What squad players will come through this season?

[mixmastermatt]

The thread does exactly what it says on the tin. I am thinking more in the terms of defenders. Up front I am sure we will se more of Aliadiere and Walcott and also Bendtner and possibly Lupoli during the season. In midfield we will saldy see plent of Song and Hopefully Diaby when he comes back. At the back though I am not to sure. We have Toure, Cygan, Senderos, Djourou in the middle but I fear that won't be enough. Will we see Matt Connolly play there at all? He seems really talented. What about John O'Ceaurill? At full back we have Lauren, Eboue, Clichy, Flamini, Hoyte and a small possibilty of Cole. Are these enough defenders?

[Stag133]

Not enough TALENT or depth.

We could use another PROVEN Center Back (or its Cygan again)...
We could use another PROVEN Central Midfielder... if Gilberto gets hurt again, we are screwed... no steel in the middle still.

But thats been the story the last few years. Wenger refuses to spend the money... that we allegedly have... on proven talent. We get triallists instead. Not good enough... not to win the league or even compete for it.

As it stands, its Chelsea easily, AGAIN.
I think we'll be fighting for 3rd / 4th... if we are lucky and don't sustain any injuries to key players.
If key players go down for any period of time.... we're watching the CL next season.

This is based on our CURRENT TEAM... who knows, we might add some players before the season starts, Cole is a big ??? and Reyes could go too?

[Rick B]

Oh boy, you can tell we're near to the beginning of the season. Koziscul or whatever makes a comeback and we're already having posters saying we don't have enough talent or depth. Can I just remind people that we got to Paris? Since then who have we lost?

Cole - Didn't play for half the season because he was injured, we didn't have any real problems with Clichy or Flamini as cover. We now have Hoyte back who is looking good at left back and is a quick player

Campbell - Didn't play for a good part of the season due to injury and breakdown v West Ham. Was pretty dreadful in his last season. Senderos and Toure struck up a great partnership and now we have Djourou coming through who showed in the World Cup he is good enough to play at the top. So thats no loss there either.

Bergkamp - Well in all honesty aside from the sentimentality, he didn't do an awful lot in his last season. He didn't travel to Europe, he got tired after 60 minutes and we needed to replace him. We did and can with Van Persie, Hleb and Rosicky

Pires - Without a doubt our biggest loss. He was a free scoring midfielder that provided and passed to perfection. BUT we have Rosicky in who can do just as well and is only 25

Coming in

Rosicky - Showed in the World Cup that he is a great attacking midfielder. If anyone was to replace Pires, he would of been in my top 3 players. Hs skill, can keep the ball and can score great goals (as he did v USA in Gelsenkirchen)

Walcott - Yes we say now, as I said all last season he wasn't going to play and why. He is a great talent and will start getting games. Won't play the whole season, but his pace and shot will give us great options in attack

Connolly - Yes I keep going on about him - there is a reason - he is the best natural centre back we've had at the club since Tony Adams. He looks sharp, fit and strong at the back. When Senderos and Connolly were on together against Mattesburg we looked very very strong. And before you say "Who is Mattesburg?" they are top of the Austrian League, playing in the UEFA Cup and have beaten top European sides.....

Song - Im not sure why people knock him. I hate saying this, I really do - but the majority of people I see knocking the guy are people who haven't seen him play. I'll be arrogant for a minute, Ive seen him in more first team games than most. In fact only 15 or so have seen the same number. The games last year in Austria, this year in Austria and the competitive games last season. He is more or less EXACTLY the same as Gilberto. He tackles, does the easy pass and gets back into position. Yet when he tries to do something fancy it sometimes doesn't come off. We had the same argument here 3 years ago with Edu v Gilberto and we soon realised that Gilberto's clearing up and simple passing was invaluble. Song's is too. He is only young and will improve, but most of the people I was with in Austria see him as the long term replacement for Gilberto.

When we have Diaby back fit we will have a midfield of:

Cesc, Flamini, Gilberto, Diaby, Song, Hleb, Rosicky, Reyes, Ljungberg. If you don't think with that midfield we have enough talent.......my god.

Defense: Toure, Senderos, Djourou, Cygan, Hoyte, Clichy, Lauren, Eboue, Connolly is more than enough to be challenging fo the Champions League places.

If anyone thinks anyone other than Chelsea can win the league they are quite frankly dreaming. They have just added two of the best players in the World to a squad which has won the Premiership twice. We can't compete financially and we can't compete on the pitch. Live with it. But we can compete in a few years with all the youngsters we have. We will finish 2nd this season. We have a much stronger squad than Liverpool or Man U and have the ability to go far in the Champions League (unfortunatly we got the hardest qualifying team so we could well go out at the first stage as w don't have a full squad back yet) But we are certainly not the doom and gloom that some people seem to think we are.

