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Squad Analysis 2017/18

4R5Emaniac

Always fresh from Bangladesh
ATM our lineup for 1st game against Liverpool......

Cech
Bellerin-mertesacker-Gabriel-monreal
Coquelin
Xhaka-elneny
Wilshere-cazorla-iwobi
Theo

Ospina?, chambers?, Gibbs, Ox, a bunch of youth.........

That is some killer planning there from Mr Wenger.
If we had a better first team coach, that wouldn't be an issue. These days, unless we have the best players available starting its basically nail biting for us fans.
 
N

NotAUserName

Guest
ATM our lineup for 1st game against Liverpool......

Cech
Bellerin-mertesacker-Gabriel-monreal
Coquelin
Xhaka-elneny
Wilshere-cazorla-iwobi
Theo

Ospina?, chambers?, Gibbs, Ox, a bunch of youth.........

That is some killer planning there from Mr Wenger.
I expect us to win with that line-up to be fair. Liverpool would find it difficult to cope with our extra man.

Campbell should also be among the subs.
 

4R5Emaniac

Always fresh from Bangladesh
If that is what we're going to play then try out Joel as a striker. Maybe, in a two with Iwobi. That is sexy football. Wagner of old would have tried that.
 

bingobob

A-M’s Resident Hunskelper
Trusted ⭐

Country: Scotland
Probably the best place for this but reading comments from Klopp saying how his squad is 100% too big. He said they've 36 players. At quick glance at our own first team squad shows 31 players, with four in the reserves showing on loan.

We have 4 keepers, 10 defenders, 8 midfielders and 9 attackers. Our squad is way too big.
 

Aevi

Hale End FC
Moderator
Probably the best place for this but reading comments from Klopp saying how his squad is 100% too big. He said they've 36 players. At quick glance at our own first team squad shows 31 players, with four in the reserves showing on loan.

We have 4 keepers, 10 defenders, 8 midfielders and 9 attackers. Our squad is way too big.
I agree, and it's exasperating only seeing our good players linked anywhere else...
 

Aevi

Hale End FC
Moderator
Our squad is quite large as is, and we're still in the market for more.

If Wenger doesn't sell a player or two, it's subtle conformation that this is his last season. This way, he leaves his successor with countless options that could suit his needs so that he doesn't need to look to the market for every piece. Smart move if that's the case.
 

HK_Gooner

Member
Based on the projected Liverpool starting lineups people are putting up... damn... Ox is buried. We need to sell him.

Our recent history suggests that we need minimum two solid players at every position to weather our constant injury issues. Ignoring the defense for a minute, it appears that one of Ox and Campbell can be let go without too much fuss.

On defense, we could use a starting CB but the depth appears ok.

Bellerin-Kos-Mert-Monreal

Next 4 - Gibbs, Chambers, Gabriel, ? (could use a starting CB and move Mert back as a sub but Chambers ok to fill in as 4th CB). Otherwise our back four is pretty ok. Our fbs are best in the league and Kos is an easy top 5 CB in the league.

Figure on Xhaka, Elneny, Coquelin, and Cazorla rotating as DM and box to box. Xhaka and Cazorla are obvious starters for me, but I also like Elneny. Coq needs to play under more control. He's turning into a fouling machine like Flamini was.

Front four for me are Özil, Sanchez, Ramsey, and Giroud (assuming his only competition is Theo).

The next four for me are Wilshere, Iwobi, Theo, Welbeck (when he comes back)

Then I have Ox and Campbell.

So, my take is that we could buy a topline CB without causing a logjam in defense (i.e. killing Chambers as Wenger would say), but if we get a striker, then we definitely need to sell someone to make space or we are going to have Ox, who some rate as a 20+ mil transfer value, and Campbell playing only league cup games. Better to use them as a makeweights then have him rot on the bench all season.
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
Squad has been too large and lopsided for a long time. You need a relatively small and high quality core of maybe 15 players then have them backed up with a few experienced heads and some high potential young talents.

