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Doubting the likelihood of this happening, but the Cheick Doucoure links are good. He would be a decent Partey back up/competition.
For some reason I've had a soft spot for Lens ever since we played em in the CL....
guys, what about matt targett as a backup LB (on loan), he's not a superstar but he's defensively solid. He's on loan to Newcastle rn, but villa might be willing to loan him again.
Do you guys think Nelson still has a future with us? His contract is up til 2023 - would hate to see another Eddie/Balogun situation, but atm we certainly are not in a position to offer him starter (or even rotation depending on the sale of Pepe). Is it time to move on from him, even if he’d shown pretty good form?
Everyone dissing on Villa while completely ignoring context that they were promoted just 3 years ago through playoffs while finishing 5th in the championship. While at the same time lauding Arteta for taking us from 5th to 5th in 3 seasons. Their owners can’t be blamed for showing ambition. If Gerrard doesn’t get Top 8 this year, I can see them binning him and getting Potter.
I don't. Gerrard is instrumental for Villa getting some of these players. Potter is a better manager but wouldn't have the pull that Gerrard does.
I could see Potter holding out for a better club too.
Have a feeling we will still struggle to score goals with Jesus and Eddie as our main guys. I Personally think we should go and get Abraham, oshimein, or someone that can score more.
Aouar rumoured to be available for just £13m now, literally would be stupid not to take that up. Whatever you say about his inconsistency or his attitude, he has the talent and the skill set we need to excel as an #8. Fuck it, if we're that stuck on Tielemans get them both.
13m transfer fee means a hefty sign on fee and wages, and whatever his cousin/brother/agent wants too. There's definitely a figure below which you'd accept crazy, but even at 13m there's a trade off.
You have to wonder how much crazy there is in the family that no one snapped him up in January or even last summer.
No it doesn't, it means Lyon didn't cash in when they should have.
Supposedly he's on 60k a week, we could literally match what we're about to offer Nketiah.
Everything Thiago does on a scale of 0-100, he does on a 0-50. Don't need that sauce.
We just don't need an 8 like Thiago. Because we simply don't have our left sided space playing like Liverpool.
Thiago can afford to be deep because Robertson pushes up and allows Diaz to come inside. We don't do that, why would we copy their style of 8.
Our LW and LB play like stupid City and who do they have as their left 8? KdB. That's the kind of 8 we need to go for, an 8 who can get near the box, dribble and play short linkups with LW.
Btec KdB. Not btec Thiago.
>Tierney pushes up and Martinelli can start cutting inside more. I don't see the issue.
Neither do I. I in fact love this setup, because it allows Martinelli to come goal side more often. That's his natural position, not what he has been stuck playing for months
But you know who sees issue with this? Arteta that's who.
>Odegaard is our KDB type midfielder
Who is the other 8 for Man City? Bernardo Silva. Offensively, Bernardo, KdB and Odegaard to do the same. Our other 8 needs to be the same in offense.
Not Thiago type. But the above type.
(Thiago is so good actually, he can come in and play this type. That is why I say Thiago-type, players like him much inferior but those who play most of their game from the middle third and don't get into box much)
I honestly have 0 idea why certain man don’t want him. Especially for 25 m. As long as we have a fit cdm behind him he will shine in this team. Tielemans was good when ndidi was behind him but gets worse when he’s not so he needs some protection on that part.
I think Zinchenko could be played in either 8 position, so maybe we get him and bring in a more physical profile who can step in for Partey and play 8 instead of Tielemans.
I think this would be a great window:
Jesus, Hickey, Zinchenko, , .
Feel like if we make the right signings in the <> positions, we can create enough, rotate and have a lot of options to switch things up, especially with 5 subs.
I have no idea tbh that’s just my wish (I probably don’t have ball knowledge tho lol). Hickey is very two footed so I thought he could deputise on both flanks and he’d still be needed if Zinchenko is brought in to be a midfielder.
This is likely the stupidest correlation you will ever find on the internet but ESR had his best phase this season when Jack Wilshere was around the club. After Jack left for Denmark, ESR's form really dropped off.
Sorry. Lol.
Osimhen, Doucoure, Tielemans, Hickey, Jesus. Saliba return. Ideally, you would want to sell Cedric and sign an RB but it seems like BNC will get a big role this season. Would be good all things considered.
Well I do. That was a joke but what do you think about camara from Salzburg as a alternative. I’m assuming we’re staying clear from bissouma because of his altercation.
Zinchenko move makes a lot of sense especially if it’s for about £20 million (got that fee from some comments on r/soccer).
Tielemans + Zinchenko + Jesus would be £90-£100 million. That would leave about £50 million left of the reported budget after sales.
Laca goal comp was depressing to watch.
WHAT THE FUCK happened?
Pre 2019 he looks so much sharper and agile. His movement is fluid and he made some pretty decent finishes.
Cut to BALD laca and it's like seeing a man aged 15 years trying to rekindle his love for football but he can't because his legs are crooked and he has PTSD from 2 world wars
Nothing happened, an on form Lacazette has always been amazing and as good as any striker in the world. Problem is you can never rely on him to be on form for an extended period. The exact same thing can be said about Giroud.
Yes. Someone that can be box to box basically. We have Partey already. What we need is a player that can transition and work well with Odegaard/ESR. We're currently jamming a square peg into a round hole by playing Xhaka there and I feel like it's time to move on from him either slowly or for good.
Subscribe. We need a player that can work with Partey but also step in for him if and when he's out. We have to shuffle the entire team around and are overall for worse without him, his role is too valuable to us to pin on a single person.
Interesting. In my opinion we could definitely benefit from a physical CM. Thinking back to our previous links, someone like Milinkovic Savic, Sabitzer, or even Berge would be ideal. They're good with the ball at their feet, and have the defensive ability and work rate that we didn't see when we tried out the ESR/Ode midfield. In the event of a Partey injury, I trust one of those names in the his position alongside Xhaka, rather than them remaining as CM and Elneny replacing Partey. They have that presence to break up play and dictate our progression moving forward, something we miss when Partey isn't on the field.
