It’s a mad world we’re living in fam. You have the AKBs talking about how important it is that the club wins trophies RIGHT NOW. Then you have the #WengerOut crowd preaching for calm and time.
Oh how times have changed…
I think there is a level of insincerity if people are genuinely expecting Unai Emery to drop a wonder season at his first attempt. This isn’t a man taking over a winning machine, no, he’s taking over a pampered creche of spoilt rich boys.
You have to be realistic about the targets for year one, firstly, because we’re trying to topple a well oiled and monied Pep machine, secondly, because even if Emery were Pep it’d take at least a year for his ideas to settle into the club.
Demanding a title challenge at the first attempt is fantasy living. It could happen, but it’d be a lucky fluke. This isn’t 2014, and we didn’t hire in Ranieri’s magical fairy dust. This is 2018. The money in the league has landed, there are some seriously great coaches deeply entrenched in their projects, and we don’t have much money to pull ourselves out of the mess we’re in.
That doesn’t mean we won’t see progress.
A lot will hinge on how quickly Emery and his coaching staff adapt to the language. Explaining complex systems through a translator isn’t ideal, you can pretend it’s fine, but if you’re British, and you’ve tried talking to a BT call centre in Newcastle about how to turn on your set-top box, then you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Emery needs to get to grips with the club, and his grasp of English pronto.
The second most important thing is that the players gel with his ideas. He’s dropping 12-hour video analysis sessions and it’s likely going to be testing for a group of players who currently rock about 3 hours of training per day (half on their phone according to the BFG). The players will be finishing their days later, they’ll likely be dropping double sessions to make up for the time they’ll have lost to the World Cup, so we’d best hope they’re down for giving Emery the grace period he needs.
The third thing we need to pray for is an easy opening set of fixtures (just like United land every year, and don’t tell me it’s a luck thing). We’ll be seeing the World Cup players returning late, they’ll have fatigue and maybe injuries. We need to hope that Darren Burgess has a plan the new crowd agree with, and we need to have a little bit of luck. It’s not just physical issues you have to deal with, occasionally, you end up with football depression, which can fuck a season. Remember when Bergkamp lost the semi-final of the 1998 World Cup? He came back a broken man…
If Emery has a shocking start, we’re in big trouble. The players will lose faith in the manager, the ideas, and there will likely be big issues on the training ground to deal with. However, if he kicks things off to a flyer, his ideas will be embraced, the players will see themselves improving, the fans will be behind the new approach and everyone is a winner. The start really is absolutely key to a great season and a successful tenure for Emery.
We need to aim low as fans though. Think about the things we really want.
A winning culture:
I want to see players fighting the full 90minutes until they look like they’re going to collapse. For the last two seasons, the squad has downed tools in February. Imagine going all out for the whole season? That’s why the club is hiring in older heads. They need to set a new tone for a dressing room in which our most important leader took over the academy. Sokratis and Lichtsteiner are all about leadership and instilling accountability in the youth (and seniors tbh). Remember, Wenger’s first years at Arsenal were built off the back of pure winners. After 2004, Wenger dismantled the know-how and never recovered it.
Having experience and know how is hugely valuable. I shouldn’t have to say that, but it’s lost on a lot of people.
A playing identity:
Did you see that video of Peru playing out the back in their warm up World Cup match? Have you seen the intricate passing of Napoli? Have you seen how Hoffenheim press? What is going to be our magic sauce? What videos are people going to be sharing about our style of play?
I can’t wait to see what Emery does to the football.
Planning:
Sevilla in Klopp’s first euro cup final knew Liverpool would press the fuck out of them for the first 60minutes, then they’d fade. Emery setup his side to absorb the obvious, then pick off the scousers when they dipped. He had a plan. He executed that strategy to perfection. When was the last time Arsenal tried anything interesting? It’s been such a rare occurrence. We now have a football nerd hungry to prove he’s a better thinker than more prestigious names. That’s exciting. No one knows the line-up, no one knows the setup, no one knows the subs.
We’re about to witness a different type of philosophy.
Buzz:
When you have the above three, you create excitement. How are you feeling about coming to this blog? Pretty good no doubt. Le Grove is now an acceptable read. How are you feeling about the club? 100% better than you were in January. Imagine how that’ll translate in the stadium? For the first time in years, fans are looking forward to going!
It’ll be amazing!
