That’s why I said aside from the drama, they still have a more established backline. Remember, we dont have an established backline at all.
Their midfield is still stronger than ours and they have more balance than we do. I’ve considered Eriksen to be a midfielder for this. Up front you have to say Kane and Son alone make it tough to beat for us.
Spurs issue is the drama, not the quality of the squad.
United at least have some continuity with Wan Bissaka, Maguire, Lindelof and Shaw. They look more set at the back than us.
In midfield, United are as average and disjointed as we are and front they are worse than us. But as I said, defensively speaking they have some stability.
Leicester lack the squad depth but they have a pretty set defense and not much variance in their midfield or attack.
Chelsea I think are better at the back and they have a better midfield than we do. Up front, it’s close but they have more fluidity and a good mix of players that seem to be compatible while it’s still questionable as to whether our best 3 front players can even play together effectively.
I’m just not seeing how “3rd best squad” is justifiable for us.
We don’t look any better when Xhaka doesn’t play so him leaving wouldn’t excite me in the slightest. He’ll probably flourish in Serie A while we continue playing drab football under clownface.
You don’t need world class players to get into top four. Again. This squad has enough quality to get top four. Let’s not forget we finished one point off Spurs last season, not 20.
The fact that there isn’t any ‘fluidity’ upfront or stability at the back is because this squad is poorly managed. Not because there isn’t sufficient quality.
Arsenal have a good mix of experience and younger players who don’t need to do under Spurs or Chelsea at all. That is overrating their squads and underrating ours.
Don’t create arguments that I am not making. There’s plenty of difference between saying we don’t have a lot of world class players and making an argument that it is a necessity in order to make Top 4 (which differs year on year anyway).
The lack of ‘fluidity’ is not just because of poor management, it’s because we have players who don’t necessarily fit well together or have proven to fit well together, with the clear example noted being Pepe/Laca/PEA as a front line.
As for at the back, again, we have a right back who has barely put together 3 seasons as a starter. We have a brand new 22 year old left back who has played less than 10 games. We have a new central partnership made up with 2 average defenders. Outside of that we have Holding and Chambers.
We literally barely have a fit and established starting back 4. That’s on top of the unproven front line and the mess in midfield.
The thing is, I think this squad could be making Top 4, I just don’t think we are the nailed on next best as people seem to imply and that we are criminally underachieving with the talent we have.
I personally think we are a little bit behind where we should be, but it isn’t a case of City/Pool and then us. There’s extreme daylight and then a bunch of which we are a part of and not clearly superior to.
Exactly. Is that a lack of quality or the fact that they can’t seem to stay healthy (for now)? Lacazette/Aubameyang/Pepe are complementary enough to work together.
But I’m sure when you’re watching the games you to find there is no clear direction or ideas what this team is trying to do? In games where it seems Arsenal is trying to absorb pressure and counterattack (most games because Emery isn’t exactly an adventurous manager) the execution sucks. No coverage of players (fullbacks who have to bomb forward and create width, but at the same time there is no clear coverage when they do so to take up the space they leave), this also leads to a lot of one-v-one situations/vulnerability. Xhaka has to ‘shield’ the back line but hasn’t exactly got the physical abilities or instincts to do so. No proper pressing game installed.
Going forward Aubameyang more often than not finds himself on an Island because of the choices made for our midfield three. Arsenal are extremely dependend on cut backs from our wing defenders in order to create chances. If teams take that option out, which they do more often than not by ‘flooding’ the centre of the pitch, Arsenal don’t really seem to have alternatives in creating chances. The set up just really sucks. That has less to do with quality of the players and more with managing.
It’s both in terms of the defense. You can’t fairly rate someone like Tierney when he isnt even playing regularly yet for us. Luiz is our best defender but still not elite. Sokratis is actually kinda under rated but still nothing special.
I think Laca/PEA/Pepe can certainly work together, but they haven’t so far and haven’t had enough time to mesh or try to mesh, but still think there are 2 players who want to be in the middle in that 3. Would be good if we had some depth on the left hand side, Saka is too green atm.
I think we need another central defender, another year of Tierney and Bellerin, a proper holding midfielder who can pass and move the ball quickly and a wide player up front. If we have all of that I think we clearly have the 3rd best squad.
I think Emery sucks as much as anyone on here, but I dont think he is butchering a brilliant squad. There are still some issues from before he arrived and there are still some significant holes as discussed above.
This squad isn’t brilliant and has some clear holes. I mean Arsenal are still in the midst of a rebuild. However last season they hit 70 points. If not for that meltdown (three losses and one draw in the last five) they should have had more, but it is a fair representation of where Arsenal stands. This season some depth (and quality) is added with Luiz, Tierney, Pepe and Ceballos.
Wouldn’t you agree that from that perspective the, be it arbitrary, standard of 75/80 is something this squad should be able to manage with proper coaching? Also such a total usually leads to a 3rd place finish. Hence assumption Arsenal should be good enough to finish behind Liverpool and Manchester City. Or did Arsenal got lucky last season?
I’m not convinced many (any?) Arsenal fans think he is butchering a brilliant squad. I think the complaint is that he is somehow managing to butcher an adequate squad.
I’m convinced the squad is good enough to get us top four and that we would do so if we had the manager of any of the other traditional top six teams plus Leicester instead of this fucking bum Emery.
Edit: oops, don’t include Ole at the wheel in what I said above
