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Which positions would you target?

Which positions do you target? (Maximum of 3)

  • GK

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • LB

    Votes: 66 61.1%
  • CB

    Votes: 70 64.8%
  • CB

    Votes: 21 19.4%
  • RB

    Votes: 13 12.0%
  • Attacking CM

    Votes: 32 29.6%
  • Winger

    Votes: 69 63.9%
  • Winger

    Votes: 27 25.0%
  • Number 10

    Votes: 2 1.9%
  • CF

    Votes: 1 0.9%

  • Total voters
    108

Taxi Driver

Well-Known Member
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yybecause

Formerly known as ArsenaLover
All I really want is Nketiah, Nelson and Willock to be considered part of the 22, Smith-Rowe also, and still have Saka and Martinelli most likely as the ones into 25.
not for the reasons many say now "we're so **** we should just play youngters" but because they are ready, and the modern game that changed fits then perfectly.

Niles, Holding, Bellerin and Matteo on the same team and it's also something we would be very proud of. Support would get healthier, fight for the team would go up, Ajax would not be talked about that much anymore ;)

I am quiet positive Iwobi would go a level up. He would feel more relaxed playing with more academy players around him, and more fired up once Nelson gets ahead of him.

Nelson is a main one. I really believe he is ready to nake a huge step up. Would make way for him to get tons of minutes next season
 

TornadoTed

Established Member
The simple fact of the matter is that if we are going to play Emery's favourite 4-2-3-1 I think the following are good enough to start regularly,

GK - Leno
DR - Bellerin
DC - One of Sokratis, Holding or Kos
MC - Torreira
SC - One of Auba or Laca

That means we need to fill 6 starting slots and also find a backup goalkeeper and right back. We aren't going to get close to that this summer. This is why I said a year ago that Emery would need 5-6 windows to rebuild this squad, especially considering Sokratis, Kos and Auba could well be gone by the 5th or 6th window as well as Ramsey, Özil, Mkhi and Monreal.
 
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Rex Stone

Long live the fighters
Trusted ⭐

Country: Wales
@MutableEarth

I think Maddison’s going to be top class. You look at the players we’ve been linked to in Fraser, Barella and Fornals and JM is way ahead in terms of chances created from open play. He’s almost in the same bracket as the likes of Pogba, Bilva and Eriksen and per 90 is better than Özil in that regard.

He has great stats and more importantly passes the eye test. I don’t think we have anyone on our books right now who can come close to him now Özil’s tailed off.
 

Malky

Established Member
@MutableEarth

I think Maddison’s going to be top class. You look at the players we’ve been linked to in Fraser, Barella and Fornals and JM is way ahead in terms of chances created from open play. He’s almost in the same bracket as the likes of Pogba, Bilva and Eriksen and per 90 is better than Özil in that regard.

He has great stats and more importantly passes the eye test. I don’t think we have anyone on our books right now who can come close to him now Özil’s tailed off.
Maddison already is class, he was absolutely brilliant yesterday. If we're selling Özil then Maddison is a perfect replacement. Still fuming that we wasted the whole of January to get Suarez on loan when Tielemans was available, we should pay what's needed in the summer for the two of them.
 

Gunner-Union

Well-Known Member
I actually think Brooks is a better player but him and Maddison look like very good players now and will only get better. Sadly not sure we could tempt a young player to leave Leicester
 

Rex Stone

Long live the fighters
Trusted ⭐

Country: Wales
Maddison already is class, he was absolutely brilliant yesterday. If we're selling Özil then Maddison is a perfect replacement. Still fuming that we wasted the whole of January to get Suarez on loan when Tielemans was available, we should pay what's needed in the summer for the two of them.

Yeah totally agree I just think in a better team than Leicester’s he’s going to up another level. Ridiculous talent.

I reckon 100M for the two, clearing out a load of wages and cashing in on nearly but not quite players like Iwobi and Xhaka and the club has no excuse not to get them in.

I actually think Brooks is a better player but him and Maddison look like very good players now and will only get better. Sadly not sure we could tempt a young player to leave Leicester

Big fan of Brooks because of his nationality but his stats pale in comparison to Maddison’s. Wouldn’t say no to him but I think JM is going to be one who got away if he ends up at Sp**s or Utd.
 

Malky

Established Member
Yeah totally agree I just think in a better team than Leicester’s he’s going to up another level. Ridiculous talent.

I reckon 100M for the two, clearing out a load of wages and cashing in on nearly but not quite players like Iwobi and Xhaka and the club has no excuse not to get them in.
The club need to act like a big club for once and try and get Maddison before another big club moves for him. Imagine Maddison behind Liverpools front 3? I'd be happy to see the club sell whoever they needed to sell to bring in Maddison and Tielemans. Think Tielemans has been bloody brilliant since he arrived at Leicester.
The need for Champions League football has never been more important if we want to attract these players.
 

