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Squad Analysis 2019/20

DanDare

Emoji Merchant and Believer-In-Chief
Trusted ⭐

Player:Saliba
Pretty optimistic if we do seal up Pepe, Tierney and a CB
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
I'd really like to see a poll as to how AM sees Iwobi - as CM/as winger and next to that, how many still/no longer believe in him.

As a ball carrying midfielder in a three. Wouldn't score or assist much, but could be huge in transitional play. Arguably our most balanced midfield would be Torreria, Ceballos and Iwobi.
 

Kingofthebongo

Active Member
3-4-1-2?

Auba and Pepe
Özil/Jo
Kola/Tierney(?) Ceballos Torreira Bellerin
Chambers Sokratis Holding

Defence in quantity rather than quality, since we simply lack the quality personnel. Auba and Pepe huge goal threats as inverted wingers. Ceballos to pick up the ball from Cb and transition to offence, Torreira sitting in front of defence when out of possession.

P.S I hate the 3 in the back, but we are truly hopeless without the added bodies there in tough/away games.
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
Five at the back doesn't seem to stop us conceding unnecessary goals and so for that reason I'd rather put the extra midfielder in - that at least makes us better to watch.

Goal keepers - Leno and Martinez are both talented, but neither is hugely proven. I'm not sure what the gap in quality is between the two, but Leno is CLEARLY No.1. C9mpetition level is very low, but I think we are okay goal keeper wise. 6.5/10

Full backs - Good depth, but a lack of real quality in my opinion. Provided he recovers fully, Bellerin is amongst the league's best, his back up of Jenkinson and Maitland Niles is poor though and neither would start in almost any Prem team. At left back we have the quality of Monreal, but he is clearly declining by the month and Kola seems only suited to playing wing back. Even our best full back in Bellerin has question marks over his defending. 4/10 - we definitely need a left back, ideally cover for Bellerin as well. Alves and Tierney pushes us to a 9.5
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
Central midfield - we don't have a single stand out player here, but that actually excites me as there is genuine competition for players. None of our cms are world class or proven at the top level, but all (bar ElNenny) have shown flashes or have the potential. Xhaka and Torreira could and should be two of the league's best, but they've both struggled to maintain form and perhaps aren't great as a pairing. Ceballos is mustard, but will he adapt to the league? Many Spanish artists have, but he comes with no guarantee. Between Willock, Guendouzi and Maitland-Niles there are 3 exceptionally talented young players - all with different skills. 7.

Attacking midfield - that bastard 'If football was played on paper argument. If it were, we'd arguably have the second best options after City. Özil, Mkhi, Ceballos, Iwobi, Smith Rowe and even Nelson at a push is a sickening wealth of talented options. Then you consider that Özil is inconsistent, as is Mkihi, and Ceballos is new. That leaves Iwobi as our most reliable option. On paper we are a 10 here, but until we find a system that allows our attacking Mids to flourish, it is pointless.

If Emery can find a system and style for our midfield- I'm excited.
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
Our attack! It's been overrated for years and years. We've had some great names, but I don't feel we've had an attack that's functions sincecaround 2008. We've had some great names is Arshavin, Sanchez, Podolski, Özil and Aubameyand and they've have individual success, but it has always felt that something is missing. In our Golden era, we had the best attack in the league HANDS DOWN! Finally, we are back in the conversation...

Wide forwards - everything suggests that we will play with 3 forwards most of the time and thankfully it's looking increasingly likely that we will be playing actual forwards in our forward line now. We haven't had a bums off seat Wide man since Sanchez left - enter Nicolas Pepe. Can he transition to one of Ligue 1s best to one of the Premier Leagues best? Time will tell, but he seems to possess so much of what our attack has missed post Sanchez - A skillfull, direct runner, who takes defenders out of the game, and knows where the goal is. Unfair to compare him to Sanchez for quality as Sanchez was proven at the highest levels, but Pepe finally gives us that wide forward who the opposition need to make plans for. Guessing he'll play on the right meaning PEA will play left! It's a shame that a top 3 striker in the league will spend a lot of time wide, but he has played there before and his out put is good from the position. I don't like him wide, but his pace, movement and knack of finding goal scoring positions make him a huge threat. He could score 20 goals from out wide, so who cares if he isn't a great dribbler or passer? Not me. Outside of these 2 monsters, our back up whilst exciting do not possess proven goal scoring ability. Mkhi hasn't delivered to his ability level, Iwobi is good but not a forward, our youngsters are unproven. GIVE THE YOUNGSTERS A CHANCE TO BE PROVEN UNAI! Between Saka, Nketiah, Nelson and Martinelli is an average age of less than 20 and complete fearlessness, it's easy to see one of these players grabbing the opportunity and really establishing themselves. I think it will be Nketiah. You want your wide forwards to possess a goal scoring and goal creating threat. We do now. 9
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
Strikers. Auba, Laca and Nketiah battling for 1 role. No more words needed. 10

Our squad could be improved upon. Ideally you bring in a Van Dijk into our defence, easier said than done and not happening with our budget. Salibah coming in next year, so this year I'd rather work on a system if we can't bring in the desired quality. If we are buying, then the defender has to be at least Koscielny level or why bother?