[evanpemsocr]

Oh boy, you can tell we're near to the beginning of the season. Koziscul or whatever makes a comeback and we're already having posters saying we don't have enough talent or depth. Can I just remind people that we got to Paris? Since then who have we lost?

Cole - Didn't play for half the season because he was injured, we didn't have any real problems with Clichy or Flamini as cover. We now have Hoyte back who is looking good at left back and is a quick player

Campbell - Didn't play for a good part of the season due to injury and breakdown v West Ham. Was pretty dreadful in his last season. Senderos and Toure struck up a great partnership and now we have Djourou coming through who showed in the World Cup he is good enough to play at the top. So thats no loss there either.

Bergkamp - Well in all honesty aside from the sentimentality, he didn't do an awful lot in his last season. He didn't travel to Europe, he got tired after 60 minutes and we needed to replace him. We did and can with Van Persie, Hleb and Rosicky

Pires - Without a doubt our biggest loss. He was a free scoring midfielder that provided and passed to perfection. BUT we have Rosicky in who can do just as well and is only 25

Coming in

Rosicky - Showed in the World Cup that he is a great attacking midfielder. If anyone was to replace Pires, he would of been in my top 3 players. Hs skill, can keep the ball and can score great goals (as he did v USA in Gelsenkirchen)

Walcott - Yes we say now, as I said all last season he wasn't going to play and why. He is a great talent and will start getting games. Won't play the whole season, but his pace and shot will give us great options in attack

Connolly - Yes I keep going on about him - there is a reason - he is the best natural centre back we've had at the club since Tony Adams. He looks sharp, fit and strong at the back. When Senderos and Connolly were on together against Mattesburg we looked very very strong. And before you say "Who is Mattesburg?" they are top of the Austrian League, playing in the UEFA Cup and have beaten top European sides.....

Song - Im not sure why people knock him. I hate saying this, I really do - but the majority of people I see knocking the guy are people who haven't seen him play. I'll be arrogant for a minute, Ive seen him in more first team games than most. In fact only 15 or so have seen the same number. The games last year in Austria, this year in Austria and the competitive games last season. He is more or less EXACTLY the same as Gilberto. He tackles, does the easy pass and gets back into position. Yet when he tries to do something fancy it sometimes doesn't come off. We had the same argument here 3 years ago with Edu v Gilberto and we soon realised that Gilberto's clearing up and simple passing was invaluble. Song's is too. He is only young and will improve, but most of the people I was with in Austria see him as the long term replacement for Gilberto.

When we have Diaby back fit we will have a midfield of:

Cesc, Flamini, Gilberto, Diaby, Song, Hleb, Rosicky, Reyes, Ljungberg. If you don't think with that midfield we have enough talent.......my god.

Defense: Toure, Senderos, Djourou, Cygan, Hoyte, Clichy, Lauren, Eboue, Connolly is more than enough to be challenging fo the Champions League places.

If anyone thinks anyone other than Chelsea can win the league they are quite frankly dreaming. They have just added two of the best players in the World to a squad which has won the Premiership twice. We can't compete financially and we can't compete on the pitch. Live with it. But we can compete in a few years with all the youngsters we have. We will finish 2nd this season. We have a much stronger squad than Liverpool or Man U and have the ability to go far in the Champions League (unfortunatly we got the hardest qualifying team so we could well go out at the first stage as w don't have a full squad back yet) But we are certainly not the doom and gloom that some people seem to think we are.


I agree,we cant be doom and gloom before the season starts. We have a who le bunch of young talent. I also dont know why Song gets knocked so much on here. I have never seen him play in person, but I think he is promising and he is still quite young. I think that we will have a lot more depth at Forward than last year, with Henry having to be our main and sometimes only threat. We have a Van Persie coming off a great World Cup, an Adebayor coming off his first EPL season and I expect him to score goals this year. We also have Alideire who imo will contribute a few goals. Walcott who can also contribute some goals. Plus to mention all of our midfielders who can contribute to goals. I think we will be fine this year and see us as second in the league. I think we will win the FA cup though.

[GoonerMan]

i think the answer to the question is that no one will know untill august 31st. who will get a chance to shine next season depends on who, if anyone, the boss brings in. if we dont bring any new faces in i expect we will see more of song, walcott, bendtner, djourou and maybe even connelly. i do hope we see 1 or 2 new faces, i feel we are relying too much on inexperienced players. and by inexperienced i dont mean 'not good enough'. please make the distinction

[rojagooner]

Armand Traore looks very very promising at LB. Being only 16 he obviously has a lot to learn but he has impressed me so far. Think we may see him called up?

