Seeing the state of some squads out there, huge credit needs to be given to our recruitment.
So much flexibility all around the pitch. Players able to change system seamlessly. A bench that can actually make the difference.
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Yup, pretty rosy to look at our bench and see Gabriel, Zinny, Jorginho, Trossard and Raya. They could all realistically be starting a decent number of games together and we would still be at a high level.
Trossard must be scratching his head wondering what he needs to do.
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The players with intelligence will realise there are a lot of games ahead along with injuries and suspensions and plenty of opportunities. I was begging for him to come on when Nketiah looked spent but going to a 7-2-1 formation at the end probably saw us out better than going for a second goal. So what do I know?
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Trossard knew exactly what he signed on for when he came here. His starts were always going to be limited. He’s happy enough I’d say.
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No doubt, but not sure he foresaw playing so well last year only to drop even further down the pecking order with the introduction of Havertz.
Nothing about Kai, come on.
Trossard competes for the front three positions, not the CM position/or whatever Kai’s role right now.
If MA wants a big body with certain skill set on the CM position, Trossard was never an option there in the beginning, even he played part time there a couple of times.
Just like why Martinelli did not play as a striker, even when Jesus was absent.
MA did not value him as a striker, so Martinelli did not play there.
I didn’t think Trossard would be seen as a CM option until he has a few run outs in pre season. Didn’t he play there in the community shield as well.
Ramsdale, Raya, Hein
White, Cedric, Tomiyasu, Saliba, Gabriel, Holding, Zinchenko, Kiwior, Tavares, (Timber)
Partey, Jorginho, Rice, Odegaard, Havertz, Vieira, Smith-Rowe, Elneny, Lokonga
Saka, Martinelli, Nelson, Trossard, Pepe
Jesus, Nketiah, Balogun
The above should be our full list of current senior players but point out if I’ve missed anyone. There’s two that should be confirmed as outgoing at some point in the next day or two, and question marks still hanging over a couple others.
If Cedric, Holding and Tavares go it feels a little lite on numbers for defenders, but guess you could consider Partey and Rice slotting in there if needed but takes away from the quality in midfield if so.
I keep forgetting that Lokonga is still here.
As it remains following close of transfer window.
It looks worse on paper imo, I don’t expect Man City levels of depth but a few more injuries and we’re on the fucking ropes.
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I’d have thought we could get rid of Pepe this window. Offers nothing now.
We can still offload Pepe to the Saudi league as their transfer window is still open, but I would have been happier if we’d offloaded him and had time to find a replacement in his position. I assume free agents can also be signed by EPL clubs like it used to be.
Cedric I’m less worried about, he’s competent enough to come on and give Tommy or White a rest when we’re in control of matches.
The cynic in me says we should have done this 2 or 3 windows ago 
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My biggest critisisim of Arteta is that he makes it very clear which players are surplus. If we’d given him a run out against a couple of shit teams pre-season and looked lively someone might have gone for him. It’s obvious that he doesn’t want Pepe at the club which tanked any chance of getting a fee.
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Nobody was even prepared to take him for free, so I’m not sure how him getting some minutes in pre season was going to make a club want to pay a transfer fee for him.
He had an entire season on loan to do something about his reputation either at arsenal or in Europe and he was shit and made it worse.
Arsenal wouldn’t have been able to manufacture a fake one for him because of a few pre season minutes.
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He had offers if reliable sources are to be believed and his loan spell wasn’t great so I agree it would have been difficult to have recouped any of the £72m we paid for him.
This applies not just to Pepe but to “squad management” generally. Now we’re in the terrible situation where he’s costing us £140k p/w and can’t even be considered for a place on the bench against Luton Town to give Saka a rest when we’re 5-0 up because he’s not involved with team training.
Squad is starting to look a little bit light in defence. Stacked enough in the midfield and forward areas.
I would have liked another competent defender in the team but how many teams truly have better depth than us?
Most teams have a strong first XI, and perhaps another 3-4 competent players on top.
One of the main comments in recent weeks about in the PL thread was how poor the bench of teams looked. Eben City’s bench looked like a mess.
In comparison, we put out a really strong team against Fulham and still had Raya, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Vieira, ESR, Nelson, Nketiah and Jesus on the bench. And that’s with Tomiyasu being suspended and Timber out injured.
Outside the Prem you have teams like Madrid having only one pure striker in Joselu. It really isn’t as bad as you think.