Loss against Manchester United might help Arsenal

Arsenal signed Per Mertesacker, Andre Santos, Mikel Arteta, Yossi Benayoun, Park Chu Young in the last days of the transfer window.

Let's look at the summer transfer activity at Arsenal Football Club.

Ins: Carl Jenkinson (£1m from Charlton), Gervinho (£10.6m from Lille), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (£12m from Southampton), Joel Campbell (£1m from Saprissa), Chu Young Park (undiscl. from Monaco), Andre Santos (£6.2m from Fenerbahce), Per Mertesacker (undisc from Werder Bremen, Yossi Benayoun (loan from Chelsea), Mikel Arteta (£10million from Everton)..

Outs: Gael Clichy (£7m to Manchester City), Tom Cruise (released), Roarie Deacon (free to Sunderland's reserves), Mark Randall (free to Chesterfield), Denilson (loan to Sao Paulo), Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (£1m to Ipswich Town), Kyle Bartley (loan to Rangers), Pedro Botelho (loan to Rayo Vallecano), Cesc Fabregas (£27m to Barcelona), Emmanuel Eboue (£3m to Galatasaray), Carlos Vela (loan to Real Sociedad), Samir Nasri (£24m to Manchester City), Armand Traore (undiscl. to QPR), Henri Lansbury (loan to West Ham), Joel Campbell (loan to Lorient), Gilles Sunu (undiscl to Lorient), Nicklas Bendtner (loan to Sunderland).

Now, if we go days back, before Arsenal played Manchester United and lost 8-2, if Arsenal would have lost by a respectable scoreline at that time, Arsene would not have cam under such pressure to buy new players.

He was under pressure before, because he let go of his two established players and he had no targets in mind for replacing them. Though, Nasri was already replaced by Gervinho, Fabregas was someone who was not replaced by Arsene and the possible target was Eden Hazard valuing over 23$ million, but he was not gonna buy new defender. His focus was mainly on the center of the park to fill the void left by the departure of Cesc Fabregas.

Though people criticized Arsenal's weak defense, Arsene was not willing to buy new defenders. But, the loss against Manchester United, in which the Red Devils scored eight goals, there was a big reason to worry for Mr. Wenger. The scoreline was nothing, but humiliating, he came under more pressure than he ever was during his Arsenal career, and the situation demanded buying defenders, and not only defenders, but quality defenders.

And here they are, two established defenders in Per Mertesacker and Andre Santos. He has really strengthened his backline, but what about center line, here he is with the answer, two quality, and by quality I mean QUALITY signings in Mikel Arteta and Yossi Benayoun. Arteta might not be a Cesc Fabregas or a Patrick Vieira, but he can play and he can play fantastic. He was the playmaker at Everton and he is the quality that Arsenal needs right now.

Looking at the signings, Arsenal now look really a stronger team and can compete for the Champions League spots, and if possible for the title. So the loss against Manchester United really lit up the fire and the Gunners came out with the goods. Now only time will tell, how good the Gunners are going to perform.



-Mitesh Pithadiya