Sven Mislintat raids Dortmund with Sébastien Squillaci like move

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Reports coming out of Germany today that the club is looking to bolster experience in defence again with the signing of 29-year-old Dortmund centre-back, Sokratis. I can’t say this signing makes me weak at knees, and I’m not really sure he’s adding levels to our game. I keep looking at the signings we’re making through the prism of culture building, versus seeing them purely as elite level talent hires.

The club appear to be looking beyond just the on-the-field dimensions with these names, they’re signing parts that they’re missing from a culture/leadership perspective. Now, it’s pretty clear that the Greek isn’t a world class addition, so he must be bringing something else to the table? Maybe he’s a solid leader, maybe he’s good with young players, maybe he’s a Remi Garde like signing? The more seasoned Frenchman was brought to Arsenal to help the young French players at the club acclimate. He was like a mentor type figure in a largely English setup.

The Greek is he looks every inch like we’ve signed Squillaci MKII. He’s bit of a journeyman, he’ll be 30 by the start of the season, he’s being signed as an experienced stop gap.

It’s very hard for players to adapt to the rigours of the Premier League, especially when they’ve come over from a slower league with a winter break. The Greek is a ball playing defender who was listed as one of the best in the Bundesliga in January 2017 by Kicker. Tuchel liked him because he could play the ball and extinguish problems early (a bit like peak Koscielny would do), so it’s clear Arsenal are opting for a technical defender who can help us play out of the back, I’d also say they fear that Koscielny won’t be back for quite a while.

The comparison to old Seb reads unfair, but ultimately, he was a good player who’d played a CL final and for a top France team 21 times. One that was used to playing in proper systems and failed because Arsene didn’t protect defenders.

“You can see that from before my time and after my time. The style of play was a bit like Spain’s. It was very open, and often we found ourselves defending in the middle one on one with the opposition attackers. It was never easy. It was very attacking. But that was the club’s philosophy.

“I talked about it with coach Wenger. He told me, ‘I know it’s difficult, but I want us to play like this, I want the attacking players to have more freedom and less defensive work’.”

Emery is going to give everyone a chance to survive at Arsenal, because he’ll give the defence more structure and purpose, and he’ll also make sure the rest of the team is working for them. The setup might become more than the sum of its parts under the new regime.

Also, when you read around the background of the player, he has a lot of very good press. He’s played under Klopp, Tuchel and Allegri. So he knows how to play in a fluid system. He was also chosen to be the captain of Athens at 19 years old, before being picked out as a bit of a warrior at Dortmund. This extract from the Bundesliga magazine was also pretty hopeful.

Though he did not fully establish himself as first-choice until Thomas Tuchel’s arrival in 2015, his first two campaigns with Die Schwarzgelben still brought 43 starts and a formidable 66 percent of challenges won. His promotion came at the expense of Subotic, and since the 2016 departure of Hummels for Bayern, Sokratis has been the undisputed general of Dortmund’s rearguard action, a billing he has lived up to famously.

His 69 percent ‘challenges won’ ratio this season has been a major part in helping BVB enjoy a clean sheet tally in double figures, an admirable achievement given the gung-ho nature of his team, particularly under Peter Bosz. In the top 10 for touches this season — level with Naldo and just behind Hummels — Sokratis’ 90 percent pass completion means he is just as important in getting his own side moving forward as he is in stopping BVB’s rivals doing the same. And it is not just because referees fear writing his full name — Sokratis Papastathopoulos — that he has received just three five cards this season as his play includes more finesse than his nightclub doorman 6’1″ frame would suggest.

If we’re bringing in a younger player to bring a bit of wow (Caglar Soyuncu), then I can live with this signing. I just hope the extent of Diamond Eyes talent isn’t rooting out deals from Dortmund. It looks like comfort behaviour or a lack confidence in new decisions. We’ve signed Auba, Mikki and likely Sokratis. Even Mavrapanos was a signing he identifiued at his old club. Time to remove ourselves from the soft teet of the German club and move in on a new chapter…

UNLESS THAT NEW CHAPTER INVOLVES DEMBELE.