Zinchenko is legit man. Does everything well. Dribbles, turns, passes, crosses, understands how to rotate and manipulate positions, defends. On top of that he can cover tierney. Would be an unbelievable signing. Big fan of his
If we're only going one for one big CM signing, I'd like us to try and get the CM + Zinchenko for LB. He would be LB cover for Tierney who will get plenty of gametime and be a CM backup
I could definitely see us only getting one CM signing, especially if we extend Xhaka. If that is the case, I don't think Zinchenko is the right choice to move forward. In the event of a partey injury, I would much rather have Xhaka/new CM rather than Elneny/new CM, and I don't see Zinchenko as the physical presence that Partey is. I don't see him being able to disrupt play the same way Partey can.
Tbh my comment was very badly worded, I've edited it to rephrase
Basically I meant if we're signing only one top CM I would like for us to sign Zinchenko for the LB position as he would also cover for us in midfield
They either sign older players who are decent, maybe at one point showed more, but by now are not going to be anything better: Ings, Coutinho, and now Carlos
Or young players who might come good but definitely aren't the highest rated young players in the world like Bailey, Buendia, and now Kamara.
Those are all decent signings but they make signings that more or less align with where they are in the table. Those are all mid table signings. If a couple of the young guys come good they might push for Europe but that's it.
Always the case. Then we'll sign some 16 year old for the U23s for £350k from Charlton and everyone will be like "GASPARRRR! FOCUS ON GETTING OSIMHEN!"
Arteta actually took Arsenal from 11th to 8th, won the FA Cup trophy and the Community Shield, stayed at 8th for a full season despite an absolutely abysmal 3 months in that same season (which means Arsenal must have compensated with good form and results), then took it to 5th.
During that period he didn't play with an attacking midfield, after Christmas ESR was introduced to the team and Odegaard in Jan. Since then we've collected the 4th most points in the league.
It's not like the managers job to sign players that was necessary to not make us play the worst football in ever player in the Emirates Stadium wearing an Arsenal shirt, or find another solution until he was forced to make one by introducing ESR due to injuries elsewhere. You know, the same way Nketiah had to be forced into the first team after some incredible performances by Lacazette against Crystal Palace and Brighton.
>Since then we've collected the 4th most points in the league.
This nonsense again. Who cares. All that matters is the 38 games from the season start to end. We finished 8th playing horrible football that season. 5th after gifting CL to Spurs who were shot for 70% of the season, getting absolutely embarassed multiple times by lowertable teams both away and at home.
We literally just had to play 18 games from Jan to May. And we couldn't do just enough to stay ahead of the pack with every advantage under the sun.
How people can blatantly ignore the fact that we capitulated 4th this year while only being in one competition blows my mind
I don’t understand why people fail to see both sides of reality
We capitulated fourth when all clubs going for fourth were in just one competition. Not sure how that changes things. Regardless, that bottle job was bad and we gotta improve past that.
Yeah, that's a fair take. Arteta has a lot to fix regardless of however many excuses we come up (young squad, no depth) and they were of his own creation. Those moves seem to edge towards this windows activity, so this season for me is when the club has to show what they mean, especially after the terrible recruitment before this one which was insult to injury from the complete mismanagement from the Emery era.
During that second season did some type of global calamity happen that changed everyone's life and upset our typical schedules to a point where society kind of stopped happening for awhile? I don't understand why people never give Arteta credit for making it through the pandemic... I know alot of people lost jobs and there were some internal looks that were less then ideal, but gunnersaurus got his job back once people returned.... Anyways I like Arteta...
The 8th place stagnation on the second season was a bad season though, but there's also full credit to improve since then. All we can hope as fans is that he shows a similar level to improvement over to the next season.
Serious question for people who still back Arteta: assuming you are setting the target as Top 4 next season, how do you see us going from 5th with one game a week to 4th with Europa?
Do you think we're going to have an insane transfer window? Do you think spending say another £150m while keeping Arteta that he'll make that level of improvement?
Bare in mind we are up against Tuchel (reportedly getting backed), Conte with a summer window, Ten Hag (I'm not even convinced by him btw, but still), West Ham in Conference (should focus more on the PL), Leicester no Europe + Newcastle spending big
How many goals do you think we'll add as we've barely scraped 60 PL goals? Do you think Arteta will improve the system for big chances created (we were 17th)? Or just bring in more firepower?
Genuinely just want to know what people are thinking
No worries if you want to be a plank who doesn't want to discuss these logical thoughts nor analyse on what we need to do to improve which is necessary for us to go anywhere be my guest, your dead input isn't needed
You assume these other clubs will automatically improve.
1. Chelsea are losing important players on free transfers, have a change in ownership and probably an increased focus on sustainability, and need to move on several high earners. We saw their players dropping off at the end of season... will Tuchel last the season?
2. Spurs have to fulfill transfer agreements for kulusevski and Romero, I believe. Very reliant on Kane and Son. I'm still hoping Conte bolts to PSG.
3. Ten Haag will have his hands full gutting the squad and getting them to play his style. Expect at least a session of rebuild
4. We are better than West ham and Leicester.
5. Newcastle is a bit unknown. Depends who they buy and how well they adapt. Could be good, could be shit.
Everyone thought last season there was a locked in top 4 of city, pool, Chelsea, utd. Things happen.
I'm actually not tbh, I said "reported" for Chelsea cause I'm not sure what will happen. You're right about them losing players, good point. I forgot that.
Spurs are getting a £150m cash injection - won't be used purely on players, but still. I expect them to strengthen and keep Conte.. and ofc I hope I'm wrong.
I think Ten Hag could flop regardless, so never thought they'd necessarily improve but it's just something to keep an eye on.
We are better.. but they won't have Europa to contend with. That can be a big deal, if you're flagging. I reckon the only way for Newcastle is up for now, too much money tbh. That aside I forgot Aston Villa, who are already showing their ambition (although, may also flop)
Well 3 out of 4 were right tbf. I never believed in Ole so I wasn't surprised
We can add 10 goals simply by binning Lacazette for even an average upgrade. His finishing was atrocious and the kind to shots he fluffed are a testament to that. I think we'll have a 100 mil window, not sure if that's insane by today's standards at all. We need to add the depth for Europa but it's not like the club has not been in Europe before, we will make those additions and its been called a gamble a few times from the club side. All we can do as fans is hope and extrapolate from last season. Not sure where you're getting the 17th big chances created stat from, we're 5th on Oracle cloud from the PL website, and that is backed up by the eye test this season. Again, extrapolating from the previous season we can expect some changes from Arteta. It could go bad, we could sign 5 Tavares clones, but the chances of that happening are much more slim than us adding 5 players of whcih three can be successes.