Our squad is way too large and is filled with a lot of players who just aren't good enough to be here. In terms of quality gap from our best to worst regular players, I don't think there's any top club like Arsenal.
 

RandyMarsh

Established Member
Squad has been too large and lopsided for a long time. You need a relatively small and high quality core of maybe 15 players then have them backed up with a few experienced heads and some high potential young talents.

Our squad is way too large and is filled with a lot of players who just aren't good enough to be here. In terms of quality gap from our best to worst regular players, I don't think there's any top club like Arsenal.
Not sure i agree here. Our squad is riddled with injury prone players and is shown up to be short in numbers and reliable players season after season. If we trim it any further we're taking a gamble imo because we consistently get injuries which expose this squad's depth.

We have two 1st team players for every position and a few extra utility players. I don't think our squad is large at all. The only area where we are unrealistically packed right now is RB. But one will no doubt leave.
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
Not sure i agree here. Our squad is riddled with injury prone players and is shown up to be short in numbers and reliable players season after season. If we trim it any further we're taking a gamble imo because we consistently get injuries which expose this squad's depth.

We have two 1st team players for every position and a few extra utility players. I don't think our squad is large at all. The only area where we are unrealistically packed right now is RB. But one will no doubt leave.
Well I wasn't taking into account our injury prone players because that's something we should have dealt with a very long time ago.

What I described was the ideal structure for a top club. Personally I would have gotten rid of all our injury prone players bar one or maybe two.

We're definitely overstocked in attack I think. Giroud, Walcott, Sanchez, Welbeck, Ox, Campbell, Gnabry, Iwobi, Sanogo, Akpom and Jeff and Willock have both been promoted.

I would happily lose two or three of those to gain one quality attacker.
 

carlito'sway

Established Member
Based on the projected Liverpool starting lineups people are putting up... damn... Ox is buried. We need to sell him.

Our recent history suggests that we need minimum two solid players at every position to weather our constant injury issues. Ignoring the defense for a minute, it appears that one of Ox and Campbell can be let go without too much fuss.

On defense, we could use a starting CB but the depth appears ok.

Bellerin-Kos-Mert-Monreal

Next 4 - Gibbs, Chambers, Gabriel, ? (could use a starting CB and move Mert back as a sub but Chambers ok to fill in as 4th CB). Otherwise our back four is pretty ok. Our fbs are best in the league and Kos is an easy top 5 CB in the league.

Figure on Xhaka, Elneny, Coquelin, and Cazorla rotating as DM and box to box. Xhaka and Cazorla are obvious starters for me, but I also like Elneny. Coq needs to play under more control. He's turning into a fouling machine like Flamini was.

Front four for me are Özil, Sanchez, Ramsey, and Giroud (assuming his only competition is Theo).

The next four for me are Wilshere, Iwobi, Theo, Welbeck (when he comes back)

Then I have Ox and Campbell.

So, my take is that we could buy a topline CB without causing a logjam in defense (i.e. killing Chambers as Wenger would say), but if we get a striker, then we definitely need to sell someone to make space or we are going to have Ox, who some rate as a 20+ mil transfer value, and Campbell playing only league cup games. Better to use them as a makeweights then have him rot on the bench all season.

Good summary! Noticed that you did not mention the GK's. I hope that Ospina will stick around at least for one more year and with him as a back up to Cech, we are set!
- Agree on the CB, not our first priority. Our defense was pretty good last year with only 36 goals (second best in the PL). Still would be nice to get an good up and coming CB for rotation and slowly phase out Per. Rugani would be great but doubt Juve would sell him. Manolas would be terrific and would be an instant starter.
- We are set in MF.
- Upfront, a CF is a must but the options are limited. If we can't find one, we definitely need a winger/scorer (a la Mahrez/Draxler/Fekir).
If we could fill both positions that would be ideal.
We need to let go a couple of guys. Campbell is the obvious choice. He still has some value and we can get easily 8 to 10 M for him. Arsène will definitely keep Iwobi but I expect Akpom & Gnabry to go on loan specially if we get 2 more players upfront. I did not even mention Sanogo, this dude should be given away to a championship club! Waste of space!
 