I think Bellerin needs support and competition as he's missed a lot of football in his young years and his current back up is poor. We don't have a top class left back, just 2 quite good ones.

I'm happy with our midfield and forward line. Perfect mix of quality, experience and youth.

I like our squad and I haven't said that for years.
 

ASIF

Active Member
I am not bringing him the faaaaack up!!!

I refuse to let the innane knee jerk reflexive answer to any sort of cm question or thread be: "gee Remember Cazorla, he was swell"

It is done add naseum ffs like some sort of meme.

He is vastly overrated and a sympthome of what the club did wrong, infuriarating that so many drank the kool-aid.

Let go of this naive romantik view and get with reality.

Comparing Xhaka and Cazorla is like comparing Apples and orange, oranges are just sweet no substance
You are full of shiite..Santi Cazorla was one of the best signings of Arsène.Most two footed player you will ever see.He use to start for Spain when Cesc and Thiago warmed the bench.He is still a class act I watch villareal from time to time to see Santi dominate the mid field after coming back from 2 years of injury and 11 operation.
He scored Twice at the bernebue this season to win the game.How can anybody hate on Santi the magician.
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
Santi was a fan favourite, versatile footballer, with almost unmatched natural talent. Further more, he is one of the best uses of 16m you will ever see (Welbeck cost the same). If you are a football fan and don't love Santi, then questions need to be asked, if you are an Arsenal fan and don't- I have no words.
 

14Henry

Looking for receipts 👀
Once Pepe gets complete get Tierney over the line and go all out for a CB.

In all honestly once Pepe and Tierney are done (if) that probably doesn't leave a whole lot left in the budget.

Could go to Liepzig for Konate or Benfica for Diaz ( they get great reviews here although I haven't seen them play much and their isn't that many options left).

Offer maybe someone like Mustafi and 40m.

Some of that money could be made up selling.

Elneny-6/7m
Koscileny 3m
Bielek 7-8m

Can't see Miki going with his high wages.

So we could potentially only have to find 20m or so the complete the deal and again obviously that would pay paid over time.
 

Tourbillion

Angry & Miserable
People in that over-optimistic mode again.

Until we don't have to rely on terrible defenders, we will not improve on last season.
 

Tourbillion

Angry & Miserable
You are full of shiite..Santi Cazorla was one of the best signings of Arsène.Most two footed player you will ever see.He use to start for Spain when Cesc and Thiago warmed the bench.He is still a class act I watch villareal from time to time to see Santi dominate the mid field after coming back from 2 years of injury and 11 operation.
He scored Twice at the bernebue this season to win the game.How can anybody hate on Santi the magician.
Why the **** did we let him go?
 

14Henry

Looking for receipts 👀
Why the **** did we let him go?
Because for 2 years he didn't play. He showed no real signs of playing missing the last part of the season where he couldn't even get a final farewell. He had setback after setback and operation after operation and at 34 it would have been too big a risk to renew a player on 70k or so a week when it didn't look good.

What happened after was hindsight at best. And while he played well last season for Villareal they were fighting relegation which means he was maybe the shinning light in a bad bunch.

Arsenal made the right and logical decision over Santi. He was one of my favourite players but as a club we did the right thing.
 

berric

Established Member

Player:Trossard
People in that over-optimistic mode again.

Until we don't have to rely on terrible defenders, we will not improve on last season.

We are relying on 2 out of 4 members of our backline returning straight to the team after long-term injuries without any consequences. Our potential LB signing will also not play until after international break.

We are potentially entering the Liverpool game with:
AMN - Chambers/Mustafi - Sok - Kola/Nacho

I don't see how we scrape a point there.

The regime earned my trust with the window but the defence issue seems far too neglected.
 

Hunta

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
On paper with Tierney and Pepe we have a team capable of finishing fourth. Not having 3/4 of our first choice back line available for the first couple of months will have us out of any title race early on.
 

BigPoppaPump

Reeling from Laca & Kos nightmares
We are relying on 2 out of 4 members of our backline returning straight to the team after long-term injuries without any consequences. Our potential LB signing will also not play until after international break.

We are potentially entering the Liverpool game with:
AMN - Chambers/Mustafi - Sok - Kola/Nacho

I don't see how we scrape a point there.

The regime earned my trust with the window but the defence issue seems far too neglected.

We have 1 RB we've been playing pretty much every game since he came in the team, and he's had 2 big injuries last season one after another. Now people expect him to be our first choce RB and play every game again, I'm really not tryna see AMN play there.

At least we have 2 LBs even if they're not ideal, we literally have 1 RB, we should've tried to find an upgrade on Hector since it's not like he's that amazing anyway. People have really been hyping him and Holding up.
 

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