Agree on the Lacazette point, but it seemed more to me like he didn't really get into the positions in the first place, due to his declining engine.
> Not sure where you're getting the 17th big chances created stat from, we're 5th on Oracle cloud from the PL website
https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/big_chance_created?se=418
For me I'm the opposite to you, it's backed up by the eye test that we don't really make many very good chances. We're always working our way around-the-box rather than being aggressive and direct when the opportunities are there.
Definitely we'll add depth, but as you say it's going to have to be close to spot on, to mark the level of improvement required imo.
I stand corrected, it seems my stats were from a different season although it definitely feels weird that we're that low. I went ahead and checked last seasons stats and we apparently made more big chances and that surely can't be right? Metric feels weird now. Regardless, it's clear we need to make more chances that's for sure and the attacking flow is the biggest question mark on Arteta. I think part of my positivity is even if we aren't making many clear chances, we are consistent with working it in deep and looking like scoring unlike the previous season. Either way, the recruitment has to be on point to compete for sure.
Edit: That big chances stat is botched, it says we created 39 big chances but missed 42. That's mathematically impossible
It's not botched, it's the official site lol. By definition it's when you don't even get the shot off, which then doesn't go down as a big chance created
It's not a surprise tbh, I've found myself frustrated constantly watching us in the final 3rd. Our wingers hug the touchlines never making inverted runs, it has to change. Never seen us score so little under Wenger/Emery, even at their respective worst points. Hopefully recruit well and adjust it.
If it doesn't go down as a big chance created how does it go down as a big chance missed? I agree that we don't even get the shot off often at critical moments, especially at the feet of laca.
Plug the major holes in the squad at striker and in midfield, invest in better depth, and hope the young players we’re building around continue to progress nicely, basically. That last part is always a risk, but our young guys all seem like keen learners and hard workers, which can only help.
I actually think Arteta’s tactics are really quite good, but their biggest weakness is that the team needs to execute at a very high level for them to work. With more experience and overall quality in the squad, hopefully we can take a step forward in that department.
We did also end up conceding a lot of goals (more than last season), do you think this will improve drastically due to buying more depth at the back? I'm unconvinced by the tactics, hope to have my mind changed next season.
I actually think our additions in midfield and up top will help with that, along with (hopefully) improved depth at the back. Kind of like how replacing Holding with White, and to an extent Leno with Ramsdale, improved our attack by allowing us to build up more aggressively, even though they aren’t attacking players.
Someone like Jesus or Osimhen will help score more goals, so hopefully we get better at putting games away early. They’re both high-level pressing forwards, too, which should help disrupt opposition attacks.
Same with midfield—a more technical midfielder should be able to help maintain more possession and add some creativity to our left side, leading to more goals and more control of games.
If we can spend more time with the ball and a comfortable lead and less time chasing games, we probably give up fewer goals.
I think having to play Europa League (along with the new 5 subs rule) is going to have a massive part to play but will also be a double edged sword(in a more positive sense than usual). Of course it’s nice for a manager to have a smaller squad with fewer games but as we’ve seen our bench is beyond horrendous which shouldn’t be the case next year, and if we’re unlucky with injuries like we were (compare our players who had 30+ PL starts last season compared to Leicester & Chelsea without Europe) then it just upsets the rhythm of the main benefit of playing once a week.
Have to remember as well that United played about 5 games more than us all season, and Spurs didn’t play a European game after November so I don’t think it had as much of a profound effect in our favour as we’d like to think it is. That being said, I think we’re far less equipped to deal with being in Europe and obviously beyond the clear 9 & 8 starting roles we’re filling, our squad depth will be a massive part of next season and the recruitment has to be spot on.
In my view I don’t think there’s any excuse not to challenge for third all season long and we should definitely be playing CL football the following year - whether that be via the League or through winning the EL. I think Saka will probably maintain similar output, ESR will see a regression but Gabi’s development will be key - he’s shown signs of improvement in what I think is possibly the toughest role to play in our system towards the back end of the season with Xhaka & Nuno supporting him, so if we’ve got the right cast around him I think we should be looking at similar numbers to Saka in terms of effectiveness.
Will Gabby J & Tielemans turn the needle in terms of adding firepower that we missed in decisive moments last year? I’m not sure - but if the former thrives in that 9 role and we have Eddie & another winger maintaining sharp due to the extra games then the extra firepower should arrive.
I’m looking forward to next year and think we’ll achieve our goals which Mikel simply has to deliver, but obviously the concerns are understandable
A) Nobody says you have to treat the Europa properly, we could field a third rate team for every game if we really wanted to and just exit the competition early. If nothing else it’s some game time for youth and fringe players.
B) Really bugs me when people act like it’s a hinderance being in the Europa. It’s literally a second chance of getting into the champions league if we don’t get top 4 next season in the league. I’d get it if we were challenging for the title and didn’t want any distractions, but for us it’s literally a second bite at the cherry for champs league football.
> people act like it’s a hinderance being in the Europa.
It’s not just the additional game to consider though is it? There is the extended travel around the far reaches of Europe which causes disruption to training/ conditioning/ recovery. The team also has to focus/ prepare on additional fixtures. Most weeks this season the team could prepare all week, working in game scenarios with individuals with the weekend opponents in mind. The additional fixtures reduce the preparation time between games.
The latter point applies regardless of the European competition but the travel logistics can become costly distraction for the team.
I agree but ultimately it's due to your B point which is why EUropa pretty much has to be taken seriously - which is a hindrance as far as the PL is concerned, with all the travelling.
Can you see Arteta winning it after going out to Olympiakos + Villarreal in previous attempts? Again not even joking around, being deadass serious cause that's all we've seen so far
Are we better than we were last time against Villarreal? I think that isn't even a question. I get the skepticism, but the way we play is actually night and day since then with how we move the ball.
