Squad Analysis 2019/20

[L3T5 PL4Y]

GK-Leno, Martinez, Macey
RB-Bellerin, AMN, Chambers
RCB-Sokrates, Holding, Chambers, Mavro
LCB- Luiz, Holding, Chambers, Nacho
LB- Tierney, Nacho, Kola
CDM- Torreira, Xhaka, Guendouzi
CM- Ceballos, Willock, ESR, Guendouzi
AM- Özil, Ceballos, ESR
RW- Pepe, Nelson, Saka
LW- Auba, Nelson, Martinelli
ST- Auba, Laca, Pepe, Martinelli

All kinds of options. I'm not too bothered about what formations Emery plays as long as we play sexy.

And looking at that squad, RB, GK, CB, CDM and a CM(if Ceballos doesn't extend) are our most apparent weakness.

 

[Dutch D]

I think our best starting eleven, when everyone's available, will be:

Leno
Bellerin - Sokratis - Holding - Tierney
Torreira
Ceballos - Willock / Özil
Pepe - Auba - Nelson​

Think Sokratis is better defensively than Luiz. Midfield is more balanced without Özil, but he willl be very important against opponents who park the bus, so midfield depends on opposition. Despite their good bond, I don't rate Laca & Auba on the pitch together - neither with Auba out wide nor in a 2 striker formation - because I think we sacrifice too much in other aspects of the game. LW is up for grabs, but it's obvious for now that Nelson will take it. I wouldn't be surprised if Saka comes knocking on the door though, looks very talented as well. Nelson needs to get involved and impact the game.

And looking at that squad, RB, GK, CB, CDM and a CM(if Ceballos doesn't extend) are our most apparent weakness.

- Agree, except for GK. Think our first two options are okay and not too bothered about the third.
- RB definitely needs a solid competition for Bellerin. Think we would be smart to pick up a top academy player somewhere for this position also.
- CB will look much better when Saliba comes in, but I would like a top class CB next season in the 22-25 range. That will allow us to phase out Sokratis and ease in Saliba, rather than rely on him immediately.
- CDM, mostly an issue of depth. I think Torreira has the potential to be quite a complete midfielder (apart from providing height, obviously). We have no actual backup in the squad aside from Luiz.
- CM, if Ceballos signs its fine even if we sell Xhaka next summer (which I hope), if not we need a marque signing there.

We'll have to slowly start thinking about ST as well. Both options are very good, but aging as well. Will have to see how this position develops. Might be an opportunity to recoup a large fee before the inevitable decline at some point. Hope Nketiah steps up this season, otherwise might look at a talented ST (like that Chalov fella) to ease in.

 

[Impact]

With regards to our CB situation, David Luiz is a direct replacement for Laurent Koscielny at LCB and is therefore not competing with Sokratis for a starting place.

19/20 (in order of Emery's preferred options)

RCB: Sokratis, Chambers, Mustafi, Saliba.
LCB: Luiz, Holding, Mavropanos, Medley.

Mustafi likely to be moved on this or next window. Chambers will play back up until Saliba arrives. Sokratis will then be phased out for the returning Saliba next year.

Luiz protects us against Holding taking a while to recover form post injury. Mavropanos needs game time and should be sent on loan this summer. While Medley will still play the predominant amount of his games captaining the under 23s. I think next summer we will look to buy a long-term partner for Saliba that plays LCB (Umtiti and Upamecano were on our list this summer) and phase Luiz out with him. Bring back Mavropanos as a back-up and send Medley on loan.

20/21 (in order of experience)

RCB: Sokratis, Holding, Saliba.
LCB: Luiz, New signing, Mavropanos, Medley.

 

[Maybe]

I think our best starting eleven, when everyone's available will be:

Leno
Bellerin - Sokratis - Holding - Tierney
Torreira
Ceballos - Willock / Özil
Pepe - Auba - Nelson​

Think Sokratis is better defensively than Luiz. Midfield is more balanced without Özil, but he willl be very important against opponents who park the bus, so midfield depends on opposition. Despite their good bond, I don't rate Laca & Auba on the pitch together - neither with Auba out wide nor in a 2 striker formation - because I think we sacrifice too much in other aspects of the game. LW is up for grabs, but it's obvious for now that Nelson will take it. I wouldn't be surprised if Saka comes knocking on the door though, looks very talented as well. Nelson needs to get involved and impact the game.