So far it seems we’re getting our less than spectacular signings out the way first. Lichensteiner and Sokratis are squad filler, versus players we’re going to truly build around, but if they have the right attitude, combined with a fighting spirit, it certainly gives us a little more balance at the back experience wise.

Also, regardless of what you think of the quality of the names, we’re doing business quickly for once. I don’t think we’ll be looking at our squad at the end of July wondering what the f*cking going on. We have a plan, we’re going hard at it, and there will be no excuses centred around the terrors of money and modern football come the start of the season.

Hopefully, Sven brings a little more creativity to some of the additional signings.

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Steveyg87

Uno!

Steveyg87

2

Steveyg87

3

Thanos

Ramos

Steveyg87

Tr4phy!

Steveyg87

I’m officially one of the cunts

Thanos

Sokratis is a far better defender than either Kos or Mustafi and can play from the Back. He is an upgrade to our backline plus he will help Mavropanos settle and teach him a lot. Another good signing hopefully tempered with some exciting ones to come

Thanos

I retire the 4th place trophy as a symbol of our old guard that is done. Let it go to the bygone era were it belongs. All you lemons that covet it move on and get the first post as that’s where we want to be

Freddie Ljungberg

Graham62What was the point of changing managers then? To maybe compete for the top four?

Are you on the board by any chance?

We have so much potential and Wenger was holding us back, now is the time to go for it, not settle down into mid table mediocrity that we might never get out of.

Time to show some ambition as a club ffs…

Receding Hairline

For those who keep sighting Laporte as a sign of ambition ..newsflash he was never worth 75m and will never be worth 75m.. Just because Liverpool became obsessed with him does not change the fact he was never worth the amount paid.

Laporte was an absolute joke of a signing as he was actually going backwards in his development when City paid 57m for him .

I do not worry about price tags, Arsenal are never going to blow anyone out of the water in a bidding war. I am gonna sit back and watch what unfolds.

Receding Hairline

VVD Not Laporte …was never worth 75m will never be worth 75m

Danish Gooner

<sokratis is an ok signing a little bit like Mertesacker,a very experienced player that has seen the war and been in it,dont worry he will be a revalation in our defense and you can quote me on that,combine him with the young turk and we could have another defense that is as good as they come,now we need someone to run the midfield ans seri is a good prospect but as i watch a lot of BUndes league football i wouldnt be surprised if we signed us another swede namely Emil Forsberg a forever running machine not a superb talent… Read more »

Guns of SF

Sokratis looks like Christian vieiri

Hopefully a firey character like him too

Guns of SF

Mustafi is def off. He must be going what the f!?

We get 25 mfor him would be good

Is this dembele talk just bs or is there teeth to it?

Would love him at arsenal

I’d like to see younger players now please coming in

mysticleaves

Receding True. If we were signing VVD for 75m people would go bunkers on here. Thanos Far better than Kos? Wait till you see Sokratis at 33. At 29/30 Kos was the best defender in the PL. Though now Kos needs replacing and Sokratis would do fine. By signing him I don’t get why we might still move for Calgar as we have Chambers and Holding in the “will be better with coaching” department. Calgar won’t add anything that those 2 don’t have. So I am thinking it’s curtains for Mustafi if Sokratis signs. And a promotion for Chambers to… Read more »

mysticleaves

A player I have long admired is Memphis Deepay. I know he had a bad season at Man utd but he wants ready for the big time. His individualistic nature went against him but going away to Lyon was the best thing that happened to him. He is now more of a team player as Lyon arent even reliant on him but he has been excellent thus season. For the right reason, Fekir has been the talk of Lyon but Deepay had an equal season if not better. If I were Unai I would be tearing down the offices at… Read more »

Guns of SF

chambers and holding need to be kept as backups
Let the new guys come in and show them proper defense

Guns of SF

The real question is who will be protecting the defense as our dm

We get a destroyer who is about 25-28 years old would be great

Leftsidesanch

Not mad at the signing, not jumping through hoops. Hoping all of our business isn’t done in Dortmund.

HighburyLegend

“we’ve signed Squillaci MKII.”
Maybe our pain is far from being over after all.