Slartibartfast

CIES Loyalist
My thought process is spending 40-50m on a CB makes a much bigger difference to us than spending 40-50m on a LB.

I think we're coming at it from different angles?

The truth is, Arsenal desperately needs both.

Mustafi needs to go. Koscielny will be 34 shortly after the new season starts and hasn't played more than 25 league games since 2016-17. Old and injury prone isn't a good combination. It's like depending on hitting on a slot machine in Las Vegas to pay your rent. Holding will be coming off a long-term injury and won't even be ready for the start of the season. He was playing great prior to the injury, but will he regain that form? And if so, how quickly? Mavrapanos is too inexperienced. Chambers isn't even a center back anymore. He was a bright spot for a poor Fulham team, but playing as a defensive midfielder. If he can't play CB for a team so desperate for a CB as Fulham, how can Arsenal depend on him? Sokratis is the only center back Arsenal can depend on and he's a risk to be suspended for yellow card accumulations.

At left back, Nacho will also turn 34 during the season. He's slowing down. Hell, he may not even be here. He'll be entering the final year of his contract (only because Arsenal picked up his option) and could choose to go back to Spain. Kolascinac simply isn't a left back. You can play him in a 3-4 setup, but he's a defensive liability in Emery's preferred 4-2-3-1/4-3-3. There just isn't anybody else.

People have gone on and on in this thread about attacking midfielders and wingers, but honestly I don't really give a crap about that if Arsenal doesn't do something to fix the defense. They have young guys like Nelson and Smith Rowe who could be worked into the squad in those positions. But they have nobody who might step in on the back line. This team is about to give up 50 goals for the 2nd straight season. Liverpool has given up 20, City 22. Arsenal has guys who can score goals. They're one of the top goalscoring teams. But as long as they're giving up 50 goals,, they're not competing for titles or much of anything else.
 

Rex Stone

Long live the fighters
Trusted ⭐

Country: Wales
The truth is, Arsenal desperately needs both.

Mustafi needs to go. Koscielny will be 34 shortly after the new season starts and hasn't played more than 25 league games since 2016-17. Old and injury prone isn't a good combination. It's like depending on hitting on a slot machine in Las Vegas to pay your rent. Holding will be coming off a long-term injury and won't even be ready for the start of the season. He was playing great prior to the injury, but will he regain that form? And if so, how quickly? Mavrapanos is too inexperienced. Chambers isn't even a center back anymore. He was a bright spot for a poor Fulham team, but playing as a defensive midfielder. If he can't play CB for a team so desperate for a CB as Fulham, how can Arsenal depend on him? Sokratis is the only center back Arsenal can depend on and he's a risk to be suspended for yellow card accumulations.

At left back, Nacho will also turn 34 during the season. He's slowing down. Hell, he may not even be here. He'll be entering the final year of his contract (only because Arsenal picked up his option) and could choose to go back to Spain. Kolascinac simply isn't a left back. You can play him in a 3-4 setup, but he's a defensive liability in Emery's preferred 4-2-3-1/4-3-3. There just isn't anybody else.

People have gone on and on in this thread about attacking midfielders and wingers, but honestly I don't really give a crap about that if Arsenal doesn't do something to fix the defense. They have young guys like Nelson and Smith Rowe who could be worked into the squad in those positions. But they have nobody who might step in on the back line. This team is about to give up 50 goals for the 2nd straight season. Liverpool has given up 20, City 22. Arsenal has guys who can score goals. They're one of the top goalscoring teams. But as long as they're giving up 50 goals,, they're not competing for titles or much of anything else.

The problem is for me that we have a midfield that can’t handle a press if Ramsey isn’t in the team.

It leaves the strikers unable to get involved as we can’t break out and the defence is completely overwhelmed.

The major problem we’re having is trying to put plasters over gaping wounds. The club has to realise it’s going to take three or four windows to get quality replacements in every position of need.

We’re not going to become consistent title contenders by spreading our budget across four or five players.

Maddison and Tielemans are two young players who are already experienced and performing at a high level. They might not be available next summer.

Sort the midfield out, see what the youngsters can do on the wings and target the defence next year. Maybe try and see if someone like Jamal Lewis is gettable but otherwise consolidate the money.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
@MutableEarth

I think Maddison’s going to be top class. You look at the players we’ve been linked to in Fraser, Barella and Fornals and JM is way ahead in terms of chances created from open play. He’s almost in the same bracket as the likes of Pogba, Bilva and Eriksen and per 90 is better than Özil in that regard.

He has great stats and more importantly passes the eye test. I don’t think we have anyone on our books right now who can come close to him now Özil’s tailed off.
I think Maddison should be starting for England already personally, he's been in excellent form all season and is the type of player who should reach an extremely high level. He'd be the perfect modern AM for us - but an issue would be whether Arsenal have the budget to get him and forgo our poor defensive personnel. It's a risk I would take, but the brass certainly won't - or maybe they will!