RandyMarsh

Established Member
Well I wasn't taking into account our injury prone players because that's something we should have dealt with a very long time ago.

What I described was the ideal structure for a top club. Personally I would have gotten rid of all our injury prone players bar one or maybe two.

We're definitely overstocked in attack I think. Giroud, Walcott, Sanchez, Welbeck, Ox, Campbell, Gnabry, Iwobi, Sanogo, Akpom and Jeff and Willock have both been promoted.

I would happily lose two or three of those to gain one quality attacker.
I don't think Wenger is factoring in Sanogo, Akpom, Jeff, Gnabry and Willock when contemplating transfers. They're not going to effect our dealings for first team players that much. It's the other guys i'm worried about. Mediocrity everywhere.

I'd bet at least half of the youngsters won't be at the club come 2nd of September. Either sold or on loan. When you take them out of the equation we've got near perfect numbers in attack imo. Shame a lot of them are injury prone or just not very good.
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
I don't think Wenger is factoring in Sanogo, Akpom, Jeff, Gnabry and Willock when contemplating transfers. They're not going to effect our dealings for first team players that much. It's the other guys i'm worried about. Mediocrity everywhere.

I'd bet at least half of the youngsters won't be at the club come 2nd of September. Either sold or on loan. When you take them out of the equation we've got near perfect numbers in attack imo. Shame a lot of them are injury prone or just not very good.
Agree. But remember I'm not talking about transfers just really about the squad size.

There's definitely mediocrity everywhere and we seem to have problems shifting players who are 'good' but not good enough. I think Wenger is afraid of having a De Bruyne situation but sometimes you have to take risks.
 

Country: Iceland
Well I wasn't taking into account our injury prone players because that's something we should have dealt with a very long time ago.

Having a large squad is dealing with injuries.

It really is cringeworthy when people want to sign two world class attackers to deal with injuries forgetting when our injured players come back it will be to crowded.
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
Having a large squad is dealing with injuries.

It really is cringeworthy when people want to sign two world class attackers to deal with injuries forgetting when our injured players come back it will be to crowded.
A large squad is the most inefficient way to deal with injuries mate. You get rid of injury prone players who aren't special that way you have a more efficient wage structure. Also it's one thing having quality cover, we carry a lot of players who just don't play. That is very inefficient.

I don't think the last part of your post is referring to me because I don't endorse that approach.
 

Hunta

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
GK: Cech and one from Ospina/Szczesny/Martinez is good.

DF: Starting CB needed, replace Gibbs and Debuchy should they be sold.

MF: Good

FW: Starting ST needed, RW if two from Walcott/Campbell/Ox leave.

So basically, get a starting ST and CB and we've got a complete squad.
 

Reyes no.11

Active Member
Formation: 4-2-3-1

GK: Cech, Ospina, Martinez
LB: Monreal, Gibbs
CB: Koscielny, *CB
CB: Gabriel, Chambers
RB: Bellerin, Jenkinson

DM: Xhaka, Coquelin
CM: Ramsey, Elneny

LM: Sanchez, Campbell
AM: Özil, Cazorla, Wilshere, Iwobi
RM: Chamberlain, Gnabry

CF: *CF, Giroud, Welbeck

In: CB, CF
Out: Szczesny, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Walcott, Sanogo
 

Vinci

The Sultan of Unai

Country: Netherlands
Formation: 4-2-3-1

GK: Cech, Ospina, Martinez
LB: Monreal, Gibbs
CB: Koscielny, *CB
CB: Gabriel, Chambers
RB: Bellerin, Jenkinson

DM: Xhaka, Coquelin
CM: Ramsey, Elneny

LM: Sanchez, Campbell
AM: Özil, Cazorla, Wilshere, Iwobi
RM: Chamberlain, Gnabry

CF: *CF, Giroud, Welbeck

In: CB, CF
Out: Szczesny, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Walcott, Sanogo
@SA Gunner
 
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