“Papastathopoulos”
Did someone just sneeze ??

Boomslang

Steveyg87
“I’m officially one of the cunts”

Welcome to ze club.

HighburyLegend

“not a superb talent like nabil Fekir”… who is apparentlty in advanced talks with liverpool.

gonsterous

mystic

I don’t know about depay. his YouTube clips look shit. he feels a lot like wilshere. likes to dribble but has no close control…

Champagne charlie

Sokratis is a welcome sign of shrewd decision making with transfers imo.

Per out = Sokratis in
Debuchy out = Lichtsteiner in

Bellerin, Holding, Chambers, Mavro, Kolasinac are a collectively young defensive base. Getting the Swiss captain and Greek warhorse in is essential for work beyond the first XI as much as in it.

Duzie

#WengerOUT

HighburyLegend

lol

gonsterous

Asano to join Hannover on loan..will he ever play for arsenal ? guy is 23 already…

Pierre

Guns of sf
Correct, the real question is who will be protecting the defence.

Until that area is tackled and we install some discipline into midfield then it will be make no difference how many centre backs we sign, the defence will feel exposed due to lack of protection.

Gooner63

Doubt Mustafi is off anywhere with Koz out for ages and just a crock anyway (unless we buying another CB)

Can see us only tightening defence a bit, getting a DM and maybe a young talented forward

Rest will be seeing who can fit into the formation and tactics before spending next summer

Will be expecting anywhere from 4th-6th next season and maybe a shot at europa league

Ishola70

We got ourselves a baller at the back lol!

Guns of SF

I think another 2 to 3 In
Nzonzi ok for now!
Would stabilize our center

gonsterous

I actually want Mustafi to stay another season. get in a proper DM, and a proper winger. I can see Unai is going down a the cheap road, which isn’t a bad thing…

Receding Hairline

I think all the English journos and ex United players have been briefed that the thing for the summer is the get Bale campaign

Interesting one that considering he will be an 80+m pound signing that can break down if you sneeze too hard around him

Ishola70

Sokratis seems a bit similar to Mustafi.

Both can be hot-headed and rash at times and both don’t have real pace.

Maybe like for like replacement.

Sokratis has better leadership qualities than Mustafi.

To play them both together could be a mistake.

Ishola70

gonsterous
“I actually want Mustafi to stay another season£

Why is that?

Guy seems a bit of a tool regardless of Wenger.

Gooner63

Sokratis has better leadership qualities than Mustafi.

Hopefully Mustafi will be replaced by Soyuncu

A Turkish Greek defence looks tough

HighburyLegend

“Sokratis has better leadership qualities than Mustafi.”

Not very difficult.

Ishola70

No not difficult but regardless of the comparison with Mustafi he is noted to show good leadership on the pitch.

But he overdoes it at times, rash, dives in and not the quickest around.

As others have noted comfortable on the ball and a good enough passer.

Me

Why am I NOT looking forward to the summer.
Is it because we are ******* broke?
How does that idiot Gazidis believe we can compete with no money?

gonsterous

ishola

may be because he’s a decent CB. he was voted one of the best young defender in the bundesliga just 2 seasons back. maybe under better management, he could become good.

but if we get Socrates, we again fall into the can’t defend set pieces hole we found ourselves in a couple season back when we had no height in defence…

mysticleaves

mystic
I don’t know about depay. his YouTube clips look shit. he feels a lot like wilshere. likes to dribble but has no close control…

gonsterous

Deepay dribbles quite alright, in the past, down blind alleys. Had a penchant for doing too much. He has seemed to settle down and remember has teammates.

Though he still dribbles and looks to take shots which are largely successful, he now works for the team. He’s the kind of player that can change a game with a bit of magic on his own.

Ishola70

Oh no not this voted best in Bundesliga again.

Ring any bells with anyone?

He has had a few matches where he has played well, scored a few headers but far too many individual errors.

Not good enough.

Ishola70

gonsterous
“but if we get Socrates, we again fall into the can’t defend set pieces hole we found ourselves in a couple season back when we had no height in defence…”

Not bad in the air.

Over 6ft. Just.

