Depth. Strength or weakness?

[mintone]

I've been thinking. I know, Uh oh. But I'd like some thoughts and analysis from you all.
Our depth chart is very hard to determine. In a standard 442 i think it looks like this:

---------------Almunia-----------------
---------------Lehman-----------------
Sagna---Gallas-------Toure------Clichy
hoyte---Djourou--Senderos-----Traore

Hleb----Flamini-----Cesc------Rosicky
Eboue--Gilberto----Denilson---Diaby
______Song

-------RVP--------Adebayor
------Eduardo-----Bendtner
------Walcott

But that just doesn't do it justice with these players:
Eduardo
Walcott
Hleb
Eboue
Diaby
Flamini
Gilberto
Rosicky
Song
Sagna
Gallas

all being able to play more than one position.

We have plenty of talent and I would take our starting 11 to beat anybody when they are on their game but an injury to Clichy and Rosicky at the same time would open up our left flank to anyone who came calling.

I am satisfied with Senderos as our 3rd CB, but Djourou, Song and Gilberto are either out of position or not ready for the big time yet (or in Berts case fading).

Up front we are loaded. All five are talented enough to play for most top teams, if not ready to start yet.

In central midfield we can cope with several injuries at once and still be OK. Right wing is OK as well but on the left we have nothing after Rosicky.

At the moment Arsenal are 1 point clear at the top of the league and in the final 8 of the Champions league. That is a great achievement with all the injuries we have had.

Do the players we have, have enough left in the tank to win trophies this year? And do we have enough to dominate next year?

[Hyuuga Neji]

I think our depth is a little bit of a weakness on this team. Our second tier is lacking in several areas( ie wings, outside backs). With Rosicky and Van Persie, we have our share of glassmen. I think when Berto moves in the summer we should move for a experinced center back who is fine with coming off the bench (like Berto except with more speed and more consistency). Of course, Arsene will not purchase anyone, so its a lost cause.

[bostonf4lyf]

definitely a weakness imo. there is a large drop in quality between the first team and their backups

[Silva 5]

In some areas, it's just a matter of preference. I for one really like Diaby and how he plays, to me he's more than capable of playing on the wing for Arsenal. Eboue is one who often leaves us confused and baffled, but in my mind he's been getting better all season at the wing and though I would agree that we will more than likely never be a first choice winger at a top flight team, he just like Diaby is more than capable of being a back-up/rotation winger.

A thought just came to mind, it's been stated many times before by Wenger, that he feels Diaby's future is in the middle of the field...so come summer time, if Bert really does leave, don't expect any purchases in that position, but expect to see Diaby step into that role.

[TerpSoccerFan]

definitely a weakness imo. there is a large drop in quality between the first team and their backups

I agree...

But it is the known trade off. We have kids and players converted from other positions as our backups. When stuff goes awry we throw them in. Sometimes they work wonderfully, sometimes they fail miserably... But at the end of the day they don't present a consistent backup option or worthwhile competition for a starting spot.

[michaec]

I think we have decent depth, there aren't many squads who can match us, especially with the realtively small amount of money M. Wenger spends.

This Summer, it looks like Gilberto and Lehmann will definitely leave and Vela will be joining us after his loan spell in Spain. What then remains to be seen is if Wenger really belives that Diaby has a role in the centre of the midfield rather than wide as central midfield is his natural position. Hleb, Rosicky, Walcott, Eboue (ugh!) and Vela then become our wide midfield options (with Walcott being able to play up front also), Senderos, Djourou and Song (who's been way better for us in defence than midfield) cover the centre back area and Fabianski comes in as backup keeper.

So it looks something like this:

---------------Almunia-----------------
--------------Fabianski-----------------
Sagna---Gallas-------Toure------Clichy
hoyte---Djourou----Senderos-----Traore
----------------Song

Hleb----Flamini-----Cesc------Rosicky
Eboue---Diaby----Denilson------Vela

-------RVP--------Adebayor
------Eduardo-----Bendtner
-----------Walcott

Wenger has also said that Randall, Gibbs and Lansbury will be part of the first team squad next season, but as the glimpses of them have been few it remains to be seen what kind of impact they may make.

The area that really worries me is full-back. Traore looks a good prospect, but is nowhere near good enough to fill in for an extended period in the league should anything happen to Clichy. Same goes for Sagna, Hoyte and Eboue are both a major step down if anything were to happen to him. If we could get a top class keeper I'd be happy, I'd take Alumnia over Lehmann any day, but he's not what you'd call a world beater. The other imponderable at the moment is Eduardo. How long might he be out and will he come back as the player he was? We hope so, but if his recovery is going to take 12 months or more then the manager might have to look for a striker unless Walcott has a stellar end to the season.

At the end of the day, the manager and board keep on saying that they have money to spend. I'm not necessarily after some superstar signing, but the manager needs to look at his backup players, the likes of Eboue, Diaby, Bendtner, Fabianski, Traore, Hoyte etc. and ask himself if they're really good enough. If he thinks not, then maybe the answer is to go out and buy players that will (initially at least) come in as understudies to the current first team, but who are closer in quality to those established players. Evolution rather then revolution maybe?

