Club confirm Sven Mislintat leaving Arsenal on February 8

[MutableEarth]

De ligt wants Barca. City want De Jong to play at the base of their midfield.

Really ticks a lot of boxes for City IMO, although I feel for the talent in the academy - City's academy is almost as good as Chelseas and arguably on par if not better than ours.

I think we have very good talents too - wouldn't argue they are on the level of De Jong, especially not at this point, but the potential is very high. We should be recruiting in positions of need though, even at that level. We lack LBs (Saka notwithstanding), GKs, RWs and specific type of CM (a more controlling type of player). So far, we have one - Matt Smith, and it's not really a given whether he makes it.

 

[Batman]

Barca will replace Pique with de Ligt and Busquets with de Jong and they’ll carry on winning everything like the pricks they are. It is known.

Can see them getting De Ligt but they're due for a pretty big step back IMO. Messi is the last prime connection to the superclub Pep turned them into. Once his play declines which will likely happen in conjunction with Madrid spending crazy money to get back on top of La Liga I can see them returning to their status as an entertaining club that pushes Madrid occasionally and does ok in the CL. Every year it seems they lose another piece of what makes them a draw for players and Messi is the last(and biggest) of those dominoes that will fall. They've enjoyed a historic period where so many things lined up for them but it's going to end shortly and they won't be at the level they're at anymore. They can't spend like the oil clubs and won't have the same kind of mystique to draw absolute top players. You could argue it's already happening to an extent.

 

[Wryer]

We always say football is a team sport. And then you look at Barcelona and Messi and you think twice. Stunning player and I will be proud to tell my grandchildren there used to be a player called Messi.

Sven - please find a Messi.

 

[The_Playmaker]

Really ticks a lot of boxes for City IMO, although I feel for the talent in the academy - City's academy is almost as good as Chelseas and arguably on par if not better than ours.

I think we have very good talents too - wouldn't argue they are on the level of De Jong, especially not at this point, but the potential is very high. We should be recruiting in positions of need though, even at that level. We lack LBs (Saka notwithstanding), GKs, RWs and specific type of CM (a more controlling type of player). So far, we have one - Matt Smith, and it's not really a given whether he makes it.

Been A lot of talk about us buying s winger even though Emery prefers to flood the box and use his full backs as wingers.

What is your opinion of AMN playing on the right? I mean we can look at all the youtube clips of Pepe, Pavon, Sarr and whoever else. When it really comes down to it you are looking for dribbling, pace, power, delivery and defensive contribution. AMN literally ticks all of those boxes in my opinion. I don't think people realise how many players he beats or how fast he actually is.

 

[SingmeasongSong]

We always say football is a team sport. And then you look at Barcelona and Messi and you think twice. Stunning player and I will be proud to tell my grandchildren there used to be a player called Messi.

Sven - please find a Messi.

True words, but isn't it a teamsport EXCEPT for the one team that has Messi ?

 

[dashsnow17]

Can see them getting De Ligt but they're due for a pretty big step back IMO. Messi is the last prime connection to the superclub Pep turned them into. Once his play declines which will likely happen in conjunction with Madrid spending crazy money to get back on top of La Liga I can see them returning to their status as an entertaining club that pushes Madrid occasionally and does ok in the CL. Every year it seems they lose another piece of what makes them a draw for players and Messi is the last(and biggest) of those dominoes that will fall. They've enjoyed a historic period where so many things lined up for them but it's going to end shortly and they won't be at the level they're at anymore. They can't spend like the oil clubs and won't have the same kind of mystique to draw absolute top players. You could argue it's already happening to an extent.

I agree insomuch as when we take a step back in 10 years time we’ll definitely see just how pronounced the Messi effect was and how much success coincided with him. I would caution though that Barca were big before Pep, they’re big arguably because of Cruyff and that is the source material from which they try to regenerate themselves.

They will suffer when Messi declines, without doubt, but if they ask themselves “what would Cruyff do?”, the obvious answer to me is building their next team around De Ligt and de Jong. However much City might want to interfere with that, there’s still a natural pecking order and only Madrid can rival Barca in that regard.

 

[Maybe]

What is your opinion of AMN playing on the right? I mean we can look at all the youtube clips of Pepe, Pavon, Sarr and whoever else. When it really comes down to it you are looking for dribbling, pace, power, delivery and defensive contribution. AMN literally ticks all of those boxes in my opinion. I don't think people realise how many players he beats or how fast he actually is.

Well, he was trained for that position when he was kid, only later he started to play CM (I think it was his final year in youth setup before joining the first team).

 

[MutableEarth]

Been A lot of talk about us buying s winger even though Emery prefers to flood the box and use his full backs as wingers.

