Arsenal 2008-09 Preview: Room for Improvement?

As we head into the summer of crazy transfer speculation, Arsene Wenger will be looking back at a season of what could of been.

Arsene see his team finish a mere 4 points off the Champions in the EPL and could only watch as his team were denied a Semi-Final spot in the Champions League as two shady penalty decisions in each leg swayed the tie in Liverpool's favour.

With the new season a couple of months away Arsene Wenger may feel new blood is needed in order to take his team to the next level. There's no denying that Arsenal's first team is as strong as any side in Europe as that historic night in Milan proved, but unfortunately for Arsene that was where Arsenal's season peaked. The youngster's then went on to pick up 18 points from a possible 30 as Manchester United and Chelsea took advantage in the league of Arsenal's paper thin squad.

With the loss of the impressive Mathieu Flamini to AC Milan and the constant talk of Alexander Hleb seeking pastures new, Arsene has responded by announcing two or three top quality players may be added to the squad. Samir Nasri appears to be one of the names banded about in the media recently and I'm sure all Arsenal fans are excited at the prospect of another promising French youngster joining the club. Also with the fantastic news that Eduardo could be kicking a ball again as early as the end of July, his return to the dressing room will feel like a new signing for the side. The loss of the Brazilian born Croatian hindered Arsenal's challenge for honours as Adebayor was left as the sole spearhead of the club's attack. Nicklas Bendtner and the ever improving Theo Walcott were still finding their feet at the top level while Van Persie was suffering recurring injury's.

Arsenal's other problems last season were injuries and lack of experienced cover in midfield and defence. With Rosicky out the side and Hleb shifted to the left, the continued use of Eboue as a right sided midfielder caused Arsenal fans concern at the players continued lacklustre performances. Whilst in defence Senderos' inability to turn up for the big games was sorely proven in the second leg of the Champions League quarter final.

What many people forget is that Arsenal were tipped to finish outside the top four yet the youngsters went on to prove everyone wrong by leading the EPL for much of the campaign. Arsene's kids are improving and gaining more experience every season and if Arsene makes a couple of signings in the key areas their is no reason why Arsenal won't be challenging again for silverware next season.

There has also been calls in certain parts of the media for Arsene to change from his philosophy of beautiful football to adopt a more direct approach. So what they are really asking is would you rather play beautiful football and fill a stadium of 60,000 every other week or play long ball and struggle to fill your ground (Chelsea). Yes we may have ended up with no trophies (like Chelsea but at a quarter of the cost) but Arsenal have shown they can mix their style when needed as the 4-1 victory at Everton proved and with the amount of goals being converted from crosses last season. This makes me feel that the signing a couple of years ago of Adebayor was more inspired than first thought as it has totally given Arsenal a new dimension.

Arsene Wenger's philosophy should never get called into question seeing as the last time that happened he guided Arsenal to an entire league season unbeaten.

I for one don't doubt for one second that Arsene could do that again.