Goals:
Now, you can be an arse and demand a top 2 finish next season. Or you can look for progress on all the above items. Realistically, we need to make up 12 points. That shouldn’t be too tough. We had the 3rd best home record last season, and we only picked up 3 points away from home in 2018. That’s a fucked up points tally and not par the course.
Next season, we’ll be planning, we’ll have a young energetic manager, we’ll have people on staff genuinely trying to fix the problems and we’ll have the right blend of youth and experience in the sqaud… it’s hard to see how we don’t make up those points.
Factor in that City won’t drop 100 points again, Chelsea are in BIG trouble across the board, Spurs will have to deal with a new stadium (and Harry Kane crying about memes all the time) and United will certainly blow up under a Mourinho who is destroying morale and pissing off mega names.
This season is about top 4 and a good show in Europe, anything more is a bonus. Ignore any exAKB telling you this year is about winning the Premier League. Bitch please, you only just put your tear-drenched ‘In Arsene We Trust’ banner into storage, don’t start pretending you have the right to
Right, see you in the comments.
What is for sure is that no one will be queueing up to buy Xhaka
Maybe next year when he might thrive in a better coaching system with proper cover for the defence ala what he experienced before he came to AFC
That is the state of affairs now – we may get lucky and find West Ham want yet more of our has beens and dross
Receding I never doubted for one second that özil was injured and he was also probably carrying the injury for the away semi in Madrid. Keown felt he had to say something because he had criticised özil big time at the start of the season and was made to eat his words when özil commited to the club and imo was having a decent season. It never bothers me what the dim wits say on here. Yesterday’s comments from marko, Gambon, dissenter and Bamford on dembele prove their ignorance of the game… All I here is sell özil, sell lacazette…..don’t… Read more »
“It never bothers me what the dim wits say on here. Yesterday’s comments from marko, Gambon, dissenter and Bamford on dembele prove their ignorance of the game…”
Spot on!couldn’t believe the bananas I was reading from those foursome,was like WTF? like hell Dembele ain’t a holding midfielder.
A lot of the people clamoring for Lacazette to be sold probably think playing FIFA 18 or PES makes them suitable football managers. It doesn’t. If you want to challenge for the title, you need a big squad full of performers. For pete’s sake watch what happened to Liverpool in the champion’s league final when Salah was taken off. Do we honestly want to become a 1 man team ? What happens when injuries set in ? Secondly, the misconception by Pedro that the coach will take 12 hour video analysis sessions is wrong. The coach does 12 hour analysis… Read more »
To further buttress my point about Lacazette, consider Bale’s introduction in the second half and the goals he scored. That was the difference between Real Madrid and Liverpool.
So I would not suggest that we sell Lacazette. Emery might not be perfect, but he is yet to bed-in his methods. Coaching is what we need, and his ability to inspire most players to overachieve with their footballing talents is what we expect he would impart to our current squad. Regardless of transfers.
“It never bothers me what the dim wits say on here. ”
Is that why you constantly talk about them, you old fart?
Morning dumbo
They interest me with their negative, ill informed comments …
Low’s assistant coach Thomas Schneider was quoted as saying: ‘We expect him to challenge himself in training to build up his resilience. Mesut is always receiving treatment.’
———————————–
Imagine that, the assistant coach-one who observes the player upclose- calling him weak and lazy in public.
Maybe he’s a dimwit too.
Oh dear dumbo ,you have made the fatal mistake of believing media bullshit …
Northbanker “What is for sure is that no one will be queueing up to buy Xhaka” Or Mustafi. Both of them contracted until 2021. No serious clubs would be interested to sign them at this time. Only clubs where it would be a step down for both players and their current wage at Arsenal will not coincide with these sort of clubs. Stuck with them. Only hope is that Unai can resurrect them. That horrible transfer window of 16/17 can be problematic still. And that young Jap was signed in that window as well. As well as Perez. Two signings… Read more »
I’d agree with the poster that said why not sell Bellerin instead of Lacazette.
Bellerin has actually been a weak link in the side.
But I think it is all paper talk this stuff about clubs willing to pay a big fee for Bellerin. Has no basis in reality. And Bellerin for his age and what he has actually shown on the field his wage he earns currently will be disproportionate to that.
Neither will be sold.
“Oh dear dumbo ,you have made the fatal mistake of believing media bullshit …”
Obviously Pierre gets his information from his sixth sense, or maybe a direct relay from Jesus himself.