What is your opinion of AMN playing on the right? I mean we can look at all the youtube clips of Pepe, Pavon, Sarr and whoever else. When it really comes down to it you are looking for dribbling, pace, power, delivery and defensive contribution. AMN literally ticks all of those boxes in my opinion. I don't think people realise how many players he beats or how fast he actually is.

It's his original position pre-u23s so I'd imagine he'd fare pretty well there. Played quite a few games there for Ipswich too. Worth noting that Jeorge Bird also thinks RW is his best position. He would perhaps need to rediscover his scoring touch - he scored a lot of goals as a winger, not so much as a more defensive minded CM, but with how rounded and complete his game is potentially becoming, it's not out of the realm of possibility that he goes full circle and ends up a winger again.

I still think using him as an #8 is the best use of his all-round ability, but theoretically, he could be used anywhere in midfield or full-back - as long as it's applied consistently and the result is carving out a role for himself to a high standard.

I agree on wingers so far - Emery seems to prefer multifunctional AMs, who don't quite play as wingers but also aren't straight up #10s either. Thinking of our own personnel, this would suit a Nelson or a Smith-Rowe more because they're budding AMs who play a lot of football out wide and have the physical attributes/dribbling ability to play there (Smith-Rowe in particular improved tenfold after he was moved central). People want out and out widemen, and I can easily understand why personally, but I think having someone who simply beats people 1v1 is enough. That could easily be an AM or inside forward - seeing as Emery's preference for those types precede the demand for a Zaha or a Sarr.

 

[L3T5 PL4Y]

Monaco is a bad example as they have an abundancy of CMs next to Tielemans and Golovin, their other new boy, and they are completely reshuffling that midfield after losing key players. So even with his price it's not surprising Tielemans is not a nailed on starter as they are still looking to find their balance overall. And btw most new signings are eased in somewhat, very few players have the ability and quality to ease in extremelx quickly.



You are right in that the price doesn't dictate the squad place, which I never argued. Guendouzi is a good example for this. Cost relatively less and is still very close to the starting XI.

What I'm arguing is that just going by the market, player prices and Arsenal's financial position in this market, you cannot have five 40 to 60m players sitting on the bench. That is impossible for this club and the vast majority of clubs out there. You arguing that they would be young, developable and rather easy to manage in terms of game time doesn't even face my argument of such a transfer policy stretching most any clubs resources beyond possible. It's a completely different matter.

So let's have an example. Let's have these guys:
Frenkie De Jong - 70m
De Ligt - 60m
Havertz - 50m

That's 180m for the bench right there. The potential to get into the starting XI is there, definitely, but right upon acquisition that's 180m for the bench. That is financially not possible for any club bar City and maybe 2 or 3 more especially if you take into account that Arsenal specifically will have to look for a (starting, depending on Kola) LB instead of Monreal rather soon and another starting CB very probably. So you're looking at over 300m. It's ridiculous to even entertain such ideas.

Now let's take it one further. So you have our current starting XI, plus Mkhitaryan, Guendouzi, Iwobi + Havertz, De Ligt and De Jong. Add Koscielny, Welbeck and Maitland-Niles. That's at least 20 players with starting ambitions or a claim for very regular game time; and just going by positions you have to leave 3 of the attackers out of the squad regularly, cause you need a GK, defenders and a striker on the bench, too. That right there is a recipe for unsatisfied players. Look at Bayern, an example you brought up with Goretzka: Sanches, James, Muller, Robben and Ribery have all gone to the press complaining about game time.

A squad consists of 23 players and you need to have guys in there who don't cost much cause you need the big money to bring in top players, who are happy to ride the bench or even not make the squad cause they can acknowledge the superior quality in the squad and who shut their mouth while doing this. Now the trick is to get as much value for money with these guys, cause every now and then for injury or rotation matters one or two of them might have to play.

Elneny is such a player, Havertz isn't.
Holding is such a player, de Ligt isn't.
Lichtsteiner is such a player, De Jong isn't.

Now if you think we could bring in one such high priced talent who's right in the vicinity of our starting XI, I'd agree with you. But de Ligt and de Jong are absolutely unattainable - they are City, Utd, Barca, Real material. Havertz might be possible, but honestly he's got Bayern written all over him. And btw a young, more clear cut winger like Neres, Bailey, Sarr would be a better addition than the three you mentioned - a U23 winger, CB and LB for 100 to 150m while losing Ramsey and Chambers and keeping everyone else would be a realistic good next summer for example.

It would make for a squad of 11 "starters", 5 to 7 "starting contenders" and 5 to 7 squad and rotation players plus younsters across all positions.

If you still think you can fill 20 of 23 squad places with high priced, high performing players with starting ambitions you are seriously more in the territory of a PlayStation game or the Sheikhs' world than the real football world in terms of squad planning.