Gooner63

“but if we get Socrates, we again fall into the can’t defend set pieces hole we found ourselves in a couple season back when we had no height in defence…”

tbf we screwed up more times by poor tackles, wrong positions, giving the ball away than we did from headers

Soyuncu is 6ft too so him and Sokratis would be fine

Emiratesstroller

I have always believed that building a successful defence is not dependent on recruiting “world class footballers”, but rather bringing in players who can work as a collective within a system. Arsenal’s most successful defence played together for more than a decade and won collectively 2 doubles and 4 league titles under both George Graham and Arsene Wenger. None of these players were superstars apart from perhaps Adams. Bould, Winterburn and Dixon were recruited from lower divisions. None apart from Adams played regularly international football. Yet as a unit they were disciplined and exceptional. Indeed when you look at Liverpool’s… Read more »

Ishola70

Maybe this Turkish kid will do the running around for Sokratis. Which could be a good thing as Sokratis is losing pace by the day and doesn’t want to be diving in and selling himself. More the passive CB but that role will be hard for him to do because it doesn’t seem in his genes. Naturally aggressive. Atm the CB partnerships with the two linked players is very much up in the air. As said before think a Sokratis/Mustafi partnership is a no go. No-one knows what will happen with a Sokratis/Freiburg kid partnership. Could click, could be a… Read more »

qna

Sokraris very underwhelming. It’s a clear case of having our standards lowered for so many years that a 29 year old who has had nothing more than a mediocre career is (potentially) better than what we currently have. We need to build a proper team now. This signing is just a bandaid and a mediocre one at that.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Hopefully

He may be looking to play the sweeper system

Old boy organising those in front …

Gooner63

We need to build a proper team now. This signing is just a bandaid and a mediocre one at that.

We do, but missing out on CL football and sales of merchandise etc has meant right now we dont have the money for top top players – maybe 1 if we can do good business elsewhere

Emiratesstroller

For the record the entire defence of Athletico Madrid cost collectively just
Euros 70 million and the most expensive player was Savic at a cost of Euros
25 million.

In other words the entire squad of 7 defenders cost less than Liverpool spent
in January on Van Dijk!!!

Gooner63

He may be looking to play the sweeper system

Emery only ever plays 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3

So cant see that happening

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Goalkeeper

Solkaris

Bel syiourou chambers syoiu

Xhara Ramsey

Laca Aubameyang ozil

Could work .?

Champagne charlie

Always chuckle at the outdated commentary about players somehow falling off a cliff at 30.

Losing pace by the day Ishola? Good grief

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Goon

The defence is shocking

Maybe having the general on the pitch bellowing outbinstructions to get them started

Gooner63

Think about it sensibly

We are bringing in 2 ball playing tough CBs

Emery likes the pressing , possession game

We lose Mustafi and probably Holding/Koz, as Chambers can pass

That already strengthens our defence, suits our new style and we wont have spent much

Good business

China

This guy might not be the dogs bollocks but realistically he’s going to be an improvement on everyone we’ve got and also isn’t a wenger baby so shouldn’t be tainted by years of bs

Considering he’s not astronomically expensive, I’m ok with that. Where he fits in, I’ll let emery worry about that. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now

Emiratesstroller

SOKRATIS at 29 is not that old for Centre Back.

Godin and Luis who are the main CBs at Athletico Madrid are both 32. Take a
look at Godin’s performance against us when they were down to 10 players.

Ishola70

Never been blessed with real pace Charlie Sokratis.

And not getting any quicker.

Gooner63

Can see us lining up next season (if he wants to build around ramsey and auba)

New Keeper
Bellerin, Sokratis, Soyuncu, Monreal
Pellegrini, Xhaka
Mikki, Ramsey, Ozil
Auba

Samesong

Sometimes I get the feeling people on this blog are looking perfection.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Serious question

Where has all the money gone?

The move to the new drum was going to give us unlimited funds

Now with stadium debt almost level

We have a smaller budget than Crystal Palace

Where’s the mone6 gone ?..

Ishola70

Godin has great brain and instinct so doesn’t rely on pace at all. Doesn’t dive hardly ever.

