Where Now For Arsenal?

After almost 9 years without any silverware, Arsene Wenger's Arsenal, finally ended their trophy drought with a 3-2 extra time win over Hull City. Welshman, Aaron Ramsey sealed the winner 11 minutes from the end of extra time after latching onto a backheel from Olivier Giroud, but the question now remains, where now for Arsenal? 

Up until early Saturday evening, Arsene Wenger's position as Arsenal manager seemed to be in an uneasy state. Wenger had a great start to the season with Arsenal finishing the calendar year at the top of the table, but this tailed off when he failed to strengthen in key positions in the January transfer window. Ultimately, I believe that if Wenger had acquired a quality striker, then I would have tipped Arsenal to finish in a better league position than they did.

On top of Wenger's shopping list should be a striker. For me, Giroud isn't up to scratch, and Bendtner is laughable. Although Giroud got 16 goals last season, with the quality of players behind him, I do feel he should be scoring a lot more. He can also be wasteful on some occasions. I do believe he has talent, but I don't think he can fit the standards at Arsenal, in my opinion he would make a decent back-up. Last summer, Wenger missed out on a chance to sign Gonzalo Higuain, someone who could have gave Arsenal the firepower to achieve greater things. They also embarrassed themselves with the business over the release clause of Luis Suarez and made themselves a laughing stock throughout England. 

An obvious downfall for the North London club was the vast amount of injuries suffered throughout the course of the campaign. The loss of Aaron Ramsey was a major blow, as he scored goals at crucial stages and always seemed to give a positive performance when in the red jersey of Arsenal. Wenger attempted to rectify this by signing Swede Kim Kallström, even though he was injured upon arrival and was out for the opening few weeks. The fault must lie with Wenger for this deal as it seemed to make no improvement to the situation. Another injury was to Theo Walcott. He constantly terrorised defences through his pace but his injury in the FA Cup tie against Tottenham ended his season. At times after the injury, Arsenal were lacking the cutting edge, something which Walcott could have supplied. The events of this season has shown that Arsenal lack squad depth, and it can be fixed if Wenger dips his hands into his pockets.

The marquee signing for the summer was Mesut Ozil. Arriving for a price of £42m, he was the most expensive export in German history. A lot was riding on the shoulders of the 25 year old, and it certainly did give his new team mates a lift going into the opening games of the season. However, several performances this year have made me question whether he is a big game player. Most notably, I was particularly disappointed in the last 16 home tie against Bayern Munich. Like several other games this season, I didn't feel that his attitude was commendable. He often left his opponent unmarked and showed a low work rate when defending, something that is suicidal when facing a team of the magnitude of Bayern, especially when they are a man up. On his day, Ozil is very talented footballer and is scintillating to watch. His varied range of passing is second to none, and he can unlock a defence with a moment of magic. He will need to be on top form if the Gunners are to challenge for the title again.

Wenger is known to keep his pockets zipped, but if Arsenal are serious about challenging for the title next season, then Arsene will need to be more adventurous in the transfer market than what he is known for. Wenger has come under a lot of criticism in the latter part of his career, so more silverware next season is crucial if he is to silence the doubters.