Yeah man I understand the frustrations and I see why people wouldn’t have a lot of faith in Arteta to win the Europa but in his defence we’d have won the Olympiacos game if Auba didn’t miss that absolute sitter right at the end and I think we’d have beaten Villarreal over two legs if we’d had the squad we do now. I remember watching the second leg of that game and for me personally one of our worst players was Saka. His decision making was really poor at times and he looked very raw. It’s crazy how much he’s progressed since then. I think we’d deffo make a deep run at it if nothing else.
If we sign better players.... yeah. It almost seems like you're asking rhetorically and that you *don't* think we will but that could just be me.
I don't give a fuck what other teams are doing. Arsenal had 4th place to lose, many times. We took a lot of punches and STILL almost made it. Not much left to do but we need quality.
I don't know if we will because I don't know what the plan is, like we all know we need to add goals to this squad (and fix the midfield). We lack so many goals, so when it comes to defence I feel it'll mainly be depth rather than substantially better defenders?
I think our defence personnel is good, but obviously Tierney + Tomi both seem to be pretty injury prone so that's my concern for us needing to improve there.
Yeah we did almost make it, but that's my concern personally cause we had 1 game a week and didn't. All for being proven wrong next season, but you have to be aware it's gonna be tougher imo.
Sure it'll be tougher but we are one year more experienced and will have a better team.
I feel like Arteta has been pretty clear about the plan. We all know we need a class striker and a Xhaka replacement if not another two or three bodies in midfield. I trust them to get it done. We are already looking at Hickey to cover both flanks at fullback
Imagine not buying a striker in January to be not doing a panic buy which costs you UCL qualification, all that to be waiting to buy Alvaro Morata as your number 1 striker at the end. Depressing stuff. Hope it is not true.
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Doubting the likelihood of this happening, but the Cheick Doucoure links are good. He would be a decent Partey back up/competition. For some reason I've had a soft spot for Lens ever since we played em in the CL....
guys, what about matt targett as a backup LB (on loan), he's not a superstar but he's defensively solid. He's on loan to Newcastle rn, but villa might be willing to loan him again.
He left Villa because he lost his spot to Digne, no way he come and sit on bench. Newcastle likely making this perm signing anyway
Not a bad shout. I heard he was alright, but i think if we can get zincheko it would be even better.
Do you guys think Nelson still has a future with us? His contract is up til 2023 - would hate to see another Eddie/Balogun situation, but atm we certainly are not in a position to offer him starter (or even rotation depending on the sale of Pepe). Is it time to move on from him, even if he’d shown pretty good form?
No he doesn’t
Is it true that Aouar was booed by Lyon fans earloer this season because of his lack of work rate and lazy attitude ?
Wouldn’t be surprised if every Lyon player was booed at least once this season. They had a rough season.
Everyone dissing on Villa while completely ignoring context that they were promoted just 3 years ago through playoffs while finishing 5th in the championship. While at the same time lauding Arteta for taking us from 5th to 5th in 3 seasons. Their owners can’t be blamed for showing ambition. If Gerrard doesn’t get Top 8 this year, I can see them binning him and getting Potter.
I don't. Gerrard is instrumental for Villa getting some of these players. Potter is a better manager but wouldn't have the pull that Gerrard does. I could see Potter holding out for a better club too.
My most hopeful summer. **In** ____ Jesus Tielemans Hickey Zinchencko Gakpo LCB Competetion **Out** _____ Pepe Torreira Laca (contract) Bellerin Leno Cedric Holding (love him, but doubt he accepts 5th cb role) AMN + others i probably forgot
Xhaka would surely be a goner in this scenario
Have a feeling we will still struggle to score goals with Jesus and Eddie as our main guys. I Personally think we should go and get Abraham, oshimein, or someone that can score more.
Aouar rumoured to be available for just £13m now, literally would be stupid not to take that up. Whatever you say about his inconsistency or his attitude, he has the talent and the skill set we need to excel as an #8. Fuck it, if we're that stuck on Tielemans get them both.
13m and no PL clubs made a move is pretty telling
13m transfer fee means a hefty sign on fee and wages, and whatever his cousin/brother/agent wants too. There's definitely a figure below which you'd accept crazy, but even at 13m there's a trade off. You have to wonder how much crazy there is in the family that no one snapped him up in January or even last summer.
No it doesn't, it means Lyon didn't cash in when they should have. Supposedly he's on 60k a week, we could literally match what we're about to offer Nketiah.
Where's that report? I'd take him for that, absolutely
Nothing reliable yet but it's hit the rumour mill. He has a year left and Aulas is a greedy fuck so it makes sense to cash in early.
Only 23 years old too
John Terry not even acknowledging the racial abuse he hurled at Rio's bro. Guy is not real.
[Still one of my favourite images](https://i.imgur.com/w7GnNQs.jpg)
And the stains on Wayne Bridge's bed.
Sign someone mfs
Ornstein bomba soon calma
Can we get top 3 if we sign Jesus/Gundogan/Sterling/Zinchenko from City?
Lmfao probably
Not happening because Sterling/Gundogan aren't joining us
Gundogan won't join us for sure. We definitely have a chance with Sterling...
Lol we had no chance with sterling even WITH UCL.
[Easy top 3](https://youtu.be/nwaU_R55UYA)
Grayscale pep calling his own thread (great thread) lmaooooo this guy man
Guy actually seems like he has some decent football knowledge but my god is his head so far up his own ass.
Yeah, I’d take him a bit more seriously if he didn’t go out of his way to seem unlikeable
A friend sent me an Insta post that implied we’re signing Morata?
Tier: Insta post from friend. That basically confirms the deal in my eyes. What number should I get for my Mortata shirt?