Mustafi and Sokratis can dive in when they shouldn’t. Sometimes rash.

Ishola70

“Dive in”

qna

“We do, but missing out on CL football and sales of merchandise etc has meant right now we dont have the money for top top players – maybe 1 if we can do good business elsewhere” It still points to what our plans are. This signing points to a continuation of Ivan’s number 1 KPI which is making top 4. Its a continuation of our false economic policies where we spend good money on players where we could spend more and get an adequate player. I actually beleive that winning the PL is out of our reach in the short… Read more »

Guns of SF

Gooner 63
Nice but would like to see Xhaka out nzonzi in

qna

“Godin and Luis who are the main CBs at Athletico Madrid are both 32. Take a look at Godin’s performance against us when they were down to 10 players.” Exactly my point. Both of these guys are a fraction of their former selves. At their peaks they were far better players than Sokratis. I don’t mind even Lichtensteiner on a free because he was once elite. He is costing nothing. That is the type of bandaid that I think is perfectly fine for the short term. But why spend £16m on a guy when we could identify someone for the… Read more »

Gooner63

There is never unlimited funds in a self sustaining model

The reason other clubs can spend loads is because their owners fund private business associated with the club to put more money into the club/transfer kitty

Utds is just because they have a massive fan base that spend

People dont realise the stadium debt we set up means we still have to pay premiums until 2031

Gooner63

Yep QNA

we will only be competing for top4 for a while, we need to bring in more money from champions league and player development in order to compete for the league

gonna be a few years yet

thats the damage wenger has done with poor buys and inflated wages

qna

RSPCA. I was warning of this at least a year ago. 1. Failure of selling Sanchez and Ozil 12 months ago has cost us probably £120m to £150m. Instead we have committed to overpay Ozil effectively taking an extra £50m from our football budget over 5 years in my estimation. (What would another club pay him? The difference over 5 years is around 50m I reckon). We also were forced to take a swap deal that is not what we needed. Mkhitariyan is not who we should be buying for where we are right now. 2. Overpaying for Lacazette. We… Read more »

gonsterous

2031 ?? where did this new number come from ????

Marko

Godin and Luis who are the main CBs at Athletico Madrid are both 32.

Godin is old sure but Gimenez and Lucas Hernandez are early 20’s and Savic is mid 20’s you might be talking about Filipe Luis the LB who’s been injured recently and seems to be getting replaced. Godin is still a great defender sure but it helps having a good defensive structure in front and also helps sitting back and absorbing pressure. Would Sokratis be doing similar at Arsenal?

Barking Arsene

Looks like we are buying in a few safe experienced players to steady the ship. So long as this is then complimented with some younger prospects, I don’t see a huge issue with it. They aren’t exciting signings in isolatio, but if they are able to operate in a disciplined system then it’s a good base to build off. The younger guys can then learn and develop over the next three years or so – it almost looks like a proper plan. I think we just have to let this develop and see what happens. Let’s put some faith in… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

I don’t understand the negativity about Sokratis who has been rated one of the best centre backs in Germany in recent years and is also rated a “team leader” both on and off the pitch. Is that not what most supporters and posters on Le Grove been calling for in recent years? Arsenal need to rebuild their defence and that is not down to recruiting so called elite Centre Backs costing £50-70 million a hit. If we are going to spend that sort of money invest it in MF and on wing. Arsenal’s problems under Wenger has always been that… Read more »

Marko

I mean Sokratis is an alright signing but it hardly screams we’ve addressed the defence with confidence. If Chelsea end up with Koulibaly we should be disappointed because that’ll be someone who could have improved us he’s a statement signing. Young too

Pierre

CC
“Always chuckle at the outdated commentary about players somehow falling off a cliff at 30.”

You only have to look how old adams 32, keown 32, Dixon 34, bould 36 and winterburn 35 were when we won the double in 98…

Didn’t Leicester win the league with two 32 year old ageing centre backs.

Marko

I don’t understand the negativity about Sokratis

Scepticism not negativity.

