I’m taking in to account in the first lineup that Özil is on his way out which seems like the strong rumor atm, and Emery didn’t want to play him much last season anyways. In the fantasy lineup I’d love Dani in a midfield pairing with Torreira to work, that way we could squeeze in more creativity like Özil or Coutinho, but as many have pointed out maybe Dani as the Cazorla type is a dream, Emery’s pussy isn’t tight enough to pull that off. Although many scouting reports say he’s exceptional at building the attack from deep.
I actually prefer the first line-up for any game that’s not home to a bottom team, just more balance which protects our weakest area - defence.
Also, I think you’ve got Pepe and Auba the wrong way around, from what I can see from Transfermarkt Pepe has never played a competitive game on the LW.
Can’t wait for Bellerin to return to the side. He’s such a crucial figure in Emery’s system. Now linking up with Pépé, our right side will look deadly, especially pace-wise.
Then on the left Tierney & Auba, if Tierney hits the ground running, we’re in for something.
Auba and Laca work so well together but they also both need to be playing centrally which is an issue. Gotta make room for both of them somehow, honestly I’d like to see Laca as a false 9.
That was the worst transfer window we’ve had and it left us with a fairly poor squad but at least we had RVP, Sagna, Rosicky, Cazorla, Kos, etc, who would walk into this team.
The only other squad I can remember that is as bad as this one, is from the mid eighties when we had Neill as manager and a team that had older players that used to be good but who were not at the top level.
It was only when Graham came in that we saw younger players brought in and a manager that had their respect.
He was a strict disciplinarian and tactically as good as any other manager in Europe, who got the best out of the squad, with little spending but a will to win.
We have nothing like that now.
Poor players, poor manager and the same lack lustre attitude around the club that has been here for far too long.
A few seasons ago, I was ridiculed on here for saying said we would become a mid table club so I really am not surprised that it has actually happened.
I don’t think it has. We can finish 9th this season - it doesn’t make us a mid table side it just means we’ve finish mid table for one season. Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool have all finished outside of the top 7 in the last 5 seasons at some stage (maybe not Liverpool anymore) but that never made them mid table sides.
That is true… But main reason for concern, even worse: for all loss of hope of getting somwhere near the top are our transfers in recent years and lack of true direction.
All of us expected to move forward after Wenger, sadly we’re only going down steadily… And we just don’t have many players to get excited about. Pepe is a big disappointment so far and what hurts even more is seeing him on the bench in so many games… Is he really so bad he can’t get in the team when he’s a bit off form?? Gabigolazito… I thought he was a big hope, but we haven’t seen much of him too lately, after the initial explosion (not just because of the injury)…
The squad seems mediocre, the manager seems mediocre with his mostly generic and narrow minded set up… Literally nothing to get excited about.
If I was in in Arteta’s place (and I should be there tbh)… considering the squad is kinda shit anyway… I would at least give as mich chance as I could to younger players who have some potential, and experiment with them as much as I could. Gabigoals, Guendo, Torreira, Tierney, Saka, Chambers, Holdini, AMN (maybe), Eddie (maybe)… I’d definitely put Lacazette and Xhaka on the bench, and play Auba as a leader up front (OR Gabigol; no other option comes into consideration atm, Eddie os not that good) , and of course Torreira as the main man in the midle not the swiss Charlie Adam. And of course I’d still try to get as much as I could from Pepe and tey to make him the main man… I still thing there is potential there… I’d try him, and if he’s not the guy then he should be sold ASAP. Absolutely no room for middle ground there. Edit: of course I don’t mean trying him for a game or two, he should get some room (time) to adapt and grow a bit… but he can’t be in and out of the team all the time. I don’t like the way our biggest signing is treated so far.
