The Wish List

[Anzac]

D Alves... I can see Wenger buying him if Barca sell cheap enough.
He wants to leave.

He's 31 - the same age as Sagna.

 

[Brotherz]

D Alves... I can see Wenger buying him if Barca sell cheap enough.
He wants to leave.

He's 31 - the same age as Sagna.

That's why I think he will step in and replace Sagna well.
Jenkinson is not a bad young right back to have as a backup.

 

[Anzac]

That's why I think he will step in and replace Sagna well.
Jenkinson is not a bad young right back to have as a backup.

IMO whilst he's an upgrade on Sagna offensively I think we'd have the same contract issues re his age in trying to sign him as has resulted in Sagna's departure.

 

[DJ_Markstar]

That's why I think he will step in and replace Sagna well.
Jenkinson is not a bad young right back to have as a backup.

IMO whilst he's an upgrade on Sagna offensively I think we'd have the same contract issues re his age in trying to sign him as has resulted in Sagna's departure.

The other difference being that Dani Alves is about 3 levels better than Sagna currently and well worth throwing a 3 year contract at.

 

[ArsenesNO1Fan]

Why does everyone think Cesc can't tackle, when given a role similar to Ramsey's he had about 2.6 tackle per game which is good. If Wenger wanted that team then it wouldn't leak goals, people like to push this idea because of the glamour of a DM in big games. When in reality there things we can address to win those games.

How many years ago was that though and is it really enough for us to be defensively solid? He likes to have his freedom to create, especially in recent years. I question his stamina too.

 

[ArsenesNO1Fan]

You're wrong on Arteta, he makes a very high number of tackles per game, even now past his prime he's averaging 3.4 tackles per game, the same as Schneiderlin and joint 3rd highest in the league. Arteta ranks only 31st in the PL on interceptions at 2.0, compared to Schneiderlin's 2.1. He does lack physical presence and stamina now ofcourse.

You're looking at stats out of context again, as I said we dominate possession so we won't make as many tackles. Barce and Bayern make less tackles and interceptions than us because they rarely give the ball away.

Defensively the Arteta/Ramsey pivot is pretty sound, but we should look to get an Arteta replacement or understudy if possible.

ManC won the PL and their stats are as good and usually better than ours in every category. Most of the top PL & CL teams make more tackles than us and we are in the mix re interceptions. Bayern are an anomaly as they had 71% possession with Barca 2nd at 67% & PSG as the only other team above 60%.

Arteta makes tackles but IMO they are not 'good' tackles, as whilst he ranks 7th in the PL re tackles, he is also joint highest for dribbled by amongst those with the higher tackle counts at DM. This suggests that his tackling may be more of a last resort/desperation than being an actual strength.
I also note that he has few yellow cards compared to most other primary DMs - Gareth Barry has 10 compared to Ateta's 3 (even Flamini and Rozza have 8 apiece as does Scheiderlin & even Shrek). However at the same time Arteta also has a red card whilst only Flamini does from those other names, and none of the top7 re yellows. This to me also indicates that there are issues either with Arteta's play and/or our defensive patterns.

Yes Arteta has been left for dead a few times this year, he lacks pace and power defensively. His positioning sees him cover for that and win the ball allot but he can still be beaten for pace too easily. Kheidra who we're linked to is the opposite in a way, not got a season on record where he averages more than 2 tackles but has a very very low dribbled past stat and is physically immense.

It's much worse when he's partnered with someone like Wilshere or Chamberlain ofcourse who doesn't defend. And against Chelsea when it seemed Cazorla and Arteta were the double pivot.

 

[Charisma]

Lichtsteiner
Richards
Schneiderlin
Sanchez
Lukaku

 

[MutableEarth]

Wenger was apparently jizzing on commentary over Griezmann again, compared him to Pires for a 2nd time.

Hopefully he puts a ring on it

(Griezmann scored 2 from the bench tonight)

 

[Brotherz]

Maybe we've already signed him but it's not official.

 

[Iceman10]

Wenger was apparently jizzing on commentary over Griezmann again, compared him to Pires for a 2nd time.

Hopefully he puts a ring on it

(Griezmann scored 2 from the bench tonight)

I don't want to be Wenger bashing and generally admire the man, there are few in the world that could do what he does, but at the end of the day he can admire a player as much he wants but he will only get that player if his valuation is agreeable with the prospective selling club, not least as other clubs are in for Griezmann. Also I suspect Griezmann is one of a few players being considered for LW, perhaps in his case as an option for CF long term also, but of course Di Maria would be ahead of him if available and we wouldn't get both. Griezmann to RM and Di Maria to Arsenal would be nice :wink:

 

[Inthe blood]

 

[truth_hurts]

Griezmann would be a good signing, him and Ox could run rampant for years.

 

[MutableEarth]

Wenger was apparently jizzing on commentary over Griezmann again, compared him to Pires for a 2nd time.

