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Are we in danger of doing a Wenger/Comolli?

SUIYHA

SUIYHA

Scott Parker
If the most prominent transfer rumours are to be believed, it looks as though we could be starting the season with a team looking like this:

Friedel - 41

Walker - 22
Kaboul - 26
Vertonghen - 25
Assou-Ekotto - 28

Sandro - 23
Sigurdsson - 22
Moutinho/Huddlestone/Modric - 25/26

Oscar - 20
Adebayor - 28
Bale - 23

Average age = 25.72
Average outfield age = 24.2


With Saha and Nelsen already gone, King and Gallas probably won't be here next season and VdV is potentially going too, it leaves us with a very young squad. This in combination with Parker being injured for the start of the season and suddenly I worry about the lack of experience and leadership in our starting XI.

Fine, Vertonghen was Ajax captain, but one of the things I feel that Redknapp addressed in his time at Spurs was by adding big personalities to the dressing room, players with fight, bottle and leadership. With this XI, I wonder if we'll be making the same mistakes that Wenger has made with his policies at Arsenal, or Comolli made by signing a number of talented youngsters but without thinking about whether they were all ready for first team football yet.

When you look at who we'd have as cover, it's also very young and inexperienced:

Naughton (23)
Caulker (20)
Rose (22)
Livermore (22)
Lennon (25)
Dos Santos (23)

Only Defoe (29) and Dawson (28) are experienced backup, and of course Parker once he's fit again.

For this reason, I'd be keen for us to keep either King or Gallas at the club, as well as Van Der Vaart and preferably Modric if possible, or I worry about having a team with lots of potential that fails to deliver next season. Can anyone think of any positions we could strengthen with quality experienced players?
 
It is one of the worries. And with the possibility of a new young goalie and possibly Modric being replaced we would not only be very young we would have a lot of players that need to get used to the Premiership in addition to the team getting used to a new system.

Could really use a good start to this season :)
 
Remember this.......?

[video=youtube;3Es-RIBnba8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Es-RIBnba8[/video]

It gets really interesting from about 14secs in.

[-o<
 
Southcote Spur said:
Remember this.......?

[video=youtube;3Es-RIBnba8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Es-RIBnba8[/video]

It gets really interesting from about 14secs in.

[-o<
Click to expand...

But as Des said, they had a lot of experience in the squad too - Cantona, Irwin, Schmeichel, Pallister, Bruce, McClair...with the exception of McClair they were all part of the first XI and brought experience, personality and leadership to the squad. With our squad I wonder where that will come from.

Almunia

Sagna
Gallas
Toure
Clichy

Eboue/Walcott
Flamini
Fabregas
Hleb

Van Persie
Adebayor

That was a very talented team that Arsenal had, at the start of 2008 they were top of the league and well in the hunt for four trophies. But there was a lack of experience and leadership in that side, the leader they relied upon was Gallas and we all know what happened there. They collapsed, lost the Carling Cup semis 5-1 to us, lost 4-0 to Man Utd in the FA Cup and lost in the Champions League to Liverpool, all in the space of a few weeks of each other, as their title bid fell away and they didn't even finish in the top 2, with the young players cracking under the pressure.

Look at any successful team, they will have had captains, leaders and experienced players along with the youngsters.
 
But then Harry's team that included experience in King, VDV, Gallas, Ade, Parker crumbled under the pressure and collapsed in form and seemed incapable of arresting the slide while arsenal's young squad came back from a tough start to claw back 3rd place and seemed to thrive on the pressure 2nd half of the season! I think talented players that are managed well are the key no matter how experienced players are. Saying that I do hope we keep some strong personalities in the team - more essential than a mix of ages is a good healthy mix of personalities, we need talkers, drum beaters, players that will calm things down and overall we want to retain a good spirit where everyone gets on and pulls in the same direction
 
good point NWND - i think you need some experience for sure - more to pass on that experience to youngsters - not necessarily to drag you through tough moments on the pitch - no reason why lesser experienced players can't have the mental drive to do so as Arsenal proved last season by their, quite remarkable, secod half comeback
 
NWND said:
But then Harry's team that included experience in King, VDV, Gallas, Ade, Parker crumbled under the pressure and collapsed in form and seemed incapable of arresting the slide while arsenal's young squad came back from a tough start to claw back 3rd place and seemed to thrive on the pressure 2nd half of the season!
Click to expand...

Well...Harry's squad crumbling was to do with fatigue from a lack of squad rotation and loaning out all our backup players, as well as him taking his eye of the ball for the England job. Young Arsenal squad? They had Van Persie, Rosicky, Arteta, Sagna, Benayoun to give them experience, and all of those players played important parts in their good run of form in the second half of the season. They also had Henry who came in too and scored important winning goals. Hell...Vermaelen and Koscielny are both 26, and Mertesacker, Santos and Arshavin are even older and played a fair few games for them last season despite being a bit brick.
 
Those 'mistakes' Wenger has made has led them to qualify for the CL every season, so I for one wouldn't mind if we 'do a Wenger'......
 
Early 20's isn't young anymore. A player who is 22 or 23 could have as many as 150 top flight games under their belt. Look at the difference between Walker and Bale, the experience of two players at the same age can differ hugely.

I'm not really worried by the age of a lot of our players, the majority are well tested at the top level despite relatively young age
 
It's not only age, no. If we replaced Fridel with someone like Lloris to the team OP posted and bring in Ade our two oldest players would be Ekotto and Ade, followed by Kaboul. Not exactly leaders of men in my opinion.

I'm obviously hoping it won't be an issue, but I don't understand exactly why some of you are so convinced it won't be.
 
Redknapp left us with the oldest squad in the league. Something fairly drastic needed to be done.

I see no problem with Rafa, Ade and BAE (all 28yo) being the oldest players in our squad next season. Gallas and Parker maybe have another year in them, but I doubt they will feature that much.

We need winners. Age is irrelevant. Rafa, Gallas and Verts in particular are winners.
 
milo said:
No he didn't and the average is massively distorted because of the age of our keepers.
Click to expand...

I don't know why you bother. He always make outlandish statements and then refuses to engage in any sort of debate to back them up when they are challenged. The short 6 month contracts of Saha and Nelsen also ramped up the average age of the squad, but those two signings were always a temporary measure and were never going to be renewed past the Summer.
 
Southcote Spur said:
Remember this.......?

[video=youtube;3Es-RIBnba8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Es-RIBnba8[/video]

It gets really interesting from about 14secs in.

[-o<
Click to expand...

He wasn't wrong though was he? It's been rammed down his throat a few times, but ultimately that Utd team had a lot of experience and a couple of kids. Where Hansen was proven wrong was that the kids ended up being good enough as squad players that season and the year after. But the first team was never full of kids.
 
Gutter Boy said:
Friedel, Cudicini, Gallas, Nelson, King, Parker, Defoe, Saha. All pensioners in footballing terms.
Click to expand...

Friedel is still one of the top 3 keepers in the league, even at his advanced age.

Cudicini is back up.

Saha and Nelsen were squad plugs because we couldn't get our main targets until the Summer.

Parker and Defoe are not past it. Players are arguably at their peak between 29 to 32.
 
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