THE ease with which Manchester City beat Arsenal shows that the Gunners are miles away from where they used to be — and where they want to be.
It’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of investment to get them competing at the highest level.
Alan Shearer says failing Arsenal are miles behind where they were and now need to be
I would say at least two or three years and definitely a huge amount of money.
Arsenal’s biggest problem is recruitment, defensively they are so bad it’s unbelievable.
Going forward they are fine because they have Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.
But in terms of the quality of their defenders and midfielders they are miles behind the top teams.
They spent £72million on a winger in Lille’s Nicolas Pepe, when they knew they had big problems at the back. That made no sense at all.
True, they were left high and dry when Laurent Koscielny suddenly wanted to leave so late in the transfer window but Arsenal’s defensive problems had been apparent long before that.
Yet Arsenal are a huge football club and have had great success in the past so I don’t think the current situation will put people off wanting to manage them, so long as everyone understands that there is no quick fix.
Whoever goes into the club, be it Mikel Arteta, Patrick Vieira or whoever, must be allowed to treat it as a long-term project.
That has to apply to the Arsenal supporters as well.
I was at the Emirates for the Brighton game this month and it was clear that the fans had lost patience.
They have gone behind in every game Freddie Ljungberg has been in charge and Arsenal need a complete overhaul that is not going to be completed in January or even next summer.
Meanwhile, it has been a brilliant week for Liverpool as they look to win the Club World Cup next week.
Jurgen Klopp has just signed a new contract and they put another three points on the board despite not playing well against Watford.
Adding to that, Leicester could only draw with Norwich to fall ten points behind.
Liverpool headed off to Qatar with one or two injury problems but knowing that it won’t affect them — they have lost just one of their last 56 Premier League games, which is just ridiculous.
The next Premier League game when they come back just happens to be away at Leicester and that is going to be a key game for them.
Cool Klopp has his Liverpool side firing on all cylindersCredit: Alamy Live News
But it’s almost done anyway. I don’t think we’ll see anyone get close to them — they would have to lose at least four games and I don’t see that happening.
Liverpool have been just relentless.
Winning the Premier League for the first time has always been the top priority but there is no doubt that Klopp is keen to win the Club World Cup as well.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
