IF YOU KNOW YOU KNOW!!!
City is going to rip us another one next weekend, but this team can go places.
If Tierney is back, Smith Rowe is going to be a lot better since Tierney will be better in the overlap and offer Smith Rowe an actual outlet (giving the ball in the run etc) than Soares does.
No Pepe, no Party
Pepe can do a job as 12th man.
I’m not sure its definitive ESR is better off the left than Pepe. Pepe was just starting to heat up
I need to see more of Odegaard but he should start over ESR in the central spot yet, imo
It isn’t. If you look at it on an individual basis, Pepe is definitely better. With a proper attacking wing back, like Tierney, and Aubameyang upfront I’d prefer the creativity/passing of Smith Rowe over Pepe skills on the ball though.
Our biggest weakness now is at FB.
Defence would be solid AF if we had 2 good FBs.
Need a RB in the summer, and a young LB that can deputise for Tierney but also do a job if needed.
I don’t think we need a young LB I think an experienced LB to deputise for Tierney works more in our favour. I’ve always preferred experience to youth when it comes to providing cover.
That’s why I wasn’t against Bertrand because he has the right profile to provide cover.
We definitely need a RB to displace Hector though, that’s for sure. I’d favour Hakimi even though he is better as a WB but with Inter’s current predicament he’s almost certainly going to be available this summer.
If we are worried about Tierney’s injuries then I think we should look younger.
We should stop stockpiling older guys for cover who have little upside.
I mean we’ve got rid of Sokratis and Ozil. Laca has a year left and Luiz is out of contract in the summer.
We have a very young squad and experience is vital so I’m ok with adding an experienced 28/29+ left back to cover Tierney in addition to Soares and unfortunately Willian.
I think people need to accept that outside of a couple of players we have a young squad.
I agree.
Our first team could realistically have Aubameyang as the only player over thirty and it would be certainly good enough to be challenging for a top six place.
With Ozil, Sokratis, Kolisinac, Mustafi and Mkhitayran leaving, not only does it mean we have got rid of under performing older players but we’re also saving on their massive wages.
They were earning around 40m a season which we can now spend on younger and better players and, if we can get rid of Luiz, Lacazette, Willian and Torreira, that will be another 30m a season saved that will pay the wages of players that actually want to play for the club.
I don’t want a defender or anyone bar Messi on their last payday. If Arsenal history has taught us nothing, it’s that players on their last paydays with less motivation is a bad idea. Just look at the list - Ozil, Alexis (not here), Luiz (his level dropped here), Aubameyang (hopefully he turns it around), Willian, Lichtsteiner, Arshavin, Podolski, Silvestre.
Obviously it’s worked well for some other clubs, see Pirlo and Milner but it’s rare. Get a top prospect from the Championship or Ajax or Celtic or some lower tier league who will sell for less.
It would actually make some sense for Elneny to be retrained as a left back. He can run box to box all day and not give his opponent any space to breath while keeping possession well.
For me it’s not experienced vs young players. It’s more contributors vs dead weight. We need players who can provide a net contribution and still possess a drive (or quality) to get us back where we would like to be. Someone like Willian is absolute dead weight right now and we’re stuck with him.
You have to hope it’s a phase. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to do what he did last season.
Is it Willian or is it the manager?
Willian was one of the best and most hard working players at Chelsea and as soon as he gets here he seems to have become less motivated and lazy.
If it was only him, I would say the player is at fault but this season Willian, Aubameyang and several other top players are nowhere near the levels of last season, including several more that have been frozen out.
I would be interested to see how these players would perform under a top manager.
Soares - Luiz - Gabriel - Tierney, best defence for remainder of the season.
Yep. I don’t want to see Holding in the lineup unless for emergencies. Mari is serviceable backup for Gabriel though.
I would go with them.
I’ve got no problem with Bellerin but his form has dipped while Cedric has been getting better as the season has gone on.
If they can all stay fit, and with Partey and Xhaka in front of them, the defence more solid and Tierney and Cedric look good going forward as well.
What could we realistically do this summer? This is going to be the window we are most impacted by the losses due to covid so I really think we are going to have to be smart and use the players we already have contracted. Our squad is bloated af tho so if we can get rid of some doods even even small fees it will only help. We will have to sell to buy so impressing in the EL is imperative because we have to show our players have some value.
Out:
Willock - 10m? If Newcastle really like him they can have him
Lacazette - unfortunately free but I don’t want to sign him again to a long contract. MAYBE a year if we can’t get another striker in the door.
Bellerin - take 15 - 20m from PSG if they are really interested, maybe the one dood we can flog overseas and make some nice money on. Plus I really really need Arteta to see the light and be done with him.
Elneny - can we fuck him off for 5m?
Dani - back to Madrid (his failures here are more down to management but we can’t afford to bring him back at what Madrid will want)
Holding - can we get 10m for him?
Nketiah - can we get 5m for him?
Chambers: contract is up next summer maybe we can get 5 or 10m for him from a newly promoted side?
Nelson - 5 or 10m or a loan, whatever we can get really.
Kolasinac- 5m?
Runnarson - Loan maybe? My gawd this was shocking business dood is contracted to 2024 lmaoo
Money raised: 70m - 80m
In:
Ødegaard - back on loan try to get him for another year and worry about a fee the next season maybe if we were lucky enough to get a buy option.
Toney - reckon we could get him for 25m?
Buendia - 35m is probably our most realistic option here I agree with the idea that @SRCJJ and @castiel had about Wijnaldum on a free. That would be a steal but he’s gonna command a lot of money from a CL team, probably not a realistic target for us.
Luiz: probably gotta resign him, our most experienced leadership type player.
Ryan - gotta resign him.
Outgoing money: 60m - 80m depending on what we do for a backup LB (I’ve got no clue)
2021/22 roster.
Gk: Leno, Ryan, Iliev
CB: Mavropanos, Saliba, Gabriel, Luiz, Mari
RB/LB: AMN, Cedric, Osei-Tutu, Tierney (Tierney backup ??)
Mid: Partey, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Torreira, Buendia, Smith-Rowe, Ødegaard, Azeez
Forwards: Saka, Auba, Pepe, Toney, Martinelli, Willian
There are so many potential outgoings/incomings so I’ll mention the main ones and probably the ones who should be prioritized.
Outgoings:
Incomings:
Just to note, if we do make any further sales then of course we will have to replace them accordingly.
Maybe we can get Bertrand or Amavi for free in the summer both of them are out of their contracts.