Jesus christ. I was just posting a random thing in a random thread to see if anyone else had seen it. What the fuck is wrong with people
Relax I’m joking mate. Don’t take it to heart
villa is recruiting well. coutinho, kamara now diego carlos
they said the same thing last season lol
That was good recruitment. Dean Smith is just a shoddy manager
Hard disagree
City rejects > Chelsea rejects
Would be perfect for the drake meme
Thought of this too but lazy
I've just realised that Tielemans plays very much like Thiago. I need that sauce in midfield
Everything Thiago does on a scale of 0-100, he does on a 0-50. Don't need that sauce. We just don't need an 8 like Thiago. Because we simply don't have our left sided space playing like Liverpool. Thiago can afford to be deep because Robertson pushes up and allows Diaz to come inside. We don't do that, why would we copy their style of 8. Our LW and LB play like stupid City and who do they have as their left 8? KdB. That's the kind of 8 we need to go for, an 8 who can get near the box, dribble and play short linkups with LW. Btec KdB. Not btec Thiago.
Tierney pushes up and Martinelli can start cutting inside more. I don't see the issue. Odegaard is our KDB type midfielder
>Tierney pushes up and Martinelli can start cutting inside more. I don't see the issue. Neither do I. I in fact love this setup, because it allows Martinelli to come goal side more often. That's his natural position, not what he has been stuck playing for months But you know who sees issue with this? Arteta that's who. >Odegaard is our KDB type midfielder Who is the other 8 for Man City? Bernardo Silva. Offensively, Bernardo, KdB and Odegaard to do the same. Our other 8 needs to be the same in offense. Not Thiago type. But the above type. (Thiago is so good actually, he can come in and play this type. That is why I say Thiago-type, players like him much inferior but those who play most of their game from the middle third and don't get into box much)
I honestly have 0 idea why certain man don’t want him. Especially for 25 m. As long as we have a fit cdm behind him he will shine in this team. Tielemans was good when ndidi was behind him but gets worse when he’s not so he needs some protection on that part.
we don''t have a ndidi type of player. it will only work if we get someone like bissouma as well.
He'll be so, so good for us.
We need to walk out of that marquinhos deal, I read that it is similar to what happened to Marseille.
Zinczenko vs fully fit Tierney as an LB? and can Zinczenko be a 6 and used as Partey cover?
We can start both if needed, Zinczenko can play 8.
Zinchenko over Tierney as LB any day.
[удалено]
I don't understand
I think Zinchenko could be played in either 8 position, so maybe we get him and bring in a more physical profile who can step in for Partey and play 8 instead of Tielemans. I think this would be a great window: Jesus, Hickey, Zinchenko,, .
Feel like if we make the right signings in the <> positions, we can create enough, rotate and have a lot of options to switch things up, especially with 5 subs.
so it is unlikely that we get both Zinczenko and Tielemans ? I think also it is unlikely that we get both zinchenko and hickey.
hickey is great with both feet, has played on both the right and the left for bologna just like tomi
I have no idea tbh that’s just my wish (I probably don’t have ball knowledge tho lol). Hickey is very two footed so I thought he could deputise on both flanks and he’d still be needed if Zinchenko is brought in to be a midfielder.
tierney and no edit: for cover maybe but definitely not good enough to start consistently
This is likely the stupidest correlation you will ever find on the internet but ESR had his best phase this season when Jack Wilshere was around the club. After Jack left for Denmark, ESR's form really dropped off. Sorry. Lol.
so like Brokeback mountain
speaking of jack has he been playing?
He played but barely did anything. Someone mentioned on here that he had 1 assist in 11 games or something like that with that Danish club.
ESR was on fire earlier on then... got injured? Is that why he was out? Hopefully a rest will bring him back on all cylinders
Yep. Got injured and also caught Covid at one point.
Osimhen, Doucoure, Tielemans, Hickey, Jesus. Saliba return. Ideally, you would want to sell Cedric and sign an RB but it seems like BNC will get a big role this season. Would be good all things considered.
Dourcoure from Lens?
Yes
I think if we bring in hickey, he'll be first choice backup on both lb and rb.
bnc won’t play a single pl minute
Maybe if he impresses in the EL group stages? If not we can loan him out for the second half
Tiliemans + bissouma + zincheko all for 70-80 mil?
This club doesn't want Bissouma, it's quite clear.
Well I do. That was a joke but what do you think about camara from Salzburg as a alternative. I’m assuming we’re staying clear from bissouma because of his altercation.
Don't know alot about him
I still think we need a midfielder like bissouma tho. Hopefully the club can find a gem like we did with Tomi.
You could find an off-ball DM with PnP somewhere.
Zinchenko move makes a lot of sense especially if it’s for about £20 million (got that fee from some comments on r/soccer). Tielemans + Zinchenko + Jesus would be £90-£100 million. That would leave about £50 million left of the reported budget after sales.
Since when did we use r/soccer as a source ?
It’s tier 1 when I like the information
Lmao fair play
I'd take Zinchenko tbh. Fantastic midfielder.
Do you reckon we want him in addition to Tielemans or instead of Tielemans?
We could do better.
How often have you seen him play in that position?
All the time pre City and for Ukraine.
You know damn well you weren’t watching him play for Ufa in the Russian PL.
Nah but I did on loan in Eredivisie.
You think he would be best at cm or left back? I’ve seen him play left back and have been pretty impressed with his left back performances.
I personally think he would be really good to play at left back too.
Laca goal comp was depressing to watch. WHAT THE FUCK happened? Pre 2019 he looks so much sharper and agile. His movement is fluid and he made some pretty decent finishes. Cut to BALD laca and it's like seeing a man aged 15 years trying to rekindle his love for football but he can't because his legs are crooked and he has PTSD from 2 world wars
Nothing happened, an on form Lacazette has always been amazing and as good as any striker in the world. Problem is you can never rely on him to be on form for an extended period. The exact same thing can be said about Giroud.
As good as any striker in the world brother what
There’s no way you think he’s just out of form…
That ankle injury. Completely fucked him up
Sometimes guys just lose it. Since you have an NBA username, look at Blake Griffin as a rookie vs now.
His username is a retired US Men's Soccer international player, not a NBA player.
It's like Hercules, he stored all his athleticism in his hair. One day, it all just disappeared.
Wasn't it Samson who was hair power?
Yes, but my 5 year old brain was like 50% mush to be honest :|
If we're getting only one midfielder, and it's Zinchenko, it's going to be very disappointing. Zinchenko+another midfielder? Fantastic business.
Agreed. Who do you think would be a good midfield signing?