That's a nice review of our squad.
I'm personally against playing Özil, but as you left Xhaka out of the squad, I think having Özil on the pitch wouldn't hurt us that much because Torreira and Ceballos are capable of controlling midfield.
As for Laca and Auba, it's unlucky that Auba can't run with the ball or pass it so he is ineffective on the wing, and Laca doesn't have the pace and stamina to play there.

 

[L3T5 PL4Y]

I think our best starting eleven, when everyone's available, will be:

Leno
Bellerin - Sokratis - Holding - Tierney
Torreira
Ceballos - Willock / Özil
Pepe - Auba - Nelson​

Think Sokratis is better defensively than Luiz. Midfield is more balanced without Özil, but he willl be very important against opponents who park the bus, so midfield depends on opposition. Despite their good bond, I don't rate Laca & Auba on the pitch together - neither with Auba out wide nor in a 2 striker formation - because I think we sacrifice too much in other aspects of the game. LW is up for grabs, but it's obvious for now that Nelson will take it. I wouldn't be surprised if Saka comes knocking on the door though, looks very talented as well. Nelson needs to get involved and impact the game.


- Agree, except for GK. Think our first two options are okay and not too bothered about the third.
- RB definitely needs a solid competition for Bellerin. Think we would be smart to pick up a top academy player somewhere for this position also.
- CB will look much better when Saliba comes in, but I would like a top class CB next season in the 22-25 range. That will allow us to phase out Sokratis and ease in Saliba, rather than rely on him immediately.
- CDM, mostly an issue of depth. I think Torreira has the potential to be quite a complete midfielder (apart from providing height, obviously). We have no actual backup in the squad aside from Luiz.
- CM, if Ceballos signs its fine even if we sell Xhaka next summer (which I hope), if not we need a marque signing there.

We'll have to slowly start thinking about ST as well. Both options are very good, but aging as well. Will have to see how this position develops. Might be an opportunity to recoup a large fee before the inevitable decline at some point. Hope Nketiah steps up this season, otherwise might look at a talented ST (like that Chalov fella) to ease in.

-Leno is good and I like him but I think we either need a good prospect or pick someone experienced with a good professional personality just to keep it competitive for free or on the cheap. Liverpool signed Adrian and that was an opportunity I think we should have taken. But those sort of chances come up every transfer window. We have to keep in mind that one big injury or complacency creeping in with Leno means we're ****ed.
-RB we absolutely need to bring in and probably a prospect or someone on the verge of a break out season. I'm okay with Bellerin but I don't rate him all that highly and recovering from that sort of injury is not straight forward. I'd love to pick up someone like Youcef Atal or Max Aarons from Norwich.
-At CB imo we really need to look very hard, get him in and I'm not bothered about the price we pay as long as he is world class or potentially world class. This is somewhere we can't screw around. Sokratis and Luiz are fine for transition while Holding I rate with Saliba coming in next season but we have to go all the way still to get the best CB we could possibly get. Skriniar, De Ligt, Laporte etc caliber of player.
-CDM I agree its not a major worry for me beyond depth but would be nice to get in a player of a good level able to play in one or two extra roles maybe. But I think eventually I could definitely see Torreira develop into an all round midfield dynamo while I also think Guendouzi will eventually make the sitting midfield role his own.
-About CM I agree that with Ceballos it should be okay. With Willock and Douzi we should be covered but it would be great to replace Xhaka with a top quality player there. If Ceballos goes then probably we may need a top player and a decent serviceable player in there.
-About the striker thing, I agree though I get the feeling that Martinelli and Nketiah might just develop well enough to pick it up if Laca/Auba leave or decline. But yeah we better be on the look out for a special opportunity if there is one.

 

[Dutch D]

I agree with your analysis. Of course, it would be ideal if Martinelli and Nketiah could pick up a decline/sell of one of Laca/Auba. That would mean money could be spent elsewhere and that our academy / prospect scouting is on point. I have faith in Nketiah. Kind of a make or break season for him though.

For this season I have my eye on Dias, Konate and Upamecano for CB. Aarons and Atal for RB. Ruiz, Aouar and Eggestein for CM. Chiesa and Zaha for LW. Of course, it's always exciting to see what new names pop up as well.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

This might come across wrong but I’m so happy we no longer have Petr Cech, Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi.