Hopefully he puts a ring on it

(Griezmann scored 2 from the bench tonight)

I don't want to be Wenger bashing and generally admire the man, there are few in the world that could do what he does, but at the end of the day he can admire a player as much he wants but he will only get that player if his valuation is agreeable with the prospective selling club, not least as other clubs are in for Griezmann. Also I suspect Griezmann is one of a few players being considered for LW, perhaps in his case as an option for CF long term also, but of course Di Maria would be ahead of him if available and we wouldn't get both. Griezmann to RM and Di Maria to Arsenal would be nice :wink:

Depends what you want from left wing - assists or goals? Di Maria less likely to be outlet, but still direct. Griezmann is almost completely a wing-forward and will get goals.

Either way, we'll see.

 

[Johnny_Blaze]

I would go with Di Maria every time. I'd be happy to pay £10m-£15m more for him than Griezmann even if he scores fewer goals. He and Özil had a wonderful partnership in Madrid.

Real's counter-attacks with Di Maria and Özil running through teams were things of beauty.

 

[MutableEarth]

I would go with Di Maria every time. I'd be happy to pay £10m-£15m more for him than Griezmann even if he scores fewer goals. He and Özil had a wonderful partnership in Madrid.

Real's counter-attacks with Di Maria and Özil running through teams were things of beauty.

I'd be inclined to agree purely based on quality, but my dilemna would be this:

Who is on the end of those counter attacks? Just Theo and Rambo?

 

[Iceman10]

Wenger was apparently jizzing on commentary over Griezmann again, compared him to Pires for a 2nd time.

Hopefully he puts a ring on it

(Griezmann scored 2 from the bench tonight)

I don't want to be Wenger bashing and generally admire the man, there are few in the world that could do what he does, but at the end of the day he can admire a player as much he wants but he will only get that player if his valuation is agreeable with the prospective selling club, not least as other clubs are in for Griezmann. Also I suspect Griezmann is one of a few players being considered for LW, perhaps in his case as an option for CF long term also, but of course Di Maria would be ahead of him if available and we wouldn't get both. Griezmann to RM and Di Maria to Arsenal would be nice :wink:

Depends what you want from left wing - assists or goals? Di Maria less likely to be outlet, but still direct. Griezmann is almost completely a wing-forward and will get goals.

Either way, we'll see.

A difference maker for me, in addition to technical ability and stats, is the dimension of character to stand up and be counted in the big matches. Di Maria has been playing in the cauldron of Madrid for some time and of course his performance in the CL final is a strong positive. With Griezmann there are some doubts regarding big match performance but of course that could be part of the maturing process. He can put that straight to an extent when the world cup kicks in for real.

 

[Johnny_Blaze]

I'd be inclined to agree purely based on quality, but my dilemna would be this:

Who is on the end of those counter attacks? Just Theo and Rambo?

Those two and hopefully a new, pacey striker would be more than enough, IMO. If the signing of Di Maria means no striker, then I want us to play Chamberlain out wide and Theo up front. I'm also certain Wenger will be working on Özil scoring more goals during pre-season.

Di Maria is my dream signing at the moment, just shading Martinez. Having Özil, Di Maria, Ramsey, Ox and Theo/new striker just elevates our attack to a whole level with its pace and penetration.

 

[Anzac]

Yes Arteta has been left for dead a few times this year, he lacks pace and power defensively. His positioning sees him cover for that and win the ball allot but he can still be beaten for pace too easily. Kheidra who we're linked to is the opposite in a way, not got a season on record where he averages more than 2 tackles but has a very very low dribbled past stat and is physically immense.

It's much worse when he's partnered with someone like Wilshere or Chamberlain ofcourse who doesn't defend. And against Chelsea when it seemed Cazorla and Arteta were the double pivot.

The other interesting thing is that all 3 of Arteta (7th), Rambo (9th) and Cazorla (15th) are in the top15 for being dribbled by in the PL last season - that 3/4 of our 4 man midfield. We are the only contender to have more than 1 starting player in the top20.

I also find it concerning that our top2 tacklers are also the 2 players that are beaten most often, and that they are our regular starting CMs. This suggests to me that AW's magic rectangle strategy for a 4 man midfield is only any good when in possession of the ball to begin with, and that we are still not set up to actually win the ball back and that even with the extra player the 4 man midfield is essentially ineffective with 3 of the 4 being beaten far too often.

By comparison Schneiderlin is 26th, Özil 66th, Barkley 123rd, Hazard 127th, Gerrard 129th, Coleman 174th. Sagna, BFG, Flamini and Kos are all ranked around 200-220 and are less than 0.5 per game average.

 

[ASAP Berg]

Would anyone take Debuchy to replace Sagna? He has taken his NT place for France why not Arsenal?

 

[Iceman10]

Keep Vermaelen
RB (spend ~10m ideally on someone proven with Jenks remaining understudy)
Khedira (£15-20m)
Di Maria (£40m)
Balotelli (try to get price down to £20m)
(+ Low spend on replacement for Fabianski, ideally homegrown, ≤ £5m)

Big spend, quite a bit over £70m which is a more realistic expectation taking into account wages on top, but this is wish-listing. Some money can come in as an offset by leveraging Vela's release clause.

If AC Milan stand firm and will not reduce the price tag for Balotelli to significantly less than £30m (which is overpriced considering the pros/cons weigh up) I would consider Lukaku as an alternative, but of course Mourinho selling Lukaku to us is a challenge in of itself.