Admittedly I would really not like to go into next season with the defenders we have currently. A LB and a CB are huge priorities IMO. I agree however that the midfield could use a revamp. I even posted in the Xhaka transfer thread that I would take money for him to bring in a more press-resistant midfielder, so the idea definitely appeals to me. It's a difficult one - but ultimately, we're an attacking team and we should really be bolstering that rather than trying to reinvent ourselves as a defensive team.

We could always use some of our younger defenders I guess. Mavropanos is an unknown who could turn out good; Bielik has EFL experience and good technique; Danny Ballard is arguably the best academy defender; Sheaf and Medley are good, composed ball-playing defenders; Mark McGuinness is the main CB for a title-winning U18 defense......we don't have any young LBs though, so we should look to buy one. Jamal Lewis, Rico Henry etc......
 

Rex Stone

Long live the fighters
Trusted ⭐

Country: Wales
I think Maddison should be starting for England already personally, he's been in excellent form all season and is the type of player who should reach an extremely high level. He'd be the perfect modern AM for us - but an issue would be whether Arsenal have the budget to get him and forgo our poor defensive personnel. It's a risk I would take, but the brass certainly won't - or maybe they will!

Admittedly I would really not like to go into next season with the defenders we have currently. A LB and a CB are huge priorities IMO. I agree however that the midfield could use a revamp. I even posted in the Xhaka transfer thread that I would take money for him to bring in a more press-resistant midfielder, so the idea definitely appeals to me. It's a difficult one - but ultimately, we're an attacking team and we should really be bolstering that rather than trying to reinvent ourselves as a defensive team.

We could always use some of our younger defenders I guess. Mavropanos is an unknown who could turn out good; Bielik has EFL experience and good technique; Danny Ballard is arguably the best academy defender; Sheaf and Medley are good, composed ball-playing defenders; Mark McGuinness is the main CB for a title-winning U18 defense......we don't have any young LBs though, so we should look to buy one. Jamal Lewis, Rico Henry etc......

Yeah agree and said as much in some of my other posts in this topic, particularly Jamal Lewis.

I just think an upgraded midfield is more urgent than defenders because you can avoid a lot of the issues we faced yesterday by being able to counterpress effectively and have players who are capable of breaking lines as well as maintain threatening possession.

We’d still suffer from individual errors but if we gave young players the chance there’d be an end goal to it as we’d see what the likes of Ballard or Medley could contribute long term.
 

Country: Iceland
CB, CM and a couple of wingers are all critically needed.

You don't think LB is more needed than any of this position?

There are couple of talents available this summer I think, maybe easier to strengthen LB position than others this summer. We should go for it!
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
Yeah agree and said as much in some of my other posts in this topic, particularly Jamal Lewis.

I just think an upgraded midfield is more urgent than defenders because you can avoid a lot of the issues we faced yesterday by being able to counterpress effectively and have players who are capable of breaking lines as well as maintain threatening possession.

We’d still suffer from individual errors but if we gave young players the chance there’d be an end goal to it as we’d see what the likes of Ballard or Medley could contribute long term.
Yeah agreed - and honestly, I think the younger defenders can probably be coached better than a Mustafi who is 27 and has gotten worse. Ljungberg's work becomes crucial here (other than in the case of Bielik), as he's been doing good work with Ballard, Sheaf and Medley of late. Medley gets the plaudits because he can pass and he's been blooded first (and he's really tall) but Ballard is preferred by Ljungberg and is the better defender. Could make the argument for keeping Sheaf as a CB aswell - I think he'll leave but I like him at CB and he's good full-back cover too. It widens our options.

With the 1st team midfield, I think someone with agility and dribbling would be a good fit for us, with a bit of athleticism. We have 3 good individual CMs in Xhaka, Torreira and Guendouzi but we don't have a very diverse or well-rounded midfield unit. None of those midfielders have any pace, none of them are particularly great dribblers, and only Guendouzi has the potential to control games with his passing and movement. Xhaka can pass very well but he does not control games well enough for my liking - if I had to sacrifice one of those 3, it would be Xhaka if I'm honest. I made noise for AMN in midfield for 2 years simply because we do not have a player with his profile in there (pace, agility, can dribbler). Willock isn't particularly quick but he is a strong dribbler with a decent pass. Outside recruitment is needed and Tielemans would be as close to the profile as we can get. Ndombele is a shout too. Our more promising younger midfielders are too young for consideration IMO - likes of Smith, Cottrell, Azeez, Musah etc. need a good couple years of U23+cameos.

LB is a huge problem though. It's arguably the weakest position - however, I would prefer a young-ish under the radar signing. Most high profile I would go would be Ryan Sessegnon. Jamal Lewis, Rico Henry and Jay DaSilva would be my picks.
 

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