Arsene Wenger was heavily criticized for his club’s dismal performance against Manchester United.
Fans and former players alike were unsympathetic towards Wenger on his handling of the club after the transfers of Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas to both Manchester City and Barcelona respectively. Both players left the club for greener pastures. leaving Arsenal sufficiently exposed in the middle.
Defensive frailties that led to the humiliating 8-2 defeat at the hands of rivals Manchester United would only make the situation more difficult to Wenger. So he finally did what many had been hoping he’d do: he went out and bought in some talent.
Not world class talent, but overall good talent. He managed to fill the void with a flurry of deadline swoops for Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker, Yossi Benayoun and Andre Santos on Wednesday.These players follow South Korean striker Park Chu-young who was signed from AS Monaco on Tuesday. Quite the flurry indeed.
However, one must ask the questions: can these all together add up? Would Arsenal be able to somehow replicate the qualities of the departed players with this new batch of talent? Can Arsenal still compete at a high level in the Premiership and Champions League?
Those are questions that Arsene Wenger will have to answer in the next several months of this new season. He has managed to sign in five quality players, but questions of Wenger’s competency will still arise during the season.
He has not won a trophy in six seasons, which in this torrid age of football isn’t good enough. He will surely hope that the new players along with the current crop gel quickly in hopes of stopping the losing tide. Only time will tell.