Fair enough. Well informed, logical and convincing points. I'm not advocating we have 20 high priced players though. But that we raise the level of talent we acquire and be willing to pay a big fee if required. Though its a gradual process and we're mostly on the same side here.

 

[redanddread]

What Sven Mislintat has done should have Arsenal fans very excited ahead of the transfer window
Arsenal news includes a look at the key role Sven Mislintat has when it comes to improving Unai Emery's squad.

https://www.football.london/arsenal...est-arsenal-news-mislintat-transfers-15376628

 

[yybecause]

I would expect more from an article coming out on some platform, but ok, they just repeated how imortant Sven is and how he did well with Matteo and Lucas.

surely, with our budget/structure, we want to sell Aaron for something, rather then lose him on free as it’s been said over and over again. that alone will be interested to watch during January

 

[ThlRama]

surely, with our budget/structure, we want to sell Aaron for something, rather then lose him on free as it’s been said over and over again. that alone will be interested to watch during January

I thought so too, but look at it this way: He offers some things, Emery does rate him, if we're in 4 competitions come January how can we sell him? We won't be able to replace his potential contribution in important games, since we won't make much and in any case it will be difficult to find a player that can offer in an attacking sense like him.

Those 4 months towards the end of the season are the most important ones and I reckon we might try to squeeze a few decisive performances out of him, that might be better than plain money to be invested in the summer.

 

[yybecause]

I thought so too, but look at it this way: He offers some things, Emery does rate him, if we're in 4 competitions come January how can we sell him? We won't be able to replace his potential contribution in important games, since we won't make much and in any case it will be difficult to find a player that can offer in an attacking sense like him.

Those 4 months towards the end of the season are the most important ones and I reckon we might try to squeeze a few decisive performances out of him, that might be better than plain money to be invested in the summer.

then again, this is Emery and new Arsenal, ruthless.
Aaron keeps getting some minutes but it’s not like what he offers is of big importance to our play anymore.
with our self sustained budget, you would have to think we are to sell both him and Welbz (as he is not signing it either), and get at least one replacement of qualities that Unai would like even more then Ramsey and Welbz who are not his starters. We got Torreira for cheap, and Matteo for nothing, one is a safe starter while other one is highly think of by the coach, almost a starter.
makes you think we surely have few more of those on our shorlist. as Unai would say ‘’we need to be protagonists on the pitch’’.
I believe the same goes for our business of the pitch, reason why I expect us not to let players leave on free

 

[A_G]

What Sven Mislintat has done should have Arsenal fans very excited ahead of the transfer window
Arsenal news includes a look at the key role Sven Mislintat has when it comes to improving Unai Emery's squad.

https://www.football.london/arsenal...est-arsenal-news-mislintat-transfers-15376628

I thought Vinai and Raul said there won’t be any January signings?

 

[tap-in]

I thought Vinai and Raul said there won’t be any January signings?

I know many things have changed at the club but I'd imagine laying your cards on the table isn't one of them Personally, and I've said it before, I think Ramsey will be here until the end because we wont be offered enough in Jan to be worth taking it. We could still sign in Jan though if the right player is available.

 

[Sniper Mik]

Well on our way to Mislintat FC :bounce:

 

[Oh_Snap]

Can some1 describe that technical director thing for me? The way I understand it he’s the boss of the coaching staff (emerys boss?) and coordinates all the training data etc?

 

[YeahBee]

We always say football is a team sport. And then you look at Barcelona and Messi and you think twice. Stunning player and I will be proud to tell my grandchildren there used to be a player called Messi.

Sven - please find a Messi.

a steroid created player

 

[Longy]

This smells like putting Özil and Aubameyang on the wings so you can Play Ramsey and Wellbeck.

The good old Arsenal way.


PS, can a mod please look at my account, I can never get in except for that one in a thousand shot.

 

[scytheavatar]

Can some1 describe that technical director thing for me? The way I understand it he’s the boss of the coaching staff (emerys boss?) and coordinates all the training data etc?

Basically from now onwards there will be no more Wengerball or Emeryball, our football is supposed to be Svenball. Sven gets to decide what is the profile of the players we want and make sure they fit into the type of football we want Arsenal FC to be associated with. He needs to work with Emery and be on the same page with him, if there are disagreements then Emery is supposed to give way to Sven. When Emery leaves us or get sacked Sven is supposed to be there to make sure our players don't need to worry about who our next manager will be, that our next manager can built upon Emery's work rather than have to seek a brand new starting XI. That also means Sven will have the loudest voice in deciding who our next manager will be, and if he ends up supporting Moyes level muppets then his job could be on the chopping block.