[Val1]

Definitely a weakness. I'm happy to give Bendtner and Walcott time to grow, but van Persie has a glass jaw and I think we're all kidding ourselves if we think we'll see Eduardo before the 2009-2010 season. Wenger has stated that Walcott is not a winger, so that makes him a forward so I don't know what his long-term ceiling is.

Rosicky has a glass jaw as well, and even when he plays, I'm not sold on him and Hleb strikes me as more effective as the hole striker in the 4-5-1 than playing out wide in the 4-4-2, so we're left with Eboue and Diaby playing wide and I'm just sold on their development there.

What's made it easy for us so far is that Man Utd and Chelsea have had serious injuries too, worse than ours. Ferguson's got the same issues trying to sort out his midfielders of Carrick, Hargreaves, Anderson, Nani, Fletcher and Scholes. Chelsea has a new coach who has not impressed me and he can't seem to figure out how to get Anelka and Drogba on the pitch at the same time.

As far as the European powers, Kaka has looked decidedly ordinary this season, and he was a no-show for most of our 180 minutes with them. Real Madrid is weak, Barcelona hasn't strung together 4 good matches all season, so the time to win Europe is ripe, but it has more to do with the weakness still in the final 8 than in our depth. I think the next decade of dominance is still up for grabs.

[bigINTERNETTOUGHGUY]

It's both. Most other teams would kill for our depth, even relatively good teams (Man City, Villa, etc.), but when compared with the others in the big 3 (we can expand this to a big 4 if/when 'pool ever win another league title) we are sorely lacking. United and Chelsea have established stars waiting for playing time (look at Chelsea's options in midfield -- staggering), whereas we have youngsters who eventually might turn into stars.

We are particularly lacking depth on the wing. Our 3 primary back-ups are Walcott who Wenger sees as a striker, Diaby who Wenger sees at CM, and Eboue a converted rb. Not exactly inspiring, especially since Rosicky gets injured so often. I'd really like to see Wenger bring in 2 wingers this summer (Vela +1). Hopefully one of the replacements will eventually take over for Rosicky and let Rosicky come off the bench/get the odd game when spelling an injured/rested player.

We might need a new striker as well. With Eduardo out for at least half of next season and RVP's penchant to get injured, we're effectively left with Ade and 2 kids (Theo, St. Nick). Hardly inspiring when United has Saha as depth.

[The Jitty Slitter]

Compared to Whom?

Previous Squads
Maybe the most depth ever?

Chelsea
Less - as has been the case for around 5 years now

Man Utd
Somewhat less, but they have glaring holes at RB and no 9. Add to the equation that Giggs could well be done....

Liverpool
More depth.

[Silva 5]

Eboue is NOT a major step down from Sagna at right-back. Where do we come up with these things?

[NorthBank74]

I think we're thin and it's a definite weakness when you compete in 4 tournaments and have real desire in 2.

I wouldn't be too surprised if we eat ManU's dust as they blow past us in the final 10 games. From what I can tell they have better depth than us and have been able to field more competive teams after significant injuries.

That said depth isn't everything. Our leaner squad may have more spirit and comeraderie. But when you have injuries, fatigue, or just players going from stellar to poor, then having an experienced high-quality bench is key.

Depth is the main thing that I've faulted Wenger on over the last several years. And I've been criticized by many for doing so. He's an amazing manager but this seems to be his achilles heel... wanting to prove that less is more. You could call it overacheiving brinksmanship... may get us VERY close to silverware, only to have someone else snatch it at the end.

I HOPE I'M WRONG!

[brianodom]

i told people months ago we lack depth..i got crucified

[GOREVS3000]

i told people months ago we lack depth..i got crucified

Oh you probably missed the memo that we're all members of a great cult. :D

[jinog]

Fact is that this season, Hoyte, Traore, Gilberto and Bendter have proven they are way off the mark, and not yet ready for a first team place.

Some one above said that these players, Bendter especially would get into any top side?! Really?! I severly doubt that. Probably wouldnt play for any of the teams in the top half. Im tired of him and his attitude - get rid.

Hoyte's definitely not ready for the big games, and Traore, although he looks promising, is long, long off being a top player. Gilberto should be leaving, lets hope so. The only guarantee when he plays is that he'll lose the ball.

[thebigman]

thing is theres depth in certain positions but not in others

and in some of the positions of depth, the players arnt really very good

traore is poor, hoyte is poor but eboue is ok as a rb, poor as a rm..

senderos is average and djourou has been poor when hes played (for birmingham too)

no depth at lm, diaby is crap out wide

theo isnt adequate on the right yet so no good depth there

in the middle, denilson isnt great from what weve seen this year at either defending or creative play, silva is done! and diaby doesnt get a chance in the centre

up front has ALOT of depth, or did.....now we have a man made of glass who can be an incredible player, and 2 players of similair style in bendy and ade....with dudu out we look short here, unless theos getting a chance??

i think utd, and liverpool have similair problems, jitty mentioned the rb position at man u and liverpool have shit players in various areas

chelsea are pretty strong everywhere depth wise, but uncle fester isnt the best coach