I think you can get 2 good seasons out of Willian and that’s really all that matters. If his career slides by season 3 then we’ve managed to get 2 good seasons and experience out of a high level PL talent who arrived with no transfer fee.
In that time you imagine Pepe develops more, Saka and Martinelli come on leaps and bounds so Willian is naturally phased out.
I’m not sure I completely buy this talk of Willian demanding 3 years on a big salary and settling for nothing less.
He’s 32 playing in an attacking position. There’s no way both he and his agent are going to think he can get a straight up 3 year deal on a high salary at a good club in a top league. Most decent clubs don’t operate in that way.
At the same age Luiz signed a 1+1. Something like 2+1 is the best he’ll probably get unless he wants to take a big step down in MLS or some other money league and if he wants to do that then he’s probably not the guy for us.
Yeah no I wasn’t talking ‘to OA’ in that sense with that specific reply to Big_Weng, I feel that whether we agree or disagree on a topic he will always hear out my argument 
(I did try to give an explanation for this type of football more generally somewhere on here back when Arteta joined as well).
I think it’s more that I don’t think Laca gets much appreciation for the job he does because based on that post I did make a while ago it’s as if our fans refuse to acknowledge that his job description changed recently, and why doing his new job well results in goals indirectly rather than directly.
I use the argument that if this was actually a setup for managers with scrawny squads with a lack of scoring players like ours and they’re just trying to make the most of it then why do Real Madrid and Liverpool play like this and win everything with it. It isn’t a poor man’s setup, it’s one of a several ways to play that can get you all the way if done well. There are others as well.
Liverpool/Real are not forced to play that way by their squad material, they choose to and train and buy for it. I think Firmino and Benzema have been underrated for a long time because they’re not decidedly the last man to poke the ball so they don’t get the numbers. This also comes with better 1v1 defenders trying to win the ball back up at the centre line, sweeper keepers, the whole shebang. We’ve transitioned into more of all of that. Nuances aside it’s a full package.
Compared to Laca, Benzema scores a tad more and Firmino maybe similar but that’s not the whole story as none of them really put up great numbers for a CF - they’re maybe the best #9s in the world at this type of ball though because they do all the other stuff in their job description better.
They also cost probably twice as much as Laca all things equal despite the numbers not being that impressive compared to strikers whose job it is to score all the goals all the time. A manager doesn’t just throw three strikers on the pitch and say “do what you want, be where you want, whoever scores the most goals is the best”, of course not.
But let’s put it this way then, instead of praising Laca since it get’s ridiculous eventually as he cost like £40-45m which for a striker is fairly modest today, another way of putting it is that I think most fans who criticise Laca hard to my guessing couldn’t easily tell me what difference it would make if we upgraded Laca for Firmino right now who is distinctly better and would cost twice as much but doesn’t really score more goals, and the argument there is that maybe it’s the tactics you are angry at rather than the player.
I’m bored. This is what we’ve got right now. Very bloated squad still, without goalkeepers 30 players…
--------Mustafi — Luiz — Mari ---------------
--------- Saliba --------- Holding -----------
Bellerin — Ceballos — Xhaka — Tierney-----
Soares — Torreira ----------------- Kolasinac—
-----Pepe--------Lacazette-----Aubameyang
-----Willian--------Nketiah----------Saka------Chambers, Sokratis, Maitland-Niles, Willock, Guendouzi, Elneny, Ozil, Nelson, Martinelli, Smith-Rowe.
We definitely need to find a way to let some of Sokratis, Mustafi, Holding, Chambers, Elneny, Mkhitaryan go.
Btw Ceballos is no longer with us.
If Gabriel is actually happening, (starting) core for the next two/three seasons: Leno, Saliba, Gabriel, Bellerin, Tierney, Pepe and Aubameyang?
Might be a bit early for Saliba. Very curious to see which four/five players are going to be added to that. Sure as fuck hope those don’t include Xhaka.
Partey, Ceballos and/or Aouar hopefully 
Not sure I really like that team. But that is maybe because Gabriel, Aouar are unknown entities for me and Bellerin is shite.
Leno, Martinez
Bellerin, Cedric
Luiz, Gabriel, Mustafi, Saliba, Mari
Tierney, AMN
Partey, Ceballos, Xhaka, Torreira, Willock, Saka
Willian, Pepe, Nelson, Ozil, ESR
Aubameyang, Lacazette, Nketiah, Martinelli
Out: Sokratis, Holding, Chambers, Kolasinac, Guendouzi, Elneny
Am I forgetting anyone there?
Adrian Clarke describing the exact profile of Partey is what we need in midfield. Maybe he knows something lol.
So many people losing it over his comments lol.
Adrian knows as much as we do.
Social media team either didn’t think much of it or just let it pass by.
Just about every team in the world needs Thomas Partey if they can get him to do what he does at Atlético. He’s been a steady starter at one of the top 5ish teams in the world for years now lol
Valid point on Ceballos nerfing his attacking abilities/influence to put in the work off the ball in midfield
Ceballos just isn’t that good in the final third…
Nah he isn’t, strengths seem to be ball progression and work rate when he’s up and about.
Two from below can’t make the 25 man squad.
I’ve long been a proponent of ditching Mesut so I’d stick with that and given he won’t play this year Mari as the other absentee makes sense to me.
Is homegrown only counting English? I am surprised this union loving island doesn’t include Scotland Wales or NI in it lol
Mari and Runarsson. By the sounds of it, we could just stick a cone in goal and it’d be as effective.
Sokratis and Mari for me.
Sokratis can be sold in January and we have enough defenders to deal with it.
We can also not choose to register Chambers & Martinelli till January.
Suggestion to not register Ozil is lunacy
Yea you have to have trained with an English or Welsh club for three years prior to 21 to qualify.