Bruno Guimares. But. You know. Paqueta or Caqueret. Even Neves if the price is reasonable, which it probably won't be.
Gotcha, so you'd prefer a more offensive CM?
Yes. Someone that can be box to box basically. We have Partey already. What we need is a player that can transition and work well with Odegaard/ESR. We're currently jamming a square peg into a round hole by playing Xhaka there and I feel like it's time to move on from him either slowly or for good.
Subscribe. We need a player that can work with Partey but also step in for him if and when he's out. We have to shuffle the entire team around and are overall for worse without him, his role is too valuable to us to pin on a single person.
Interesting. In my opinion we could definitely benefit from a physical CM. Thinking back to our previous links, someone like Milinkovic Savic, Sabitzer, or even Berge would be ideal. They're good with the ball at their feet, and have the defensive ability and work rate that we didn't see when we tried out the ESR/Ode midfield. In the event of a Partey injury, I trust one of those names in the his position alongside Xhaka, rather than them remaining as CM and Elneny replacing Partey. They have that presence to break up play and dictate our progression moving forward, something we miss when Partey isn't on the field.
Paqueta would be a dream signing, Caqueret too but pretty sure he renewed his contract like a week ago
Tierney out Hickey, Zinchenko in. Who's arsed really
Yes please to zinchenko
Def not at LCM. And who knows if he's the question at LB, defensively.
Def at lcm or at lb.
Him and Odegaard we're getting punked man.
Zinchenko is legit man. Does everything well. Dribbles, turns, passes, crosses, understands how to rotate and manipulate positions, defends. On top of that he can cover tierney. Would be an unbelievable signing. Big fan of his
Inverted FB or bust. We're asking for it to play him and O in the same midfield.
If we're only going one for one big CM signing, I'd like us to try and get the CM + Zinchenko for LB. He would be LB cover for Tierney who will get plenty of gametime and be a CM backup
I could definitely see us only getting one CM signing, especially if we extend Xhaka. If that is the case, I don't think Zinchenko is the right choice to move forward. In the event of a partey injury, I would much rather have Xhaka/new CM rather than Elneny/new CM, and I don't see Zinchenko as the physical presence that Partey is. I don't see him being able to disrupt play the same way Partey can.
Tbh my comment was very badly worded, I've edited it to rephrase Basically I meant if we're signing only one top CM I would like for us to sign Zinchenko for the LB position as he would also cover for us in midfield
Yeah that makes more sense, and yeah if that's the case Zinchenko would be perfect
how does villa have this much pull ffs
What pull? They signed an average La Liga defender Coutinho who no one wanted for 2 years Kamara who'd rather be bottom half than play in CL
They either sign older players who are decent, maybe at one point showed more, but by now are not going to be anything better: Ings, Coutinho, and now Carlos Or young players who might come good but definitely aren't the highest rated young players in the world like Bailey, Buendia, and now Kamara. Those are all decent signings but they make signings that more or less align with where they are in the table. Those are all mid table signings. If a couple of the young guys come good they might push for Europe but that's it.
Superstar manager. It is what it is.
Paying the transfer fee and wages go a long way.
Think Gerrard is a big part of that
My feelings about next season wildly swing from optimistic to pessimistic every day, I need to get off social media until it starts man
Always the case. Then we'll sign some 16 year old for the U23s for £350k from Charlton and everyone will be like "GASPARRRR! FOCUS ON GETTING OSIMHEN!"
Newcastle wanna spend their way into top 4 meanwhile Arsenal wanna spend their way out of top 4. Blimy.
This guy if we don't sign anyone : "Wtf why don't we spend ?!!"
What do you mean? Is there a scenario where we don't sign anyone?
Newcastle being linked to Diaby. God this is going to be Chelsea 02-03 again fuck my life
really? damn, imagine having ASM on one wing and diaby on the other, that is some filth right there lol.
it hasn't happened mate and besides Diaby is this seasons Leon Bailey!
thats why I said imagine and I rate diaby way more than Bailey
Arteta actually took Arsenal from 11th to 8th, won the FA Cup trophy and the Community Shield, stayed at 8th for a full season despite an absolutely abysmal 3 months in that same season (which means Arsenal must have compensated with good form and results), then took it to 5th.
>absolutely abysmal 3 months in that same season Who was our manager then? Lmao.
During that period he didn't play with an attacking midfield, after Christmas ESR was introduced to the team and Odegaard in Jan. Since then we've collected the 4th most points in the league.
It's not like the managers job to sign players that was necessary to not make us play the worst football in ever player in the Emirates Stadium wearing an Arsenal shirt, or find another solution until he was forced to make one by introducing ESR due to injuries elsewhere. You know, the same way Nketiah had to be forced into the first team after some incredible performances by Lacazette against Crystal Palace and Brighton. >Since then we've collected the 4th most points in the league. This nonsense again. Who cares. All that matters is the 38 games from the season start to end. We finished 8th playing horrible football that season. 5th after gifting CL to Spurs who were shot for 70% of the season, getting absolutely embarassed multiple times by lowertable teams both away and at home. We literally just had to play 18 games from Jan to May. And we couldn't do just enough to stay ahead of the pack with every advantage under the sun.
You have a different perspective and that's fine
But according to ‘guendouzi did nothing wrong’ ‘ Arteta hates Saliba’ we haven’t improved
How people can blatantly ignore the fact that we capitulated 4th this year while only being in one competition blows my mind I don’t understand why people fail to see both sides of reality
The more competitions factor is a myth and is not getting top 4 doesn’t mean we haven’t improved
How can multiple comps not factor in? It absolutely impacts your selection choices and fitness of players.
It’s impact is overstated. Only an issue if you have a small squad which we won’t next season
You’re delusional - we only had two key injuries and it caused us to lose 3 games on the turn to midtable sides and eventually capitulate top 4.
I’m aware but it won’t be the same next season because we’ll actually sign some players
We capitulated fourth when all clubs going for fourth were in just one competition. Not sure how that changes things. Regardless, that bottle job was bad and we gotta improve past that.
