Player Needs
To understand however, what Arsenal needs in terms of players in this transfer window, we only have to look at the squad of players according to position. Midfield: Santi Carzola, Lukas Podolski, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gervinho, Aaron Ramsey, Francis Coquelin, Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky, Mikel Arteta, Abou Diaby, Emmanuel Frimpong, Andrey Arshavin Wenger is thinking that Mikel Arteta, Abou Diaby, or Francis Coquelin (if neccessay, Jack Wilshere or Emmanuel Frimpong) can play the defensive midfield role and so he is not worried about getting a defensive midfielder to replace the loss of Alex Song. On the attacking side though, he is depending on Santi Carzola, Tomas Rosicky, and Aaron Ramsey to carry the creative load until October when Jack Wilshere comes back from injury. Carzola has shown that he can play this role with the best in the world. Rosicky did a great job last year, and if that form continues, he will give ample support to Carzola. It is with Ramsey that the concern lies. He has been struggling since the second half of last season and Arsenal could struggle if they have to depend on him due to injuries. If Carzola and Rosicky stay healthy, however, and Jack Wilshere comes back and also stays healthy, this is a moot point and will allow Ramsey to come up to speed at a more realistic pace. But this is the premiere league and injuries will happen. Still, given the fact that this level of creative midfielders are not just sitting around idle, and that if they are available, they are expensive; I can see why Arsenal and Arsene Wenger are willing to gamble with the current group of creative attacking midfielders. At center forward, Wenger has Olivier Giroud, Marouane Chamakh and Ju-Young Park. The fact that both Chamakh and Park were left out of the side for the Stoke game tells you that Wenger is thinking of using Podolski or Walcott at center forward if Giroud is not available. His lack of confidence in Chamakh and Park last season and the first two games of this season could mean that Wenger would like to buy a back up striker of a quality and price just below the current pair of Podolski and Giroud or if he got a deal on one of equal ability. The odds are that he will not buy a center forward. In central defense, with Koscielny, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Squillaci, and Djourou, there is enough cover for a reasonable season of injuries, but if there are injuries to two or more of the first three in the list (like last season), Arsenal could be in trouble, as the bottom of this group has not shown consistent performances when they had their chances. With this many players though, Wenger will think that this is a reasonable risk and will not bring in another center back, unless one of this group is sold. Given the Arsenal way of doing things, Wenger would buy a young prospect or promote someone like Miguel Ignasi from within the club. At fullback, Arsenal has Sagna and Jenkinson on the right and Santos and Gibbs on the left. Sagna is world class and Jenkinson has potential to be. Right now, however, Jenkinson gives an advantage to the top teams in both the premier and Champions leagues. This is a possible place that Wenger needs a more experienced player. On the left side, both Santos and Gibbs have positive qualities that will serve Arsenal well. What is needed though is one player with both sets of qualities. It is believed that Gibbs will eventually be that player with experience and Wenger is choosing to give him that experience. It is a reasonable gamble.
For goalkeepers, Arsenal have the young pairing of Wojciech Szczesny and Lukasz Fabianski as their number one and two respectively. Vito Mannone, who played against Stoke, is the third string goalkeeper. Of the lot, only Szczesny has been consistently good enough for the rigors of the Premier league. If he is injured too many times during the season, Arsenal could suffer for it. An experienced back up keeper would help to allay these fears. Wenger, however, has maintained that he is happy with the goalkeeping situation, so look to see this group going for the full season.