Squad Analysis 2018/19

[Rain Dance]

Auba has been used as a striker thankfully

Nice, that's a start.
Should we go one fast dribbler as a winger on the opposite of Auba and a defensive one as a counter balance?
2 DM + 2 Fast wingers? 1 AM + 1 DM + 2 wingers in Diamond midfield?
Should we use 4-4-2 or 3-5-2?

Lets talk about those too, we can fill the positions with Premier League All Stars at their prime but still play bad cause we dont have a good tactic and formation

Just to remind people how weird Arsenal tactics sometimes, remember, we played very high line with Mertesacker, and made Adebayor run to the wings to cross to Cesc Fabregas, tactical moves so weird you wont even find it on FIFA

 

[krackpot]

If Carrasco signs up, he might save Emery's AFC career

 

[idan]

Alexis-Auba/Laca-Carrasco
------------------------
Iwoby-----------Praet
----------Toriera-----------
lb---cb---Sokratis---Bellerin
------------Leno-------------

Gk,Holding,Kola,Niles,Guen,Nelson,Auba/Laca.
Iwoby has to play in the middle.
Can carry the ball forward, athletic and physical.

 

[db10fan]

I think the team can be challenging for top 4 next season if we do some smart transfers, ins and outs.

Let’s start with players we should let go :
Mustafi (£ 20 M); Xhaka (£ 30 M) : both too error prone, yet both should have good market value.
Mkhi (£ 10 M) : will be declining soon, on high wages, inconsistent when played and rather injury prone.
Elneny (£ 5 M) : sadly has no standout qualities.
Kos & Monreal : Both old and declining, i feel its time to rebuild the defense, however if they are willing to stay as back ups and mentors to younger players, then let them stay, they have little market value anyway.
Jenko : only good as emergency RFB, relatively high wages, sell him at any price or loan him to save some of his wages.
Ospina (£ 5 M) : Too good to be 2nd choice GK but not as good as Leno, better sold as there will be clubs willing to take him.

Then players we should let go if good offers came :
Iwobi (£ 30 M) : has been improving but sadly not in his final pass/shot which we really need especially next season with Ramsey gone, should have good market value for investing in better AM.
Kolasinac (£ 20 M) : Good as LWB but only decent as LFB, I think we can get more well rounded LFB/LWB.

But there is a player I think we can’t let go :
Özil : I dont think we can sell or loan him with his wages, thus we just have to use him, just hope Emery and Özil can work it out with a better balanced team.

Finally, players we should only let go if a crazy good offer came :
Auba or Laca, each at least £ 50 M : Our best players which we should built the team around, however every player has his price, I think we can get 1 very good winger prospect and 1 good CF prospect from Auba or Laca sale.

Assuming Auba, Laca, and Özil stay, and we sell all the others mentioned above plus £ 40 M basic transfer budget then we can have around £ 160 M to spend on players.

Of the youngsters, I think if he is ready to challenge in the 1st team then make him 2nd choice in the 1st team. If he is nearly ready to challenge in the 1st team then loan him out to get as much competitive playing experience, without costing us too much from his mistakes. If he is not nearly ready to challenge in the 1st team than keep him with the 1st team as 3rd/emergency back up and to play against lower division teams in the cups, hopefully a year training/playing with the 1st team will make them ready for loan or challenge in the 1st team next year.
Mavropanos : need a loan to play and improve.
Medley : try him as 3rd/emergency back up.
Bielik : try him as 3rd/emergency back up.
ESR : seems ready as back up at AM/Winger but may need a loan to play and improve.
Willock : seems ready as back up at CM/AM but may need a loan to play and improve.
Nelson; Amaechi; Saka : Try 2 of them as our wingers, loan the other 1.
Nketiah : need a loan to play and improve.
John-Jules : try him as 3rd/emergency back up.

Next season base to build on will be :

GK : Leno; Martinez.

RFB : Bellerin – also as 1st RWB, will he return as good physically after his knee injury?

RCB : Chambers - has proven to be good CB/DM on his loans and can be an emergency RFB.

CB : Sokratis; Holding - will he return as good physically after his knee injury?

LCB : Medley – as 3rd LCB/LFB

LFB :

RWB : AMN - also as 2nd RFB and emergency option at CM/RW/LFB/LWB

LWB :

DM : Bielik - should be fine to try as 3rd DM/CB.

RCM : Torreira; Guendouzi.

LCM :

AM : Özil; Willock or ESR (Loan out 1 of them).

Wingers : Nelson; Amaechi or Saka (Loan out 1 of them).

CF : Auba; Laca; John-Jules.