[Rick B]

i think the answer to the question is that no one will know untill august 31st. who will get a chance to shine next season depends on who, if anyone, the boss brings in. if we dont bring any new faces in i expect we will see more of song, walcott, bendtner, djourou and maybe even connelly. i do hope we see 1 or 2 new faces, i feel we are relying too much on inexperienced players. and by inexperienced i dont mean 'not good enough'. please make the distinction

How do you change an inexperienced player to a experienced one? I'd suggest not by keeping him in the reserves..........

[GoonerMan]

i see what your saying. but too often last season, we suffered due to the balance of experienced and in-experienced players. i really feel that we need 1 or 2 proven quality players to put into the team just to shore us up a bit. im not doubting the quality of our youngsters, not at all, but i just feel that relying to much on them is a bad thing. if we have a few injuries again next season we will end up having more players in the team with none, or next to nothing premiership experience under their belt. granted, we may not have any cash to spend, but im pretty sure there is something there. our board arent stupid, they wouldnt have it that we only have 7million to spend every summer and if we sell cole for 20million plus i fully expect to see 1 or 2 quality signings. dont get me wrong i am not panicking, even if we dont sign anyone. id just be alot more comfortable if we did.

[InTheSun]

Armand Traore looks very very promising at LB. Being only 16 he obviously has a lot to learn but he has impressed me so far. Think we may see him called up? I rate him well so far also. Especially for a 16 year old. I'm sure he won't come through this season but perhaps we may see a lot more of him in the next 2-3 yrs. Rick what's your opinion of him?

[Rick B]

i see what your saying. but too often last season, we suffered due to the balance of experienced and in-experienced players. i really feel that we need 1 or 2 proven quality players to put into the team just to shore us up a bit. im not doubting the quality of our youngsters, not at all, but i just feel that relying to much on them is a bad thing. if we have a few injuries again next season we will end up having more players in the team with none, or next to nothing premiership experience under their belt. granted, we may not have any cash to spend, but im pretty sure there is something there. our board arent stupid, they wouldnt have it that we only have 7million to spend every summer and if we sell cole for 20million plus i fully expect to see 1 or 2 quality signings. dont get me wrong i am not panicking, even if we dont sign anyone. id just be alot more comfortable if we did.

But if we field a team of

Lehmann

Eboue - Toure - Senderos - Hoyte/Clichy

Ljungberg - Gilberto - Cesc - Hleb

Henry - Adeybayor

Subs: Almunia, Van Persie, Rosicky, Cygan, Djourou

Where is the inexperience?

[Rick B]

I rate him well so far also. Especially for a 16 year old. I'm sure he won't come through this season but perhaps we may see a lot more of him in the next 2-3 yrs. Rick what's your opinion of him?

To be honest he's the playr along with Mark Randell I have seen the least. He is looking good from what ive seen and apparantly he looked good in training. He'll be at best 4th choice left back though. I doubt he'll get any first team playing time this season. I agree depending on his progress he will come through within a few years. He may play 2nd half tomorrow so hopefully I'll be able to say more after that........

[GoonerMan]

But if we field a team of

Lehmann

Eboue - Toure - Senderos - Hoyte/Clichy

Ljungberg - Gilberto - Cesc - Hleb

Henry - Adeybayor

Subs: Almunia, Van Persie, Rosicky, Cygan, Djourou

Where is the inexperience?

theres a decent balance of experience in that team, in my opinion. but chances are we will lose each of those players at different points in the season and mist prob lose 3 or 4 of them at same time and possibly more. say, we lose henry, gilberto, ljungberg senderos and eboue at the same time with injury or suspension. look at the team then.

lehmann
hoyte - djourou - Toure - clichy

hleb - cesc - song - reyes/rosicky

adebayor - van persie.

subs: almunia, connoly/cygan, traore rosicky/reyes, walcott/bendtner

our team then look pretty thin. look at our defence. very weak. not lacking in quality but seriously lacking in experience. song is on the field which i still have a question mark over his quality. van persie and adebayor arent exactly prolific. and then the bench. connolly or cygan, ones not good enough and the other hasnt ever played a premiership game. traore still only 16/17 and has never played in the premiership. walcott or bendtner both of these hasnt played in the premiership, at least ,i dont recall bendtner getting a game yet. and its a high possibility we will have 5 or 6 players injured or suspended at most times during the season

[GoonerMan]

looking at the defence, its not seriously lacking in experience but its lacking a bit in proven quality. hoyte is decent, djourou isnt proven in the premiership and clichy isnt at his best by no means, just yet.

[Cannon]

Rick, I'm with the overall point (no need for the doom and gloom) you made but disagree about some of the details.Cole - Didn't play for half the season because he was injured, we didn't have any real problems with Clichy or Flamini as cover. We now have Hoyte back who is looking good at left back and is a quick player"We didn't have any real problems" last season? :eek: News to me. I seem to remember having massive problems all season long with that position. When we sell Cole, we'll be in almost the same position we were in last season with the current squad. That is not good.