Arsenal need to rebuild their defence and that is not down to recruiting so called elite Centre Backs costing £50-70 million a hit. If we are going to spend
that sort of money invest it in MF and on wing.

Disagree with this. We’ve spent plenty of money on the attack and midfield in years past but skimped on the defence and its clearly not working. Needs to be properly addressed

Wenker-wanger

We have no money!…. But I’m sure with selling a few players can bolster our spending money. If we genuinely have no money, then the greatest ever arsenal manager(joke) has certainly done a real demolition job on us. All these wenger- respectors and soppy sentimentalists should think clearly as to why we have a small kitty. I feel for emery, he should be given what that tosser Wenger had to spend(or waste). We need quality….there is no way you can mount a premier league challenge without a nucleus of quality players.We have maybe 4…and one of them is lazy-arse ozil.

TheLegendaryDB10

R.S.P.C.Arsenal Where has all the money gone? Maybe they have finally realised that hanging on to AW for too long has cost them (What a legacy, eh?). This year’s stadium revenue would have nosedived… people buying less merch, etc. We are not as attractive as we should be to investors as we have very little to show for, for a club the size of Arsenal. (We are not Everton, and investors expect more from our club than just the odd FA Cup). Even worse, the new shirt is crap which is not going to help. Not to mention that players… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Marko

Organisation,discipline and intelligence are the key elements of a top class
defence.

As I wrote earlier Arsenal’s great defence may have been built around Adams,
but the other players recruited mainly from the lower divisions were also outstanding not because they were great individuals footballers, but because of their collective understanding and positioning.

My guess is that under Emery the defence will improve immeasurably whoever comes in or is selected once he puts together a settled backline.

Wenger’s record in putting together a proper defence was shocking.

Cesc Appeal

Guys, we need to calm down a bit on jumping to conclusions before context, this is the first time in over a decade none of us known what is going to happen, fair enough if Wenger was still here, but with Emery (feels so good to be writing a new manager’s name), Mislintat, Sanllehi and Gazidis with more power none of us know what is happening. But there is clearly a plan based on a tactical set up. Emery is too smart for their not to be. What I say, in my humble opinion is this. Sokratis is coming in,… Read more »

Redtruth

If these pathetic signings go through then it’s time to start protesting again.

Cesc Appeal

*Sokratis, Sonyucu in the second back line

Dissenter

It is foolhardy to attach “experienced” to Sokratis. He’s never defended a corner kick in the English premier league. He’s 30- year old and is on the decline already. I’ve repeatedly warned about praising this new scout/DoF team prematurely. This signing is an underwhelming event. Why do we keep scavenging BvB, what’s the need for scouting when we keep going back to the continent supermarket of Mlinstat. Why do we keep spending good money for players with zero resale value. We needed a quality defender that has pace to burn, instead we are getting another jumpy and average defender. This… Read more »

Redtruth

Dressing up shit players as leaders and cover lol

mysticleaves

“Godin is old sure but Gimenez and Lucas Hernandez are early 20’s and Savic is mid 20’s you might be talking about Filipe Luis the LB who’s been injured recently and seems to be getting replaced. Godin is still a great defender sure but it helps having a good defensive structure in front and also helps sitting back and absorbing pressure. Would Sokratis be doing similar at Arsenal?” Would he not be doing similar at Arsenal? From your analogy of ATM, it seems we have thesame make up in our defense too. Holding, Mav and Chambers our young CBs. Mustafi… Read more »

Major_Jeneral

I would have love Sven to sign a defender in the mould of bailey Vidic or Carragher. Someone that would stay with the Arsenal team for the long term.

Sokratis fits the style of play that Emery plans to make use of . Playing from the back, i wish we bought a younger version.

“If wishes were horses”.

Cesc Appeal

As someone who had so much apathy for the shit show that Arsenal became I stopped watching games, stopped commenting on here, I did not watch Wenger’s final game, having nothing pleasant to say about him, I do not get the doom and gloom on 28 May with two signings already arriving and the noise coming out of the club being right in terms of transfers as in GK, CM and winger. This is a club that in less than a year hired a head of recruitment, a DoF, sacked a failing manager long needing sacking, sacked his whole coaching… Read more »

Gooner63

2031 ?? where did this new number come from ????