Based on the above our priorities should be :

1. LCM : we have none. We need someone mobile, strong, capable to pass/dribble the ball forward, support the attack, yet can help defending well.

2. Player who can play as both LFB/LWB : we have none. We need someone who is good at both defending and attacking with good skills on the ball.

3. Player who can play as both LCB/LFB : only have emergency back up level in Medley. We need someone physically dominant, mentally switched on with good skills on the ball.

4. DM : only have back up level in Chambers and Bielik. We need someone mobile, physically dominant but also have good technical skills.

5. Player who can play as both RCB/RFB : only have back up level in Chambers. We need someone physically dominant, mentally switched on with good skills on the ball.

6. CF : Need a different style forward as option to Auba/Laca, that is a tall, strong yet mobile forward with good aerial prowess and good scoring record.

7. Wingers/AM : we have several highly rated youngsters, lets see what they can do next season, or loan someone unwanted from the bigger clubs.

8. GK : Free/Cheap/Loan GK as 3rd choice.

With £ 160 M, we can have 5 £ 30 M players for priority 1-5, and 1 £ 10 M player for priority 6, or we can loan someone unwanted from the bigger clubs. That can be good enough if we choose the right players.

 

[squallman]

I think we need a fresh start, this squad has the stink of failure on it.

Mustafi has made 112 appearances for us, Xhaka 134.

Burn it all down and start again.

Anyone who was brought in under Emery can stay, along with Iwobi (unless someone offers stupid money) and one of Laca/Auba.

The rest? Can all go

 

[Tourbillion]

I think we need a fresh start, this squad has the stink of failure on it.

Mustafi has made 112 appearances for us, Xhaka 134.

Burn it all down and start again.

Anyone who was brought in under Emery can stay, along with Iwobi (unless someone offers stupid money) and one of Laca/Auba.

The rest? Can all go

Yutes can stay.

 

[squallman]

Yutes can stay.

I wasn't thinking about the kids when I made my post, was only referring to senior first team players.

The kids haven't been around this group of failures long enough to be affected.

This isn't even about which players I like or dislike, the club just needs a refresh. Juventus had a massive squad turnover two summers in a row before they started dominating. Bringing in three or four (if we're lucky) players at a time hasn't worked for us because we plug one hole then two or three more appear.

That is a major problem of mine when it comes to our squad building, we only look at fixing past mistakes instead of trying to insulate ourselves for the future.

I'll give two examples. 1. When Arteta first arrived and was playing well, he was 29/30. Same with Santi. Sczezny was in goal and our pressing issue at the time was at striker so Wenger tried to bring in one every summer and we brought in a few defenders. Did anyone at the club go, well our two best midfielders will be getting up in age soon, perhaps we should sign someone we can groom to take over from them in a few years?

No, everyone at the club thought the situation was fine and didn't bring in a midfielder until Arteta and Santi had both either broken down or outright retired. It's annoying how ridiculously short sighted we are. Chelsea signed Cech's replacement when the latter was still in his prime and loaned said replacement out.

2. I'm afraid we will do the same thing with Aubameyang and Lacazette. The club will go well we have two great strikers and don't need to sign anyone up front ignoring their ages. I know we've been linked to a Brazilian striker and the deal is allegedly close. If that is true it represents a good change of pace from our usual atrocious squad building.

In summary I want our squad building to be done with not only what we need right now in mind, but what we will need in 2-3 years (planning for any longer than that in football is a fool's errand in my opinion due to unpredictable the game is)

 

[say yes]

Don't thank Koscielny, he should be the one thanking us.

Nah, that’s too far for me. Koscielny has been a very good player for us.

A lot of people overrate his time at the club, but that doesn’t mean that we have to demean it. Will ultimately remember him as a great, if flawed, defender who coasts into our best XI of the Emirates era - even if he won’t get remembered as one of the club’s all time greats.

Seriously good value for money too. It’s a real shame he didn’t have a proper CB partner next to him for most of his time here.

 

[Dutch D]

I want us to work towards a 4-3-3 formation, with ball-playing CB’s, actual wingers and a midfield-three as described in the Praet topic (‘creative’ 8, ‘all-action’ 8, ‘anchor’ 6).

