Squad Analysis 2021/22

[BigPoppaPump]

Goalkeepers
Bernd Leno
Aaron Ramsdale
Arthur Okonkwo

Defenders
Kieran Tierney
Benjamin White
Gabriel Magalhães
Rob Holding
Cédric Soares
Takehiro Tomiyasu
Nuno Tavares
Calum Chambers
Pablo Mari
Sead Kolasniac

Midfielders
Thomas Partey
Bukayo Saka
Martin Ødegaard
Emile Smith-Rowe
Ainsley Maitland-Niles
Albert Lokonga
Mohammed El-Neny
Granit Xhaka

Forwards
Alexandre Lacazette
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang
Nicolas Pépé
Folarin Balogun
Eddie Nketiah
Gabriel Martinelli​

 

[Riou]

Still think we have a better squad than most people think.

A manager that the players believe in, could get a good league season out of this bunch.

 

[Monstar-Gunn4r]

Same situation as usual - first team looks great with some question marks and still a real lack of quality beyond that.

 

[IstraBalagina]

Add a top CM + Forward get a proper manager, then we have a team that can challenge

 

[A_G]

Balogun and Eddie playing U23 football today, why were they kept around?

 

[Paperino]

Balogun and Eddie playing U23 football today, why were they kept around?

Eddie is not fully fit so a few minutes with the U23s is fine in his case. Balogun should be on loan though.

 

[Wrighty4eva]

Squad is pants tbh

 

[Trilly]

Squad can challenge for top four with a good manager, still a couple signings away from being a team that makes you set top four as the minimum expectation.

 

[db10fan]

Goalkeepers
Bernd Leno
Aaron Ramsdale
Arthur Okonkwo

Defenders
Kieran Tierney
Benjamin White
Gabriel Magalhães
Rob Holding
Cédric Soares
Takehiro Tomiyasu
Nuno Tavares
Calum Chambers
Pablo Mari
Sead Kolasniac

Midfielders
Thomas Partey
Bukayo Saka
Martin Ødegaard
Emile Smith-Rowe
Ainsley Maitland-Niles
Albert Lokonga
Mohammed El-Neny
Granit Xhaka

Forwards
Alexandre Lacazette
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang
Nicolas Pépé
Folarin Balogun
Eddie Nketiah
Gabriel Martinelli​

Top 6-7 with a good manager, Top 4 with an elite manager, Champion if Lady Fortuna is a Gooner.

 

[GeorgiaGunner]

Squad can challenge for top four with a good manager, still a couple signings away from being a team that makes you set top four as the minimum expectation.

Top 6, IMO. We're nowhere near as good as City, Chelsea, Liverpool, or United.

 

[Atlas]

Seriously lacking some star quality in that list. Ain’t going anywhere till we get our Özil+Sanchez or Cesc+RVP.

 

[OnlyOne]

Top 6 squad that with the right coach could push a league title in a few years with a couple of additions.

As people has said we’re just wasting time with Mikel as we all know how it will end.

 

[Multipass]

Goalkeepers
Bernd Leno
Aaron Ramsdale
Arthur Okonkwo

Defenders
Kieran Tierney
Benjamin White
Gabriel Magalhães
Rob Holding
Cédric Soares
Takehiro Tomiyasu
Nuno Tavares
Calum Chambers
Pablo Mari
Sead Kolasniac

Midfielders
Thomas Partey
Bukayo Saka
Martin Ødegaard
Emile Smith-Rowe
Ainsley Maitland-Niles
Albert Lokonga
Mohammed El-Neny
Granit Xhaka

Forwards
Alexandre Lacazette
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang
Nicolas Pépé
Folarin Balogun
Eddie Nketiah
Gabriel Martinelli​

So our 22 seems to have shaped up with some formation variations:

Ramsdale/Leno
Tomiyasu/chambers - Gabriel/Mari - white/holding - tierney/Tavares
Partey/lokongo- Xhaka/AMN
Saka/pepe ESR/martinelli/nketiah
Ødegaard/ESR
Aubemyang/lacazette/nketiah

I was happy with our transfer incomings and even more satisfied having seen how ready they have been to contribute to the premier league .

But honestly what role is there for Kolasinac,Cedric or Elneny for the rest of this season. We would need half a dozen injuries for them to play any part. Particularly given our formation change and options in the middle . ok to have Nketieh as the third striker to play of the bench in the cups and another option on the wing but balogun had to be sent on loan.

