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Squad Analysis 2020/21

Yousif Arsenal

On Vinai's payroll & misses 4th place trophy 🏆
Trusted ⭐
Leno
New RB - New CB - Gabriel - Tierney
Partey - New CM
Pepe - New AM/CM - Saka
Auba​

Squad: New GK, AMN, Saliba, Holding, New LB, Willock, New CM, Nelson, ESR, Balogun, Martinelli, New CF

4 starting XI players
4 squad players

Big big big boy job
No top manager joining because he'll ask for big backing it's major overhaul job also you can't consider auba long term option because he'll be like 33 in 2 years he'll need replacing and also pepe he not performing well
 

DanDare

Emoji Merchant and Believer-In-Chief
Trusted ⭐

Player:Saliba
No top manager joining because he'll ask for big backing it's major overhaul job also you can't consider auba long term option because he'll be like 33 in 2 years he'll need replacing and also pepe he not performing well

I almost put new RW but I think Pepe should be kept until he's shown to be of no use in a functional team.
 

MikelHadADream

Established Member
Trusted ⭐
We need a CF as much as we need a creative midfielder, if not more. Its the most important position on the pitch after keeper. If we had a decent center forward this season I'm certain we'd have 5/6 more points (despite how **** the football has been).

Let's call a spade a spade, Auba's all round game isn't good enough go lead the line, keep him on the left, let him play off a proper focal point. We need someone that can occupy CB's, hold it up, link the play and be a presence in the box. Lacazette and Eddie are no where near good enough.

Its imperative we sign someone that can do these things in January and at the very latest the summer, it should be top priority.
 

benjamin86

Established Member
I almost put new RW but I think Pepe should be kept until he's shown to be of no use in a functional team.
I'd like to see us play
Nelson, Aubameyang, Pepe
Saka, Partey, AMN
Tierney, Gabriel, Luiz, Bellerin/Cedric
Leno
At some point!

I think that's a team we would see the best out of Pepe and it has a nice balance as Saka and AMN can drop into fullback when Tierney or Bellerin push up the pitch.
 

DanDare

Emoji Merchant and Believer-In-Chief
Trusted ⭐

Player:Saliba
I'd like to see us play
Nelson, Aubameyang, Pepe
Saka, Partey, AMN
Tierney, Gabriel, Luiz, Bellerin/Cedric
Leno
At some point!

I think that's a team we would see the best out of Pepe and it has a nice balance as Saka and AMN can drop into fullback when Tierney or Bellerin push up the pitch.

Luiz - Bellerin/Cedric :lol:
 

gunner4lyfe

Established Member
We made a big mistake in the summer by trying to get fees for certain player. Should have just cancelled the contracts and written it off as a loss.
 

Monstar-Gunn4r

Established Member
Go with the players who have good touch, can take the ball under pressure and move it forward. I reckon this team would overun most bottom half teams

Martinelli----Auba----Nelson
---------Saka------Ceballos
---------------Partey
Tierney--Gabriel--Holding--Niles

Nice dynamic forward line, the entire midfield enjoy moving the ball forward with Partey controlling the tempo. Plenty of threat from the fullbacks and probably the best centre back pairing we have unless Chambers come back as good as he was before injury.

Not sh*te footballers like Pepe who cant beat a man one on one, cant help in a counter attack, cant help when we're attakcing the final third, same goes for Willian. No more Xhaka who does nothing but plays very safe passes that kill us moving forward.

Every single one of those players has consistently shown a lot of fight and skill.

No more absoloute sh*te about trying to play Saka at left back, let Tierney defend and get forward hes brilliant at it. Let Saka have more ball and more influence on the game. Let Martinelli cause havoc with his movement and Nelson with his dribbling and passing.

Instead of developing this team we'll have to watch pepe and willian waste ball after ball and put in cross after cross.
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
Go with the players who have good touch, can take the ball under pressure and move it forward. I reckon this team would overun most bottom half teams

Martinelli----Auba----Nelson
---------Saka------Ceballos
---------------Partey
Tierney--Gabriel--Holding--Niles

Nice dynamic forward line, the entire midfield enjoy moving the ball forward with Partey controlling the tempo. Plenty of threat from the fullbacks and probably the best centre back pairing we have unless Chambers come back as good as he was before injury.

