Wenger Needs to Propel with Purchases

For his first title, Arsene Wenger used a slew of shrewd signings to push Arsenal to victory. He had inherited a solid defensive base, and needed to add the right ingredients, which he did. So Patrick Vieira, Marc Overmars, Emmanuel Petit and Nicolas Anelka all arrived (amongst other) to complement the legendary back 5, and Dennis Bergkamp. In May 1998, Arsenal were Champions.

Some years later, with his back 4 ageing, Wenger once again made additions in Freddie Ljungberg, Silvinho, Lauren and Sol Campbell. Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Edu, and Sylvain Wiltord all arrived within a few years of each other, and provided a combined exercise of focussed team building and once again buying the right ingredients when needed. In May 2002, Arsenal were Champions.

Wenger had bought very cleverly, and of a good age group, so with just the slightly younger Jens Lehmann replacing David Seaman, Arsenal were the Unbeaten Champions in May 2004, having been boosted in January by the signing of Jose Antonio Reyes.

Since then, Wenger has been building, building, and building, but not purchasing too much. While this was frustrating for the fans, you can't fault the logic behind it. When you are building something, you have to know what you have before you start to make decisions on what to do with it.

So since 2004, Arsene has been carefully building - Cesc, Van Persie, Clichy, Eboue, Toure, Senderos, Flamini, Adebayor, Diaby, Denilson, Walcott and Djourou - they all arrived as promising youngsters, or backup players, but Wenger has gradually built them all into a team, allowing them time to grow into what he hoped they might become, and being careful not to stifle them with a glut of signings.

Hleb was added one year, Rosicky and Gallas the next, and the excellent Sagna this year. They have all complemented and enhanced the fantastic base that was built up slowly, and now Wenger knows what his baby has become. And while this baby has played some excellent football, worked hard, and gotten good results, it has it's failings, and January is the time to address these.

No matter how he chops and changes things, there are two things that Wenger cannot build or adapt to at the moment.

The first, is a lack of punch up front - most of the goals have come from midfield, with Adebayor often erratic and ineffective, and Van Persie injured. Beyond them, there is no one - Walcott is still a long way off, Eduardo is taking too long to adapt, and Bendtner is too raw.

The second, is a lack of a genuine left-sided player. Rosicky has been there for 2 years now, and looks progressively less comfortable in that position. It's not that he's right-footed (both Pires and Overmars were right-footed, but they were very comfortable in their roles), it's just that it doesn't suit his style. Apart from him, there's no one but makeshifts - Clichy, Traore or Eduardo.

And that is the glaring truth - we have only 2 strikers, of which only one is a really threatening goalscorer (Van Persie), and no left-sided player (although Hleb often roams in that area too good effect). There's no solving these from within the squad (if he could have, Wenger would have tried something other than the 4-5-1), so it's time to buy in January, and I think this is the year that it really might happen.

Wenger has spent sparingly for 5 or 6 years now, and especially with the huge revenue from the new stadium, he is sitting on a large amount of cash (nevermind his "We have no money" protestations). Like I've said, apart from the fact that he's cheap, he's also been mindful of the fact that he wanted the youngsters to achieve their potential, and they've done that. So now is the time to add quality and experience. He only needs two players, and there's a very good chance that he will buy them in January, and that he'll spend good money on them too.

As for who they might be? Well I'd like to hear your thoughts on that!