At this time I wish you could make loans to lower leagues outside the transfer window like in the old days

 

[drippin]

I counted our current starting eleven's ages, now after we know Xhaka is out for three months. Most are rounded to less or more, but I think they equaled pretty nicely to show true average age.

Xhaka is 2,5 years older than Pepe so that wouldn't matter very much here anyway. Sambi might take the midfield spot against tougher opponents, and is soon 22 years old.

This is pretty crazy, must be the youngest starting eleven in the league. The average age of our starting eleven is about 24,5 years old.

Great that many of these players look like mature persons and leaders despite their age.

Pepe(26,5)-Auba(32)-Saka(20)
ESR(21)-Ødegaard(23)
Partey(28)
Tierney(24)-Gabriel(24)-White(24)-Tomiyasu(23)
Ramsdale(23,5)

 

[Barry]

I counted our current starting eleven's ages, now after we know Xhaka is out for three months. Most are rounded to less or more, but I think they equaled pretty nicely to show true average age.

Xhaka is 2,5 years older than Pepe so that wouldn't matter very much here anyway. Sambi might take the midfield spot against tougher opponents, and is soon 22 years old.

This is pretty crazy, must be the youngest starting eleven in the league. The average age of our starting eleven is about 24,5 years old.

Great that many of these players look like mature persons and leaders despite their age.

Pepe(26,5)-Auba(32)-Saka(20)
ESR(21)-Ødegaard(23)
Partey(28)
Tierney(24)-Gabriel(24)-White(24)-Tomiyasu(23)
Ramsdale(23,5)

It's a good thing in my opinion, most of the team now are experienced but also with room to grow and improve. There are no guarantees but if we end up having a good season this year (5th or 6th placed finish) then you'd expect this team to have another gear next year just from their natural development & from playing together consistently as well.

6 signings this summer was an awful lot of change to bed into the team in one go. Early signs are good - next winter / summer I hope we just go big for one or two exceptional players. Probably a CM & a striker. Get those signings right - hopefully also bring back Saliba into the squad and we've got top 4 potential I think.

Don't want to get ahead of myself though. Arteta has to keep winning matches and improve the consistency of our performances first.

 

[drippin]

It's a good thing in my opinion, most of the team now are experienced but also with room to grow and improve. There are no guarantees but if we end up having a good season this year (5th or 6th placed finish) then you'd expect this team to have another gear next year just from their natural development & from playing together consistently as well.

6 signings this summer was an awful lot of change to bed into the team in one go. Early signs are good - next winter / summer I hope we just go big for one or two exceptional players. Probably a CM & a striker. Get those signings right - hopefully also bring back Saliba into the squad and we've got top 4 potential I think.

Don't want to get ahead of myself though. Arteta has to keep winning matches and improve the consistency of our performances first.

I wanted to replace Elneny with a starting CM last window, but understand if the money was too tight.

But like you say, looks like we don't need defenders other than a starting/backup RB maybe. We need a starting CM and next year a striker, and a GK. GK should be easy and cheap enough with how the market is looking.

Other than that, the squad is starting to look balanced and complete after many years.

We would replace at least Leno, Elneny, Chambers, Laca and maybe Holding with more or similar quality, and less age. Looks like the low age will continue nicely towards the future.

 

[Barry]

Some interesting academy prospects a year or two out from the first team as well. Always hard to guage how good they are, but Ballard, Azeez, Patino, Hutchinson & Balogun could be ready to step up over that time period. I like what I've seen from Biereth this season as well.

 

[drippin]

Not sure how interesting it is, but I thought to count our current starting eleven average height. I got 183,7 cm with Sambi, with Pepe or Xhaka it's almost the same. Actually I didn't count the GK here so it's starting ten. The data is from Transfermarkt.

I think almost 184 cm is very nice, especially once some players fill out their frame. Does anyone know have we been this tall earlier, Invincibles times probably?

Anyone care to count the average height of that starting eleven?

 

[Barry]

Fair bit of athleticism across the team now as well. We should be a tricky team to handle if we can get the tactics and coaching right. And score some goals.

 

[Barry]

Ranking the 20 Premier League clubs by average age of their squads - Planet Football

While some Premier League clubs pride themselves on what they do with their young players, others value experience over youth.

www.planetfootball.com