Not sh*te footballers like Pepe who cant beat a man one on one, cant help in a counter attack, cant help when we're attakcing the final third, same goes for Willian. No more Xhaka who does nothing but plays very safe passes that kill us moving forward.

Every single one of those players has consistently shown a lot of fight and skill.

No more absoloute sh*te about trying to play Saka at left back, let Tierney defend and get forward hes brilliant at it. Let Saka have more ball and more influence on the game. Let Martinelli cause havoc with his movement and Nelson with his dribbling and passing.

Instead of developing this team we'll have to watch pepe and willian waste ball after ball and put in cross after cross.

You've undone your first point by leaving out Luiz
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
Let's say a new manager comes in for January. His remit is to keep us up and playing better football. Easy win.

He sees a crop of talented academy players from Balogun to the 23 year old AMN, so the team has a heart beat.

He sees good level Premier league players like Leno, Luiz, Bellerin, Gabriel, Tierney.

You then have Partey and Auba as world class stars.

You have a summer to shift the dead wood and January to bring in a couple of players.

This isn't a terrible job. After reading all of that, I want Benitez.
 

Sebastes

Statbomb Merchant
Trusted ⭐

Country: Sweden
I just don't get why we play with such width. It's as if he's deliberately doing himself, the club and the players a disfavour just to prove a point and tell the board/Kroenke that he can't play football with this team.

We have Auba, Pepe, Willian and Reiss playing wide. None of them are wide players, imo and especially not Auba and Pepe. Why not play a proper 4-3-3 with Auba and Pepe as inside forwards?

Both Tierney and AMN has enough in their engines to play like Robertson and TAA and take full responsibility of the corridors. We can still play a crossing game if that's what Mikel wants, Pool cross a fair bit (I think, didn't look up numbers).

In Saka, Partey and Dani/Willock we have players that should be able to dominate most games from a ball retention perspective and progress the ball in the middle of the pitch. Both from a carrying as well as a passing perspective. Say we could get Buendia, Sabitzer or Aouar (in that order of priority) we would upgrade creativity in a mid three. If we instead got Bissouma we would upgrade athleticism. I still think we could manage without them though.

CF is the one I really don't get and one of our greater deficiencies imo. I don't think Laca nor Nketiah is good enough for us. Laca should just go and Eddie needs a loan so he can develop. Martinelli I'd like to see given more time. Maybe Auba could play there if we play with creative and technical inside forwards, but it would require a new signing as Willian isn't good enough and I think Nelson is better off with a loan. If a new CF and Auba wide it would be nice to have some who can drop deep and link play.

It's hard to visualise in a good way, but I'd like to see a 4-3-3 looking something like this and with the freedom to play football and not be stuck in this positional tactical bs Mikel is running with.

Leno
AMN, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney
Partey
Dani Saka
Pepe Auba/LW
CF/Auba​
 

Sebastes

Statbomb Merchant
Trusted ⭐

Country: Sweden
Let's say a new manager comes in for January. His remit is to keep us up and playing better football. Easy win.

He sees a crop of talented academy players from Balogun to the 23 year old AMN, so the team has a heart beat.

He sees good level Premier league players like Leno, Luiz, Bellerin, Gabriel, Tierney.

You then have Partey and Auba as world class stars.

You have a summer to shift the dead wood and January to bring in a couple of players.

This isn't a terrible job. After reading all of that, I want Allegri.
Fixed it for you :D
 

HaffBR

Designer of fancy pyramids
According Macro Football's method

https://macro-football.com/team/arsenal1819/
https://macro-football.com/team/arsenal1920/
https://macro-football.com/team/arsenal2021/
and to myself (brazilian):

Out of this club: Özil, Pepe, Xhaka, Mustafi, AMN, the second GK, Ceballos, Luiz, Guendouzi, Sokratis. For age and/or level.

then I would to see a 4-3-3 or a better 4-2-3-1 tho with a better players and better coach (Arteta impact ~negative 1.5, Allegri ~positive 5) a better ball progressor and perhaps a better playmaker too.

I would go for
Philippe Coutinho (knows the league, still only 28 years old, positive impact, better than Eriksen/Isco imo, I think he is being underrated nowadays, he is still a very good player)
and
Matheus Henrique (Brazil's u23 national team and Gremio's metronome, athletic, technique, hard worker and press resistant distributor).
then I would like to see

and a back up GK.