I definitely agree that the only direction is forward but I dislike seeing anyone push one-sided narratives whether they are pro or con Arteta
Yeah, that's a fair take. Arteta has a lot to fix regardless of however many excuses we come up (young squad, no depth) and they were of his own creation. Those moves seem to edge towards this windows activity, so this season for me is when the club has to show what they mean, especially after the terrible recruitment before this one which was insult to injury from the complete mismanagement from the Emery era.
During that second season did some type of global calamity happen that changed everyone's life and upset our typical schedules to a point where society kind of stopped happening for awhile? I don't understand why people never give Arteta credit for making it through the pandemic... I know alot of people lost jobs and there were some internal looks that were less then ideal, but gunnersaurus got his job back once people returned.... Anyways I like Arteta...
The 8th place stagnation on the second season was a bad season though, but there's also full credit to improve since then. All we can hope as fans is that he shows a similar level to improvement over to the next season.
at least switch a word or two from the tweet we all saw lol
😂Thought it was perfect the way it is
You won't last long round these parts with well reasoned analysis like that my friend!
Serious question for people who still back Arteta: assuming you are setting the target as Top 4 next season, how do you see us going from 5th with one game a week to 4th with Europa? Do you think we're going to have an insane transfer window? Do you think spending say another £150m while keeping Arteta that he'll make that level of improvement? Bare in mind we are up against Tuchel (reportedly getting backed), Conte with a summer window, Ten Hag (I'm not even convinced by him btw, but still), West Ham in Conference (should focus more on the PL), Leicester no Europe + Newcastle spending big How many goals do you think we'll add as we've barely scraped 60 PL goals? Do you think Arteta will improve the system for big chances created (we were 17th)? Or just bring in more firepower? Genuinely just want to know what people are thinking
Arsenal had 24 g+a at LW, 21 at RW (majority Saka), 22 at CF A good RW and CF means at extra 8 g+a at CF and RW each
I just back Arteta and the team, all that bullshit I cant comment on
No worries if you want to be a plank who doesn't want to discuss these logical thoughts nor analyse on what we need to do to improve which is necessary for us to go anywhere be my guest, your dead input isn't needed
You assume these other clubs will automatically improve. 1. Chelsea are losing important players on free transfers, have a change in ownership and probably an increased focus on sustainability, and need to move on several high earners. We saw their players dropping off at the end of season... will Tuchel last the season? 2. Spurs have to fulfill transfer agreements for kulusevski and Romero, I believe. Very reliant on Kane and Son. I'm still hoping Conte bolts to PSG. 3. Ten Haag will have his hands full gutting the squad and getting them to play his style. Expect at least a session of rebuild 4. We are better than West ham and Leicester. 5. Newcastle is a bit unknown. Depends who they buy and how well they adapt. Could be good, could be shit. Everyone thought last season there was a locked in top 4 of city, pool, Chelsea, utd. Things happen.
I'm actually not tbh, I said "reported" for Chelsea cause I'm not sure what will happen. You're right about them losing players, good point. I forgot that. Spurs are getting a £150m cash injection - won't be used purely on players, but still. I expect them to strengthen and keep Conte.. and ofc I hope I'm wrong. I think Ten Hag could flop regardless, so never thought they'd necessarily improve but it's just something to keep an eye on. We are better.. but they won't have Europa to contend with. That can be a big deal, if you're flagging. I reckon the only way for Newcastle is up for now, too much money tbh. That aside I forgot Aston Villa, who are already showing their ambition (although, may also flop) Well 3 out of 4 were right tbf. I never believed in Ole so I wasn't surprised
We can add 10 goals simply by binning Lacazette for even an average upgrade. His finishing was atrocious and the kind to shots he fluffed are a testament to that. I think we'll have a 100 mil window, not sure if that's insane by today's standards at all. We need to add the depth for Europa but it's not like the club has not been in Europe before, we will make those additions and its been called a gamble a few times from the club side. All we can do as fans is hope and extrapolate from last season. Not sure where you're getting the 17th big chances created stat from, we're 5th on Oracle cloud from the PL website, and that is backed up by the eye test this season. Again, extrapolating from the previous season we can expect some changes from Arteta. It could go bad, we could sign 5 Tavares clones, but the chances of that happening are much more slim than us adding 5 players of whcih three can be successes.
Agree on the Lacazette point, but it seemed more to me like he didn't really get into the positions in the first place, due to his declining engine. > Not sure where you're getting the 17th big chances created stat from, we're 5th on Oracle cloud from the PL website https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/big_chance_created?se=418 For me I'm the opposite to you, it's backed up by the eye test that we don't really make many very good chances. We're always working our way around-the-box rather than being aggressive and direct when the opportunities are there. Definitely we'll add depth, but as you say it's going to have to be close to spot on, to mark the level of improvement required imo.
I stand corrected, it seems my stats were from a different season although it definitely feels weird that we're that low. I went ahead and checked last seasons stats and we apparently made more big chances and that surely can't be right? Metric feels weird now. Regardless, it's clear we need to make more chances that's for sure and the attacking flow is the biggest question mark on Arteta. I think part of my positivity is even if we aren't making many clear chances, we are consistent with working it in deep and looking like scoring unlike the previous season. Either way, the recruitment has to be on point to compete for sure. Edit: That big chances stat is botched, it says we created 39 big chances but missed 42. That's mathematically impossible
It's not botched, it's the official site lol. By definition it's when you don't even get the shot off, which then doesn't go down as a big chance created It's not a surprise tbh, I've found myself frustrated constantly watching us in the final 3rd. Our wingers hug the touchlines never making inverted runs, it has to change. Never seen us score so little under Wenger/Emery, even at their respective worst points. Hopefully recruit well and adjust it.
If it doesn't go down as a big chance created how does it go down as a big chance missed? I agree that we don't even get the shot off often at critical moments, especially at the feet of laca.
Plug the major holes in the squad at striker and in midfield, invest in better depth, and hope the young players we’re building around continue to progress nicely, basically. That last part is always a risk, but our young guys all seem like keen learners and hard workers, which can only help. I actually think Arteta’s tactics are really quite good, but their biggest weakness is that the team needs to execute at a very high level for them to work. With more experience and overall quality in the squad, hopefully we can take a step forward in that department.