Its always been 2031 to clear all the stadium debt, the initial payments were the original funding , now we are paying off the 260 plus interest

Everyone at Arsenal thought FFP was actually going to happen and when it didnt it left us screwed financially

oh and we still have the bonds to clear

Redtruth

This new scouting team should be unearthing gems not geriatrics lol joke club

Dissenter

Cesc appeal
I’ll take your advice any day
Just find spending 16 million on a soon-to-be 29 year old very underwhelming and wasteful. It’s not like we have a sugar daddy or anything.
Spending double that on a 22 year old talent makes far more sense.

Welcome back.

Pierre

Ruth
You’re just embarrassed because you made a dick of yourself regarding Arteta.

Gooner63

This new scouting team should be unearthing gems not geriatrics lol joke club

im sure we will

but initially we have to sort out defence and a dm

Redtruth

Why do we need experience when we have a new coach to drill the young recruits on the art of defending

Cesc Appeal

Dissenter Thanks mate. I’m excited to not know again, for years we all knew the script, now, no idea, and is it ever great! I said to a friend in the pub a few days ago, what a weird feeling it is and he said ‘that’s being a football fan,’ not for bloody Arsenal fans it hasn’t been for about 10 years. We were proved right on him, we’ve got what we wanted, I read baffled and bemused on Pedro’s stance on Arteta personally would have been a total crap, hipster, baseless, dangerous, appointment, but now we all get to… Read more »

qna

Emirates: I don’t understand the negativity about Sokratis who has been rated one of the best centre backs in Germany in recent years and is also rated a “team leader” both on and off the pitch. I do enjoy your posts so no offence mate. But you have been failing to understand our trajectory for years. I wrote on here right after signing Mustafi, when we still had Sanchez in brilliant form that I guaranteed that we would not make top 4, even with 20 consecutive qualifications. I stated that I would concede my personal reputation as having no value… Read more »

Dissenter

Redtruth
You’re the first to say Cech was a crappy transfer.
You did screw yourself by insisting Ospina was the dream goalie.

However you’re right to insist that a 29 year old with “experience”in the bundesliga does not translate to real experience in England
There’s always a transition required for defenders to adjust to England. I’ll like to see Sokratis compete with 29 year old Jamie. Vardy. I’ll het my popcorn ready for that.

Cesc Appeal

Seriously interested to see what happens with Ramsey.

Strong links to both Seri and Pellegrini, I think Emery will like Xhaka and might well improve him through the implementation of an actual system (fear not because if not no one will survive anymore on crap performances), but obviously that leaves no room for Ramsey.

Do not buy the Forsberg links, unless something major is happening like selling Ozil which would be great. Giving that new deal to Ozil is the one f**k up the new team has made so far.

mysticleaves

We already have the young players we need at the club. We need experience and structures now. From the defence to attack. We can still buy a star winger and a DM be because we don’t have any but generally Unai will work with this team.

Only reason we sign mid twenties players is if the ones we have leave. People like Ramsey and Xhaka, Mustafi, Bellerin etc

gambon

I’ve been looking over a lot of Emery related stuff recently and a few things stand out. Firstly he likes to play with a proper DM – which means we must surely be looking for one. Xhaka isn’t capable of sitting in front of a defence. His other midfielders tend to interchange a bit. Again…rules out Xhaka. One quote from him mentioned the need for 2 physical and disciplined defenders if he has an attacking number 10. With lazy Mesut in there I can’t see how either Xhaka or Ramsey will work. He mentioned he likes his number 10 to… Read more »

Dissenter

Spuds knew Alderweireld wouldn’t be resigning and splurged out £42 million on Davidson Sanchez. You could see the blindi;g talent even in his first season o Under Poch. Like anything else in life, the potential of youth under good coaching offers more possibilities. I completely agree with Redtruth when he stated that “Why do we need experience when we have a new coach to drill the young recruits on the art of defending” It makes more sense to buy very good potential young and place them under an excellent coach to,develop. How many foreign transplanted 29 year old central defenders… Read more »

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