--------------- Aubameyang--------------------
Martinelli --- Coutinho --- Reiss Nelson
-------- M. Henrique --- Partey -------------
Tierney ---- Gabriel - Holding ---- Cedric
--------------------- Leno ------------------------


Manager: Allegri

Martinelli and Aubameyang could switch positions in the game too.

Subs

--------------- Lacazette ----------------
Willian ------- ESR -------------- Saka
---- Elneny --- Willock/Chambers ----
Kola ------- Mari -- Saliba ------- Bellerin
------------------- GK --------------------

With these players growing and with a good manager I think this team can make a TOP4!

Out of this club (or loan): Özil, Pepe, Xhaka, Mustafi, AMN, the second GK, Ceballos, Luiz, Guendouzi, Nketiah.
 
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HaffBR

Designer of fancy pyramids
Go with the players who have good touch, can take the ball under pressure and move it forward. I reckon this team would overun most bottom half teams

Martinelli----Auba----Nelson
---------Saka------Ceballos
---------------Partey
Tierney--Gabriel--Holding--Niles

I almost reached this lineup, but this midfield for me is trash (Saka is still not that good and Ceballos is very useless and dumb) and Niles has a very poor IQ and technique, Bellerin and Cedric are better than him, even Chambers!

Partey I would put in a double pivot with someone who has the minimum defensive notion (really not the case of Ceballos or even Saka), the minimum speed in the execution of the plays (not the case of Ceballos or Xhaka), press resistance (not the case of Xhaka) and who has good technique and physical endurance (from what I saw Saka tires fast).

Nowadays with the players Arsenal have it is Willian as a CAM, Elneny/Partey double pivot.

However, I came to this front three of Martinelli, Auba and Nelson too.
 

Dutch D

Well-Known Member & FPL Champion 19/20
I think with the current squad the best we can do is:

Martinelli - Auba - Saka
Smith-Rowe - Partey
Elneny
Tierney - Gabriel - Saliba - Bellerin
Leno
Really not excited by this squad, but it's slim pickings. All our attackers, including Auba, have massively disappointed. Our midfield is in absolute shambles with zero creativity, so we need ESR there because he is the only player in our squad who can occupy half spaces and keep the team ticking (except a certain exiled player).

Pepe has been dogsh*te, I hate to say, but Willian is no better. Would've preferred Torreira in Elneny's spot, but we don't have another CDM in the whole squad. Xhaka is probably the least worst option, but I'm just too sick of his flaws.

I hate Luiz and Holding as defenders, they never close down attackers always looking to back away and giving strikers acres of space to try a shot. Bellerin is also disappointting, had hoped AMN would've stepped up by now but the doesn't seem to care.
 

HairSprayGooners

My brother posted it ⏩
I think with the current squad the best we can do is:

Martinelli - Auba - Saka
Smith-Rowe - Partey
Elneny
Tierney - Gabriel - Saliba - Bellerin
Leno
Really not excited by this squad, but it's slim pickings. All our attackers, including Auba, have massively disappointed. Our midfield is in absolute shambles with zero creativity, so we need ESR there because he is the only player in our squad who can occupy half spaces and keep the team ticking (except a certain exiled player).

Pepe has been dogsh*te, I hate to say, but Willian is no better. Would've preferred Torreira in Elneny's spot, but we don't have another CDM in the whole squad. Xhaka is probably the least worst option, but I'm just too sick of his flaws.

I hate Luiz and Holding as defenders, they never close down attackers always looking to back away and giving strikers acres of space to try a shot. Bellerin is also disappointting, had hoped AMN would've stepped up by now but the doesn't seem to care.

Strongly agree with this. Would be my exact team actually. I'd juggle things around a bit when we can get the players in we need. Elneny and Bellerin being the main causes for concern.
 

HaffBR

Designer of fancy pyramids
Both Auba and Martinelli in an ideal world they should play.

Their Goalscoring contribution (G+A per 90) are (still in the case of Martinelli, few minutes) in line with the best forwards of this club (bar Henry).