These players will definitely not be part of the squad next season:
Cech, Lichtsteiner, Jenkinson, Welbeck, Ramsey (free)

Based on what I’m reading we’ll try to acquire a LB, CB, CM, LW, as well as Claude-Maurice and Martinelli. That leaves us with the following squad (categorized in best position):

LW: Buy, Iwobi, Saka
ST: Aubameyang, Lacazette, Nketiah, Martinelli
RW: Mkhitaryan, Nelson, Amaechi

B2B: Buy, Willock, Guendouzi, Maitland-Niles
CDM: Torreira, Chambers, Elneny, Bielik
Creative CM: Özil, Claude-Maurice, Xhaka, Smith-Rowe

LB: Buy, Kolasinac, Monreal
CB: Buy, Sokratis, Koscielny, Mustafi, Holding, Mavropanos
RB: Bellerin, Osei-Tutu

GK: Leno, Martinez, Ospina

In terms of quantity our squad is really quite large. At the same time, in terms of quality we’re really lacking a B2B, CDM and RB. It appears only one of these (B2B) will be addressed this summer.

GK: Sell Ospina, keep Martinez as back up. We're fine here.

In defense that means we either have to keep Osei-Tutu or abuse Maitland-Niles another season as makeshift RB. There are quite some free agents on the market again this summer (Abate, Alves, Juanfran), only one of whom I’d consider. Our CB’s lack skill on the ball, I only consider Koscielny and Holding adequate in that regard, so that should be one of the qualities of the CB that is brought in. I’d also like this CB to be fast/physical for my desired high defensive line (Upamecano or Konate seem to fit the bill, Hermoso to a lesser extent). Obviously, Mustafi has to go. If we only bring in one CB, I’d keep Mavropanos around, otherwise loan. In LB, Monreal is past it and Kolasinac does not fit the desired formation. The latter represents value, so he should be sold. Can buy a prospect to compete with our new LB next season, when Monreal leaves on a free.

In midfield, we have the numbers, but not the desired profiles or quality. Xhaka does not really fit in any of the categories due to his lack of mobility and defensive skills. His passing is his main attribute so I classified him as a creative CM. I doubt he’ll be sold, although I wish he will be. In CDM we really only have one viable option. I would seriously consider keeping Bielik around purely because of the lack of cover for this position. Or Maitland-Niles could be tried there, but I feel his weaknesses make him ill-suited for that position (concentration, tidiness). Chambers and Elneny should be sold to fund the B2B midfielder to be brought in. This should be an all-action midfielder who can contribute on both sides of the pitch (my hope is on Tielemans or Barella, possibly Partey who would solve our RB conundrum in the short-term until Bellerin is match fit). I think it’s best for all parties if Özil finds a new club. However, I doubt it will happen. He does not really fit in a midfield three, so I would move him to RW and hope Claude-Maurice steps up. Otherwise, I think we’re stuck with Xhaka in there. We could consider keeping Smith-Rowe around to compete with ACM for that position, but I fear he won’t get enough game time and should therefore be loaned. Have high hopes for him in the long-term.

On the wings, we have numbers, but lack quality again. I think LW should be our marque signing, think big (bigger than Carrasco, who I’m not keen on, or Fraser). I would like to see Iwobi sold, as he has not developed as I had hoped despite the numerous chances, but I have not seen any indication he’ll leave. Mkhitaryan is also too inconsistent and I expect we should be able to find a buyer. Nelson must step up as the other winger. One of Saka/Amaechi can be the fourth winger, the other should be loaned to a good side.

For the strikers we have two quality options and a quality 3rd striker. I’m afraid Nketiah won’t get enough game time (again), so I would loan him to a decent side and use Martinelli and academy prospects as back-up.

Conclusion
I think we’d be in a decent position if we get top quality on those 4 positions we’re rumoured to be looking for additions (think Tierney, Upamecano, Tielemans, Soares). I’d still like to see additional outgoings (most notably Xhaka, Özil, Iwobi) and incomings, though. We’re very short in RB and could use an additional quality CM. I would also think adding Ziyech as wide playmaker is a no-brainer for the quality and the tactical flexibility he’d provide (as a playmaker behind two strikers). Adding three more signings (potentially another CB as well) in addition to the 6 that are supposedly planned is rather unrealistic though (wish list stuff, as I have repeatedly done). If possible I really think we should push for another RB though, especially with the Osei-Tutu links.

 

[Ricardinho]

First-team squad going into pre-season...

Goalkeeper
Leno
Martinez
Ospina (possible move to Napoli)

Defenders
Bellerin
Mustafi
Koscielny
Sokratis
Mavropanos
Holding
Monreal
Kolasinac
Maitland-Niles
Jenkinson
Chambers

Midfielders
Torreira
Guendouzi
Xhaka
Elneny
Özil
Mkhitaryan
Iwobi
Nelson
Smith-Rowe
Bielik

Forwards
Aubameyang
Lacazette
Nketiah​

New thread. Lock it up partner @American_Gooner