Clichy for all of his talent picks up long term injuries every year. He's injured already and I bet there isn't a chance he won't get more significant injuries if he is the starter. Flamini's a decent purely defensive backup but I still don't see him having the traits we need. Playing him as a LB seriously limits the tactics available to Wenger and makes our attack much to predictable. The only improvement at LB over last season (assuming Cole is gone) is the return of Hoyte who had some good games last season as a Lb (he also had some very poor games too) and the emergence of Traore. I still think we could use a versatile player who can cover the LB spot plus either dmid or CB.

I think you're right that the loss of Sol isn't huge but it does mean that we'll likely see more Cygan which is always a negative. I'll be surprised if we use Toure and Djourou as the starting pair for the first Prem game. Based on last season, I'd say Wenger saw Djourou as Toure's backup and Cygan (with Sol gone) as Senderos's backup. I also don't see Wenger putting Connolly ahead of Cygan at this point. Maybe midseason but not early even with Senderos injured.

Song - Im not sure why people knock him. I hate saying this, I really do - but the majority of people I see knocking the guy are people who haven't seen him play. I'll be arrogant for a minute, Ive seen him in more first team games than most. In fact only 15 or so have seen the same number. The games last year in Austria, this year in Austria and the competitive games last season. He is more or less EXACTLY the same as Gilberto. He tackles, does the easy pass and gets back into position. Yet when he tries to do something fancy it sometimes doesn't come off. We had the same argument here 3 years ago with Edu v Gilberto and we soon realised that Gilberto's clearing up and simple passing was invaluble. Song's is too. He is only young and will improve, but most of the people I was with in Austria see him as the long term replacement for Gilberto. Song may be the long term replacement but if gilberto goes down in week one would you really want him in the team? He is not "exactly the same as Gilberto" since Gilberto can complete simple square passes. I'm not looking for "something fancy" as you said but I'd like him to have at least the minimum passing skills to operate in the middle of our team. He doesn't at this point. I've seen every Song match available on television and ATVO and while I like his workrate and fight to win the ball Song makes Gilberto's passing seem Bergkamp-esque. :D

[sizal9]

is eboue one of your starting defenders?

[Rick B]

theres a decent balance of experience in that team, in my opinion. but chances are we will lose each of those players at different points in the season and mist prob lose 3 or 4 of them at same time and possibly more. say, we lose henry, gilberto, ljungberg senderos and eboue at the same time with injury or suspension. look at the team then.

lehmann
hoyte - djourou - Toure - clichy

hleb - cesc - song - reyes/rosicky

adebayor - van persie.

subs: almunia, connoly/cygan, traore rosicky/reyes, walcott/bendtner

our team then look pretty thin. look at our defence. very weak. not lacking in quality but seriously lacking in experience. song is on the field which i still have a question mark over his quality. van persie and adebayor arent exactly prolific. and then the bench. connolly or cygan, ones not good enough and the other hasnt ever played a premiership game. traore still only 16/17 and has never played in the premiership. walcott or bendtner both of these hasnt played in the premiership, at least ,i dont recall bendtner getting a game yet. and its a high possibility we will have 5 or 6 players injured or suspended at most times during the season


Ok - just for arguments sake in case we get THAT unlucky, you are still forgetting Diaby and Lauren.

Which would make our team be:

Lehmann
Lauren - djourou - Toure - clichy

hleb - cesc - Diaby - reyes/rosicky

adebayor - van persie.

subs: almunia, cygan, rosicky/reyes, walcott, Hoyte

Cygan is good enough to be a back up centre back - (look at his record) and it's not a high possibility. We've only had 5 or 6 players out at once maybe 2 or 3 times in the past six years.........

[GoonerMan]

well with lauren still injured at the moment and diaby also out, i dont think we can rely on them. besides, diaby isnt the experienced player im looking for in the middle of the park. whilst i like to see him get some games i dont think hes ready for the regular action just yet. as i said before im not doubting the quality of our youngsters and by no means am i panicking, id just like to see some investment in our problem areas

[Cannon]

Cygan is good enough to be a back up centre back - (look at his record) and it's not a high possibility. We've only had 5 or 6 players out at once maybe 2 or 3 times in the past six years.........
We had 13 players out at one point last season between injuries,bans,cup of nations...just saying.

[Cannon]

is eboue one of your starting defenders?
At this point, yes. I can't see Wenger giving Lauren back his spot when he returns from injury and Hoyte doesn't offer as much going forward.

[Rick B]

We had 13 players out at one point last season between injuries,bans,cup of nations...just saying.

Yeah but not all of them first teamers. I was referring to what we would refer to as first 11.