Arsene Wenger has written a letter back to a disgruntled fan. This is a first I have seen and the letter can be read in its entirety here courtesy of The Sun.
Wenger touched on several points in the letter where he highlighted that Arsenal are not just going to go out and spend money like crazy in the transfer market as their aim is to remain a profitable club. Which to me makes a lot of sense.
In the letter Wenger also complained about not having his key players fit enough to play a large part of the games last season. Cesc Fabregas played 22 games, Robin Van Persie 18 or 19 games, and Thomas Vermaelen played four or five games. How can we expect to do well if our top 3 players are hardly on the field?
The part of the letter that Wenger touched on and I am glad he raised was that no matter how well we play and how many goals we score, we will not win anything if we can not defend. Defence wins titles, no matter what sport you play in.
Wenger wrote, “We have shown that we have the technical ability to win the league but not the defensive solidity to do it. We have learned that we have the quality, despite what everybody is saying, but of course we need to gain some strength in some areas of the team.
“We are frustrated and disappointed but we should not go overboard. We just have to rectify things in the areas that we need to improve. Mentally of course, I hope that the team has learned a lot this season because we could not cope with the number of games, nor the pressure in the important moments of the season.”
It is no surprise that Wenger is being heavily linked with moves for central defenders this summer as that is where we need to invest wisely in. If we are able to get Vermaelen fit and playing well then all we need is another quality central defender to play alongside him. My dream signing would be Bolton’s Gary Cahill as I can see him working well with Vermaelen.
So if Arsenal are to push on from last season and mount another serious title charge, we have to work on our defence which we can do.