Thanks for the service but one player was miles past it, another was pretty terrible and the other just wasn’t the required standard.

It’s been a great window.

 

[TornadoTed]

I was just looking at some stats on Transfermarkt and a couple of things stood out,

We have the 3rd youngest squad in the Premiership, only Liverpool and Wolves have younger. If Mustafi and Elneny leave before the window ends we will have the 2nd youngest.

We currently have 27 players in the first team squad, if Mustafi and Elneny leave we will have the joint smallest squad in the Premiership. Sp**s, West Ham, Burnley & Palace have 25.

It has been a great summer window, reducing the squad size, average age and wage bill while improving the quality.

I think we may have a slow start as we have a large number of player unavailable and we have had a large'ish turnover of players, there will inevitably be some settling in required for some. On the positive side I think this is the the most exciting squad we have had for a while and I expect good things from October/November onwards.

 

[YeahBee]

Some of you guys have no respect for seniority

Youngsters gotta PROVE themselves before they usurp a senior player

Proved themselves in real competition

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

Some of you guys have no respect for seniority

Youngsters gotta PROVE themselves before they usurp a senior player

Proved themselves in real competition

Seniors shouldnt be allowed to play badly on constant basis just because they are seniors.

Its risky to throw in youngster but most often they offer more energy and hunger plus some talent over a senior who have been stinking the place up.

 

[nicky47]

I was just looking at some stats on Transfermarkt and a couple of things stood out,

We have the 3rd youngest squad in the Premiership, only Liverpool and Wolves have younger. If Mustafi and Elneny leave before the window ends we will have the 2nd youngest.

We currently have 27 players in the first team squad, if Mustafi and Elneny leave we will have the joint smallest squad in the Premiership. Sp**s, West Ham, Burnley & Palace have 25.

It has been a great summer window, reducing the squad size, average age and wage bill while improving the quality.

I think we may have a slow start as we have a large number of player unavailable and we have had a large'ish turnover of players, there will inevitably be some settling in required for some. On the positive side I think this is the the most exciting squad we have had for a while and I expect good things from October/November onwards.

Its been a very good window for various reasons. Agree with you about having a slow start, think we'll need some luck in our earlier games. Or hope the likes of Nelson/Luiz really shine/perform.

 

[YeahBee]

Seniors shouldnt be allowed to play badly on constant basis just because they are seniors.

Its risky to throw in youngster but most often they offer more energy and hunger plus some talent over a senior who have been stinking the place up.

But do the switch organically gradually over time.

Not all at once at the same time.

Start of the seasons not my cup of tea.

And there is a difference in being able to do it and being better then the senior.

 

[Tourbillion]

Some of you guys have no respect for seniority

Youngsters gotta PROVE themselves before they usurp a senior player

Proved themselves in real competition

Not when the senior player has never proven himself to be good enough.

 

[Ricardinho]

Some of you guys have no respect for seniority

Youngsters gotta PROVE themselves before they usurp a senior player

Proved themselves in real competition

Which senior players we talking about here

 

[pacstud]

But do the switch organically gradually over time.

Not all at once at the same time.

Start of the seasons not my cup of tea.

And there is a difference in being able to do it and being better then the senior.

Agreed. Manager also has to show some faith. There is a limit but too much uncertainty creates diminishing returns.

 

[YeahBee]

Which senior players we talking about here

Xhaka & Laca mainly obviously.
But also Kola but that I can more easily let slide

 

[SA Gunner]

A painful reminder of our defensive limitations. We are likely to continue struggling in this department because we did not sufficiently address our defensive quality.

I do expect us to position ourselves slightly differently though this season, looking at our wingers to provide us with more width up field, giving our fullbacks more opportunity to cover the spaces behind.

I do think we need to limit our squeezing of the opposition and focus more on a deeper line, i.e. we only start pressing as a unit once they move into our half. Going all out towards the keeper is going to cost us once again.

 

[Trilly]

We need a left winger unless Nelson steps up in a huge way.

 

[SA Gunner]

We need a left winger unless Nelson steps up in a huge way.

Look out for Martinelli this season, I think the boy is going to surprise many this year.

 

[yybecause]

Look out for Martinelli this season, I think the boy is going to surprise many this year.

I think we all are aware of his skill set, but kid oozes with hunger and determination. I really do think he will surprise many