That benfica dude that came on here to laugh when we signed him was spot on lol
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They had a good debate on the AVP over what to do at LB.
If you move Cedric there and White to RB, then the whole system we have tried to develop changes. You move Xhaka to LB and you fuck the system up even more. Saka at LB is simply not an option as we lose too much going forward.
So weāre in this situation where weāre almost forced to stick with Tavares. You drop him this weekend and youāve essentially destroyed his confidence permanently at Arsenal. Heās been hooked twice at HT now and this would be the final nail.
There was a time when Tavares was holding down the LB spot and there were enough people saying that KT shouldnāt walk back into the team. Thereās a decent player in there when the confidence is back. But you drop him this weekend and you kill him off.
You play him through this very difficult patch and maybe we get some of that performance level back, and we donāt have to change the system. Having the Tavares from the beginning of the season for the remaining 6-7 matches is what we need (if it takes him 2-3 games to start playing properly again).
If we have Cedric or Xhaka or White moving around in the defence then thatās top 4 in the bin for me. We have to make Tavares work.
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When is Tomiyasu expected to return on the pitch?
The main thing isā¦ We absolutely canāt play both Cedric and Tavares in the team together, we need a solid defender on one side at least.
I think with White as a RB, or even better - Tomiyasu, we wont look that bad with Tavares on the other side, and he can bomb forward and put some pressure on the opposition.
He did a decent job in the first half if the season when we had Tomiyasu in the team and when we didnāt have to rely on his defending too much. I donāt see why he couldnāt repeat that again with a decent defender on the other side.
Getting hooked at half time twice tells you Arteta doesnāt rate him.
I donāt think he makes the weekend. Heās pretty staunch on his dislikes as we see with Pepe.
Itās his perogative and ultimately going too be what he gets judged on.
Main problem being the squad gets dangerously thinner by the week.
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It has to be Saka or stick with Tavares imo. We lose a bit by dropping Saka back there but we have capable replacements in Pepe, ESR and Gabi (depending who isnāt on the other side).
Not wanting to see Cedric at LB again because he was poor, heās done well at RB recently at least by his standards. Shuffling the entire defence that have been pretty settled doesnāt make sense to me just to still end up with a fairly weak LB.
Saka - Gabriel - White - Cedric
Tavares - Gabriel - White - Cedric
Cedric - Gabriel - Holding - White
Pick one - I guess youāre suggesting the middle one. For me the latter is the weakest, Iād rather even go to a back 5.
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Yeah, feels like thereās too much disruption otherwise. He is a natural LB, he performed very well when he initially joined and we donāt disturb a very settled defensive unit too much.
Itās not ideal but what you might gain by putting other players there (Cedric, Xhaka etc) you then lose more from an attacking / fluidity perspective.
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Heās a wingback if we need him to play we need to go
3-4-3 as he canāt defend
Him and Cedric donāt match he played his best for us also when he had Tomi on the other side
Iām not interested to debate about the best solution Arteta should adopt to replace Tierney until the end of the season. Back-three system, Xhaka or CĆ©dric switched on the left, promotion for Sousa.
Nuno is the key.
Fully trust into a young guy who needs patience.
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Nah for me itās gotta be Tomiyasu at RB and Cedric at LB
Tavares is not ready and may never be, there is no trust here and we donāt have time for patience whatsoever.
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But where the fuck is tomi 
If heās back Iād probably gamble with Cedric on the left but, until he is, we should keep Cedric at RB.
I enjoyed that debate but I have no wtf Clive was going on about saying we had to work these players in. Thatās what training is for ffs. If Arteta had been experimenting with Nuno at LB or LW (or retooling the front line) we may not have gone on that run because that stuff take time to gel (time we donāt have).
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Whereās this wingback stuff coming from? Heās not even good offensively.
Heās got great physical attributes and it ends right there.
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Should be simple:
Martinelli/ESR Laca Pepe
Odegaard
Xhaka Lokonga
Saka Gabriel White Tomi/Cedric
But you just know Arteta would rather play Xhaka on the right wing or left back than he would have Pepe starting a game
I also wouldnāt mind:
Martinelli/ESR Laca Saka
Odegaard
Xhaka Lokonga
Cedric Gabriel White Tomi
But I donāt especially trust Cedric defensively on his preferred side, letalone at left back
Saka is one of our top scorers this season I donāt think we can play him LB right now. This team already struggles with scoring.
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You start Pepe and he will get the goals, he just doesnāt get gametime because of his all round play. I honestly believe he would have got at least as many goals as Saka has this season given the chance, his finishing and long shots are certainly better.
Plus you then get a lot more creativity/attacking threat from left back, all balances out
Saka having the most goal contributions this season says more about Laca being an awful finisher, Martinelli being inexperienced and Odegaard only being a creator, itās not that heās been especially prolific
Pepe isnāt the guarantee you think he is my man. Itās worth a shot but I aināt holding my breath.
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I genuinely feel a bit sorry for this lad lol.
I wanted his contract terminated at HT, but calmed down since and had a chance to think about this mini injury crisis rationally.
Nuno has to deputise for Tierney. We bought him exactly for that purpose. Switching systems during the business-end of the season could be the catalyst for a complete capitulation.
Changing to 3 ATB with Nuno playing left wing could minimise his defensive responsibilities, but then you hurt the attackers like ESR and Ode who rely on creative freedom. Where would you even play them. 343 relies on quite a rigid formation.
Moving Xhaka to LB is a no-go for me. Weāve lost Partey so Xhaka has to step in as our only proper senior CM. Taking both Partey and Xhaka out leaves us extremely weak in the middle. Cannot rely on Lokonga and Elneny.
The only viable option apart from playing Nuno is to play Cedric at LB. Again this relies on Tomiyasu being fit and ready to go despite missing a couple months out. Risky.
I think play Nuno and just hope for the fucking best. Never know he might pick up some form.
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After his last two performances I think heās unselectable.
Absolute liability
Maybe can resurrect his career with a good loan spell.
With Tomi still injured it forces either Saka at left back (hopefully not Xhaka who is poor there) or White at right back, Holding at centre back and Cedric to left back.
With Partey out of midfield we need Xhaka in there anyway.
The lack of squad depth in general as well as the failure to sign a goal scorer is a scandal but reflective of the disastrous squad building and waste at the end of Wenger and through the Raul tenure and the inability of Edu to fix this all very quickly.
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People seem to forget he kept KT out of the starting 11 for several games. He needs coaching, obviously, but you people sound like he kicks puppies and boils kitties for fun.
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