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Illusion The art of deluding: deception by creating illusory ideas.It was the penultimate day of the transfer window, after beating local rivals Tottenham, sporting a smile that resembled Mr Burns from The Simpsons, Arsene Wenger alerted Arsenal fans, that they may be in for a surprise on transfer deadline day. In Arsenals trophy le s seasons, Wenger has to an extent garnered the identity of a master illusionist. For my next trick I give you Mesut Ozil! In what was the biggest incoming transfer to the Premier League, Wenger obliterated Arsenals previous transfer record, of 17.5 million in 2004 for Jose Antonio Reyes from Sevilla, by purchasing the attacking midfielder for 42.4 million from Real Madrid. But has Wengers surprise camouflaged the fact that Arsenal still need more to go to the next level? Is he indeed an illusionist?First of all, lets get this clear signing Ozil was definitely a statement of intent. Any team would strengthen by adding Ozil, he is a top quality footballer. Since moving to Real Madrid in the 2010/11 season, he is level with Lionel Me si with 47 a sists, the most in any of Europes top leagues (Source: Opta). Me si is the best player in the world, so this speaks volumes. No one is denying Ozils talent, but after the debut season that Santi Cazorla had from a creativity standpoint, surely Marc Gasol Jersey I wasnt the only one partially surprised that Wenger made Ozil the main target after the controversial pursuit of Luis Suarez. Wengers late attempt to lure Demba Ba, on loan from Chelsea means Wenger wanted another body up front. They didnt get him, so with Lukas Podolski out injured, any more casualties and Arsenal will be sufficiently lacking up top. Ozil had been bought though, so Wenger erased supporters memories of the pursuit of Ba, a deal which would have happened had Chelsea dropped the 3 million fee they were asking for the loan. Illusion?When the seemingly endle s pending transfer of Ozil finally went through the excitement Arsenal fans had must have felt unbelievable, probably a little like winning a trophyhopefully now with Ozil they will start experiencing that again. Their already emphatic frustration had somehow grown at re-signing Mathieu Flamini on a free transfer in the previous week, so things werent going to get any worse were they? Not Montrezl Harrell Jersey saying Flamini doesnt have qualities they need, but in terms of spending money, they were far from pleased. Signing Ozil appeases fans, the fact the deal came so late meant that it was just as much relief as it was satisfactory for the fans. Thinking your manager has let you down, and then he pulls out Ozil, wow, now thats special!What Arsenal hope will not be a potential stumbling block in Ozil taking the Premiership by storm is Ozil very rarely played 90 minutes at Real Madrid. Though he was clearly efficient in the time he actually spent on the pitch, with La Liga being played at a slower tempo than the Premiership, Arsenal will hope he can settle quite rapidly and not get overwhelmed by the Leagues physicality.Whether Wenger could have also added a defender to his anaemic squad can be argued. Arsenal have though slowly become tougher as a unit. In the last two seasons, their football has not been as crisp or fluid as it used to be, but they have still been able to reach that holy grail of Champions League qualification. Without the goals of Robin Van Persie, last seasons exploits stand out, Arsenal showed maturity and actually scored only two le s goals (72), than the 74 they scored in the 2011/12 season. They ground out results in a fashion we had rarely a sociated with them. Wins away against Sunderland, West Brom, Fulham and Newcastle showed a resolve they formerly lacked.Now, Wenger is a great manager, but at the last AGM saying that finishing 4th in the League is Gail Goodrich Jersey like winning a trophy, can only run for so long. A vast amount of Arsenal fans wanted either for Wenger to spend more money or they want Silverware. Wenger now after purchasing Mesut Ozil cannot be told he does not spend. The fans that accuse him of not making an attempt to bridge the gap can not be as vocal because though its only on one player, he has splashed out.Since the cla s of 2005, countle s transfer windows have pa sed when fans were under the illusion that the money was there to make a difference, then the window closes and Arsenal do not seem to have done anything spectacular. The stroke of genius by Wenger here is that it reinstated his pulling power. After not sorting deals for the aforementioned Suarez, and the likes of Wayne Rooney, Gonzalo Higuain and Luiz Gustavo, one wondered whether Arsenal could get someone special on board. Wenger has changed the idea of what fans see as succe s, Liverpool for instance, almost went into administration a few seasons ago, so therefore as Arsenal have had a good busine s model, the revenue that comes with Champions League qualification can easily be pinpointed when referring to how imperative it is to be in the competition. Though its firmly important to be financially stable for obvious reasons, no one made this the forefront of an argument or debate about football, until it was referred to by Wenger or anyone a sociated with the red half of North London. Notice how we heard this more and more once the trophies stopped rolling in.Now in an extreme worst case scenario, if Arsenal were not to qualify for the Champions League, Wenger can alert the supporters to the fact that money was spent and therefore the other teams were stronger. This po sible circumstance would also let Kobe Bryant Jersey followers know how great a job he has done, having the most productive net spend of any team in the League and still making the Gunners qualify for Europes elite competition every complete season he has had since being there. In May of this year, Arsenal had a net spend of -15.27 million over the last 10 seasons, the lowest in the Premiership, Wilt Chamberlain Jersey (Source: 1nildown2oneup.net). To question Wengers ability to achieve what he has on that budget shows greatne s, it also gives him a reference point if anyone questions him should Arsenal not qualify for the Champions League. One season cannot outweigh 17 years surely?Arsenal though I feel need to pre s on and need to strengthen at the back and add a striker at least. So in January Wenger needs to go again, because he has now set a precedent and the teams around Arsenal have all strengthened. Wenger also is not in a positon to speak of how young his team is, as he has in the past, because of the age of the players he has bought in: in the last few seasons like Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker, Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud, Nacho Monreal and of course Cazorla. Yes they beat Spurs, but they have a great record against them anyway. The tougher challenges lie ahead and injuries could mean Arsenals season is done by March if they are not careful, regardle s of the impact of Ozil. So we await Wengers next trick in January. If things dont work, then we will definitely find out if Wenger is indeed an illusionist.Daniel Dwamena@DubulDee |
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Опубликовано 2024-5-8 06:10:31
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