Henry
228 Goals 89-104 Assists
338.82 90s
(G+A per 90 0.935) (Arsenal gpg 1.899)

Sanchez
80 Goals 41-45 Assists
150.56 90s
(G+A per 90 0.803) (Arsenal gpg 1.897)

Van Persie
132-133 Goals 51-55 Assists
207.71 90s
(G+A per 90 0.885) (Arsenal gpg 1.895)

Aubameyang
75 Goals 16 Assists
111.32 90s
(G+A per 90 0.817) (Arsenal gpg 1.669)

Martinelli
10 Goals 5 Assists
17.01 90s
(G+A per 90 0.882) (Arsenal gpg 1.607)

Lacazette
53 Goals 20-25 Assists
107.1 90s
(G+A per 90 0.681) (Arsenal gpg 1.692)

Pepe
13 Goals 12-13 Assists
43.2 90s
(G+A per 90 0.578) (Arsenal gpg 1.721)

Problem is: they will not receive the service they should to perform with this poor 3-4-3, Arsenal has dropped from 1.90 gpg (2002-2017) to ~1.60 gpg in the last 3 years.

Problems, so
You need a good final passer CAM to turn it into 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 diamond or 3-5-2, Özil was supposed to be that guy, but I don't believe him anymore or good creative CMs.
Grealish would be the ideal imo, but can Arsenal afford him? He wants to be a Arsenal player? I don't think so.

For now...

-------- Martinelli -- Aubameyang ---------
----------------- Willian ----------------------
Tierney ------------------------------ Bellerin
------------ Elneny --- Partey ----------------
------ Kolasinac - Gabriel -- Luiz -----------
------------------ Leno --------------------------

------------ Aubameyang --------------
Martinelli - Elneny - Partey - Willian
Tierney - Kola - Gabriel - Luiz - Bellerin
---------------- Leno ---------------------

Would be a good line up too.

with Lacazette as a sub for either Martinelli or Auba.

Still lacks a good final passer CAM, a good RM and a good CM, but it makes sense at last.
Let's say you buy Buendia (place of Bellerin) , Locatelli (place of Elneny) and Grealish (place of Willian) that would be a better team imo. Coutinho and specially Pellegrini would be good AMs too if Grealish is not available. Matheus Henrique if Locatelli goes to Juventus, for example.

..and a good manager, more fluid. I don't know if Arteta is still the man.
 

Gooner1988TK

Active Member
The state of this squad is sickening. We have people earning millions who can’t do a job. You have a manager who can lose game after game for months and keep his job. You have fullbacks who don’t have to be able to take a throw in, you have centre backs who don’t have to be able defend, you have midfielders who don’t have to be able to pass, you have wingers who don’t have to be able to cross or beat a man, you have Goalies who don’t have to be able to catch a ball, you have strikers who don’t have to score. No matter all this it’s all good and everyone can just go along, keep their jobs/positions in team and keep earning their millions and nobody is allowed to say anything about all of this. That’s all the analysis I need to do here.
 

Monstar-Gunn4r

Established Member
I almost reached this lineup, but this midfield for me is trash (Saka is still not that good and Ceballos is very useless and dumb) and Niles has a very poor IQ and technique, Bellerin and Cedric are better than him, even Chambers!

Partey I would put in a double pivot with someone who has the minimum defensive notion (really not the case of Ceballos or even Saka), the minimum speed in the execution of the plays (not the case of Ceballos or Xhaka), press resistance (not the case of Xhaka) and who has good technique and physical endurance (from what I saw Saka tires fast).

Nowadays with the players Arsenal have it is Willian as a CAM, Elneny/Partey double pivot.

However, I came to this front three of Martinelli, Auba and Nelson too.

I think you're underselling Saka, hes very direct, can take the ball under pressure and make some incisive passes. I prefer him as a winger but given the players we have right now hes probably best used there.

Ceballos is decent at the things I want in the team which is being able to pass the ball forward, take the ball under pressure and willing to bust a gut to win a match. Not an amazing player but I think if hes given a bit more licence to roam he can do a bit more damage. I think he has shown more than a small amount of skill in running at the box as well.

I feel like a double pivot is inviting pressure on us when we should be swarming forward and pressing the opposition at every chance. We dont seem to be able to defend well so we might as well make sure teams find it difficult to get at us.
 

REEVIE1995

Active Member
Looking at the squad these are the only players I actually want to keep past next summer.

Goalkeepers: Leno
Defence: Tierney, AMN, Gabriel, Chambers, Saliba
Midfield: Partey, Willock, Smith Rowe
Wingers: Martinelli Saka, Nelson
Forwards: Auba, Nketiah, Balogun

Everyone else can go in my mind. The size of the rebuild needed cannot be understated. Most of the players I have listed are still very young and are still growing. The midfield is clearly the biggest issue.
 

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