even fill in in midfield. Reports say he would cost around £8-10m? OK, we’re down to £40m.

Midfield is solid. New signing Mikel Arteta has done a good job in filling a huge hole left by the Fabregas and Nasri departures. Aaron Ramsey has improved incredibly and Alex Song is as solid as ever. If you count in Jack Wilshere coming back from injury, as well as Tomas Rosicky and Yossi Benayoun, and then throw in youngsters Emmanuel Frimpong and Francis Coquelin, that’s a good set of players to fill three spots. If there’s money to spend though, someone like Xherdan Shaqiri (a popular recommendation from several Arsenal fans) would be a promising addition, for a cost probably less than £15m. He’s young, already experienced in Europe and Internationally, and another Wenger type buy. Let’s say £15m actual cost? Great, £25m left to spend on attack.

I think our attack is, on paper, the weakest area of the squad. This is assuming everyone is fully fit (before you say “what about our defence?”). Obviously, Robin van Persie is a world class striker. One of the best out there in fact. Gervinho is a new signing still finding his feet, but becoming more and more consistent each week. Theo Walcott was exceptional against Chelsea, but he lacks consistency and his decision-making is usually awful. Andrei Arshavin is lovable, yet not really performing as a starter. Marouane Chamakh is just really off his game. No doubting his talent, but he just hasn’t even got close to finding it in the past year. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has huge potential as a RW, and is pushing Walcott very hard for a spot. Park Chu-Young is also adapting, but showed what he’s capable of in the Carling Cup and will hopefully get a chance in the Premier League too.

My problem with the attack is there’s only one out and out goal scorer. I don’t need to say who. RVP will surely go on to get 30+ goals this season assuming he stays fit (maybe even 40). But what if he doesn’t stay fit? Who will score our goals? I honestly don’t think any of the others will get more than 15 goals individually this season. This could be a big, big problem. I’m not saying we’re a “one-man” team. God no. But there’s one man who will score the majority of our goals. We need to sign someone who can support that by chipping in with some of their own. To take the pressure off RVP, and also mean we aren’t royally screwed if he gets injured (which isn’t impossible to image).

I don’t have anyone in mind as particular that I do for defence and midfield. But with £25m left in the bank, there would be several quality players we could bring in. We wouldn’t even have to spend the whole lot. But I’m looking for someone who can stay in the box, and get a foot on all those chances we create and there’s no one ever there. You know the ones I mean. Hey, it could be that Park is that player. Or Chamakh finds his form somehow. I don’t know. But it’s something we desperately need. A Ruud van Nistelrooy type player. An Alan Shearer. A proper Striker, which in turn could free up RVP to play more of the Dennis Bergkamp role, which the great man himself suggested RVP was destined to do.

3) RVP's Contract

This is an easy one. Just give him a blank piece of paper, and ask him to write on it the amount he wants to be paid. He’s not a greedy player, so it won’t be a colossal £200k+ wage we see the likes of Rooney and Torres pick up.

We need to keep him, quite simply. Pay him what he wants, tie him up till he’s well into his 30s, and let’s turn him into the Arsenal legend that Fabregas could have been. The one that Thierry Henry, Ian Wright, Cliff Bastin and co are. It’s very possible, IF he signs the dotted line to extend his years.

Wenger has the resources at his disposal to make all of what I’ve discussed possible. Whether or not he does anything about it is a different matter. I live in hope that at least one of them will have happened by the end of the calendar year. Is that too optimistic? Possibly. But we Gooners don’t ask for too much from our great manager. We were spoilt to a fantastic score line yesterday, let’s hope he spoils us to more joy in the future, both on and off the pitch.