Totally agree. Flood Luton for the first 45 and kill the game off, training match second half. Some very important players need a rest and some squaddies need to build on their market value so we can reinvest in the summer.
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8 games in quick succession coming up and fans will demand the first 11 play them all and win.
2 days rest to Luton
2 days rest to Brighton
2 days rest to Bayern
4 days rest to Villa
3 days to to Bayern
2 days rest to Wolves
2 days rest to Chelsea
3 days rest to Tottenham.
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This is a big test for Arteta, who has not been historically very good at managing rotation.
Staying healthy during this run will be huge because I think in the end Arteta doesn’t mind rotating he just has severe trust issues.
Jesus
Saka
Martinelli
Havertz
Trossard
Odegaard
Rice
Partey
Jorginho
Saliba
Gabriel
White
Kiwior
Tomiyasu
Zinchenko
That’s 15 field players he trusts for 10 positions. If they all stay healthy, he’ll hopefully find a way to change 1-2 members of the side each match and sub off some other players after 60 minutes to manage their minutes. If a few of these guys get injuries, however, its not going to be next man up with the likes of Vieira, Nketiah, ESR, Nelson, etc. We’ll just play a smaller rotation.
With Odegaard, Saliba, and Gabriel he’s just going to play them every single match and hope they last the season. Maybe there is some chance of Vieira starting a match in Odegaard’s position but mainly these guys will play unless they are hurt, for better or for worse.
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Why would that be a problem.
If we have a tight schedule like this, just skip the training exercise, and do more Xs and Ox and video watching. Sure they will have less running or even zero scrimmage for the players who played a lot.
Pool had tight schedule llike this, but some here said, if the team keeps winning, the builds your momentum.
I don’t see any difference in between them and us, and we have a more healthy squad than them; and just shut out City.
Our morale and confidence are high.
ESR, Jesus, Tomi, Partey and Vieira have all come back from their long term injuries and gotten minutes in before this run in. I think we’ll see close managing of Jorginho now that Partey looks like he’s back, which is great.
The back four will stay largely untouched and rightly so imo. Zinchenko comes in potentially here and there.
Up front is where I’d like to see Arteta be diligent with. We have a lot of depth there and some of those guys above are competent to get some considerable minutes.
I think Mikel has managed the squad pretty well up until this point in the season. He’s not had to push players back because the alternative isn’t up to scratch. He’s been flexible in terms of his game approach and I’m hoping this bodes well for a time where rotation is required.
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Not worried about defence, DM and CF.
- Gabriel & Saliba can play all remaining 14 games (considering the max)
- Between White, Tomiyasu, Zinchenko, and Kiwior, we can properly rotate players.
- Partey & Jorginho can share the load.
- Havertz, Jesus & Trossard can play CF.
Rice, Odegaard, Saka & Martinelli will have to play as much as possible.
That’s 4 players we have to meticulously handle & I am sure Arteta can do that.
We really need ESR, Vieira, and Nelson to somehow find it in them to play at the necessary level when called upon. I hope one of them starts against Luton so that they can get some game time and grow in confidence.
If we need to win as many as we can, I don’t think there will be much playing time and opportunities left for them, unless we can kill teams before half time.
Still, GD is important and not sure if Arteta will really make 5 changes if we don’t have a blown out win early enough.
Yeah can’t be fucking up our GD advantage. There is a good chance that it could come down to GD.
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Arguments to be made that playing Jesus, Trossard and/or Martinelli makes us more of a goal threat.
I agree that wholesale changes aren’t needed but two or three changes shouldn’t affect our ability to beat Luton at home. Hungry subs should be chomping at the bit to make an impact.
In these situations I think player mentality is more important than their physical condition. I’m sure most footballers would prefer to play games than train so it’s more a case of whether they’re focused on their roles during this busy time.
If we’re going to be successful we need to weed-out those who can’t cope with the pressure asap. It’s a great opportunity for the squad players who’ve not really had a sniff of a start in an important game yet.
I’ll say it again I don’t believe we need a striker
Havertz best position is 9
Trossard best position is 9
We have Jesus
What we need is another quality versatile winger that can dribble at speed.
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I think we do need a striker to replace Nketiah, but I’m not sure a striker is top of the list anymore, given the form of Havertz.
For me…
#1 Priority - New No.6 or No.8 (Tchouaméni, FDJ, Zubimendi)
#2 Priority - New winger - Nico Williams gets my vote…
#3 Priority - New striker - Gyökeres gets my vote atm…
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Yeah that’s fair, a backup striker to replace Eddie no issue with that.
Agree with you with all that 
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For me when everyone is fit this our best 11
Raya
White Saliba Gabriel Timber
Odegard Partey Rice
Saka Havertz Martinelli
And we have Ramsdale, Kiwior, Tomiyasu, Zinchenko,Vieira, ESR, Trossard, Jesus, Jorginho, Nketiah Nelson, Cedric, Elneny
Plus Tierney, Lokonga, Tavares, Marquinhos on loan
So I think that we need to sell before we buy and IMO it wont be more than 1 player that gets straight in the first 11, and maybe another 2 as backup, so that leaves us in position to spend heavy on that one player.
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I still think a clinical striker gives us a real edge. Havertz has been quality, but why not buy a player with a similar physical pressence, workrate but is a decisive finisher? Isak for example.
Trossard doesn’t offer what Kai can, but he does score freely.
I wouldn’t be adverse to signing a high-scoring winger though. Leao, Williams and Rashford being three players of interest. This player could be Jesus if he gets his mojo back.
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Nketiah, Ramsdale and Nelson will be sold.
Cedric and Elneny out of contract.
Of those loanees Lokonga seems the most likely to stay, Tierney, Tavares, Marquinhos will either be sold or go out on loan. Tierney will end-up back at Celtic eventually.
So we have 5 squad spaces:
Restes GK
Hato DL
Tchouaméni DMC
Williams Winger
Gyökeres ST
We go up another level with those.
But what if we have another season half like august - january? When goals are very difficult to go by?
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No need to spend £80M on Gyokeres now.
We have GyoKaires anyway.
Backup GK
Winger
CM
AM/CM
Death and taxes defender
I’d argue a striker is of more importance for us than anything else. Unlike Liverpool we don’t have that 17+ League goal per season player like they have in Salah. Saka nor Martinelli are not there yet and might not even get there either.
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Saka had 14 goals in the league last season and has already matched that tally with seven games to go. I’d argue that we do have a 17+ league goals player in the team.
I’m not against signing a striker, but again maintain it might not be a massive outlay, which is what it would take to sign Gyokeres.
This team has way more variance to it than simply believing that signing a striker, playing him up front = more goals. We need a player that adds another dimension to the team’s attacking play and is a good finisher. That can be a striker, a winger or a midfielder.
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