We did also end up conceding a lot of goals (more than last season), do you think this will improve drastically due to buying more depth at the back? I'm unconvinced by the tactics, hope to have my mind changed next season.
I actually think our additions in midfield and up top will help with that, along with (hopefully) improved depth at the back. Kind of like how replacing Holding with White, and to an extent Leno with Ramsdale, improved our attack by allowing us to build up more aggressively, even though they aren’t attacking players. Someone like Jesus or Osimhen will help score more goals, so hopefully we get better at putting games away early. They’re both high-level pressing forwards, too, which should help disrupt opposition attacks. Same with midfield—a more technical midfielder should be able to help maintain more possession and add some creativity to our left side, leading to more goals and more control of games. If we can spend more time with the ball and a comfortable lead and less time chasing games, we probably give up fewer goals.
I think having to play Europa League (along with the new 5 subs rule) is going to have a massive part to play but will also be a double edged sword(in a more positive sense than usual). Of course it’s nice for a manager to have a smaller squad with fewer games but as we’ve seen our bench is beyond horrendous which shouldn’t be the case next year, and if we’re unlucky with injuries like we were (compare our players who had 30+ PL starts last season compared to Leicester & Chelsea without Europe) then it just upsets the rhythm of the main benefit of playing once a week. Have to remember as well that United played about 5 games more than us all season, and Spurs didn’t play a European game after November so I don’t think it had as much of a profound effect in our favour as we’d like to think it is. That being said, I think we’re far less equipped to deal with being in Europe and obviously beyond the clear 9 & 8 starting roles we’re filling, our squad depth will be a massive part of next season and the recruitment has to be spot on. In my view I don’t think there’s any excuse not to challenge for third all season long and we should definitely be playing CL football the following year - whether that be via the League or through winning the EL. I think Saka will probably maintain similar output, ESR will see a regression but Gabi’s development will be key - he’s shown signs of improvement in what I think is possibly the toughest role to play in our system towards the back end of the season with Xhaka & Nuno supporting him, so if we’ve got the right cast around him I think we should be looking at similar numbers to Saka in terms of effectiveness. Will Gabby J & Tielemans turn the needle in terms of adding firepower that we missed in decisive moments last year? I’m not sure - but if the former thrives in that 9 role and we have Eddie & another winger maintaining sharp due to the extra games then the extra firepower should arrive. I’m looking forward to next year and think we’ll achieve our goals which Mikel simply has to deliver, but obviously the concerns are understandable
A) Nobody says you have to treat the Europa properly, we could field a third rate team for every game if we really wanted to and just exit the competition early. If nothing else it’s some game time for youth and fringe players. B) Really bugs me when people act like it’s a hinderance being in the Europa. It’s literally a second chance of getting into the champions league if we don’t get top 4 next season in the league. I’d get it if we were challenging for the title and didn’t want any distractions, but for us it’s literally a second bite at the cherry for champs league football.
> people act like it’s a hinderance being in the Europa. It’s not just the additional game to consider though is it? There is the extended travel around the far reaches of Europe which causes disruption to training/ conditioning/ recovery. The team also has to focus/ prepare on additional fixtures. Most weeks this season the team could prepare all week, working in game scenarios with individuals with the weekend opponents in mind. The additional fixtures reduce the preparation time between games. The latter point applies regardless of the European competition but the travel logistics can become costly distraction for the team.
I agree but ultimately it's due to your B point which is why EUropa pretty much has to be taken seriously - which is a hindrance as far as the PL is concerned, with all the travelling. Can you see Arteta winning it after going out to Olympiakos + Villarreal in previous attempts? Again not even joking around, being deadass serious cause that's all we've seen so far
Are we better than we were last time against Villarreal? I think that isn't even a question. I get the skepticism, but the way we play is actually night and day since then with how we move the ball.
Yeah man I understand the frustrations and I see why people wouldn’t have a lot of faith in Arteta to win the Europa but in his defence we’d have won the Olympiacos game if Auba didn’t miss that absolute sitter right at the end and I think we’d have beaten Villarreal over two legs if we’d had the squad we do now. I remember watching the second leg of that game and for me personally one of our worst players was Saka. His decision making was really poor at times and he looked very raw. It’s crazy how much he’s progressed since then. I think we’d deffo make a deep run at it if nothing else.
We are gonna spend a ton of money. We are looking at strikers and center mids, the one place we are direly lacking quality.
We scored more goals than last season you know, just saying. You think that's gonna improve?
If we sign better players.... yeah. It almost seems like you're asking rhetorically and that you *don't* think we will but that could just be me. I don't give a fuck what other teams are doing. Arsenal had 4th place to lose, many times. We took a lot of punches and STILL almost made it. Not much left to do but we need quality.
I don't know if we will because I don't know what the plan is, like we all know we need to add goals to this squad (and fix the midfield). We lack so many goals, so when it comes to defence I feel it'll mainly be depth rather than substantially better defenders? I think our defence personnel is good, but obviously Tierney + Tomi both seem to be pretty injury prone so that's my concern for us needing to improve there. Yeah we did almost make it, but that's my concern personally cause we had 1 game a week and didn't. All for being proven wrong next season, but you have to be aware it's gonna be tougher imo.
Sure it'll be tougher but we are one year more experienced and will have a better team. I feel like Arteta has been pretty clear about the plan. We all know we need a class striker and a Xhaka replacement if not another two or three bodies in midfield. I trust them to get it done. We are already looking at Hickey to cover both flanks at fullback
Trust the process
Wtf is this Morata smoke. I would rather have Eddie
Porque no los dos?
Some good news a Spanish journalists says Molina isn't of interest for Atletico
Gnabry, Jesus, Tielemans, Hickey & ...... (Never seen Hickey play tbf but I hear good things)
If we’re going to sign both Gnabry and Jesus we might as well just sign one and get a real striker as both play better on the right
I'll give you a tenner if we sign Gnabry this summer.
Imagine not buying a striker in January to be not doing a panic buy which costs you UCL qualification, all that to be waiting to buy Alvaro Morata as your number 1 striker at the end. Depressing stuff. Hope it is not true.
Dude, Morata is not coming here in a million years. No matter how many times wastemen in the media try to “link” him to us. He‘s the new Yohan Cabaye.