That’s what has him so convinced Ozil has been carrying performance-affecting injuries for months and months.
Or maybe Pierre is just a deluded, stubborn old fool who thinks his word is the gospel while others are know-nothings…….like One Arsene Wenger.
lari03,
You think its ideal to have a £50m, £170k per week striker at prime age sitting on the bench?
If it is ideal, why do no other teams in world football have this?
No-one has called for Lacazette to be sold and the money to be put in the bank you silly cunt.
Dumbo
It’s not a sixth sense …..it’s called common sense.
“It never bothers me what the dim wits say on here”
Followed by
“All I here is sell özil”
At least we are dim wits who know how to spell eh Pierre?
Anyone thats saying Mousa Debele is a holding midfielder clearly has unbelievably limited football knowledge.
Dembele is a former attacking midfielder that plays exactly the same role for SPurs that Cazorla & Wilshere have played for us.
He plays alongside a DM, recycles the ball well and carries the ball forward to link defence & attack.
The fact that he is mixed race is probably what makes you think he is a DM, you racist pigs.
Gambon…is that it ….I thought you had a little bit more about you than picking up on a predictive spelling mistake….
How about talking about the fact that you don’t think dembele is a holding midfielder or that Tottenham don’t play with 2 holding midfielders…
Lord Little pierre of Little pierredom, the intelligent one lording it over the dimwit commoners.
Danny Rose once again promoting his woes, in the name of Mental Health. Also, great PR prior to WC. Do I sympathize………….Yes I do. Do I understand………..Yes I do. Do I feel it is all becoming a bit too much……………………100%!! The world has become a crazy place and although I understand Rose has problems, as many of us do, I personally feel this is all a bit ott. 100k a week and we have to keep reading about all his problems. Maybe this is a generational thing. Just fed up, especially when there are far worse things going on in… Read more »
Obviously ,going by Gambons last comment,he’s lost the plot….
Pierre
Sorry, I cant help you if you think every central midfielder is a “holding” midfielder by default, or just because Dembele has an African father you assume he can only be a defensive destroyer.
Dembele completes more attacking actions per match than he does defensive actions.
Some “holding midfielder” eh?
He also has almost identical defensive stats to Aaron Ramsey and Paul Pogba.
So maybe we should talk about Aaron Ramsey & Paul Pogba the holding midfielders?
Your knowledge of football is worryingly basic.
Any central midfielder that has black parentage MUST be a holding midfielder.
FFS. If we lose out on getting Leno, we have bottled it. No reason we had to wait and let Liverpool into the party. Fuck.
Leno is not worth is.
I would just sign Fabianski for £5m, and then buy Pavlenka next summer. Get an agreement from him now to do the deal next summer.
“Anyone thats saying Mousa Debele is holding midfielder clearly has unbelievably limited football knowledge.”
LMAO,f**cking ironic,you pulled up Pierre for a spelling mistake and couldn’t get right ‘Dembele’ yourself?..epic bantz.
There’s still an assumption that laca is going to sit on the bench all season We don’t know how true that is at all. Even if auba gets the nod as our CF as expected by most/all (including myself) it doesn’t mean laca won’t get a tonne of games. we don’t know how emery plans to handle him and auba. We are literally just guessing. And secondly, so we sell laca and invest elsewhere – ok fine. Auba gets crocked for 3 months and we’re back to watching Danny welbeck play? Or we sell him too and sign ballotelli? A… Read more »
Ufraud
Someone has to cut through the bullshit on here….
Lest we forget, since January laca and auba have both been playing and both been scoring.
Why must we assume that cannot continue in some comparable format or another?
Anyone who thinks Dembele is a holding midfielder doesn’t have a clue what a holding midfielder does.
Pierre
Spend some time this weekend watch8ng some YouTube videos of Fernando Redondo or better still watch Michael Carrick at the last five active years of his united career.
Maybe then you can learn what a holding midfielder role is.
Dembele is not a holding midfielder, not at all.
Graham depression is a sickness which is not rational. It strips people of hope regardless of how good their lives may be in some ways or seem from the outside.
My brother was the life and soul of the party, clever, good looking, and popular as hell. He still committed suicide.
Before my bro did that I’d have thought the same as you – but the truth is that having money and an easy job doesn’t mean people will be in a good place mentally. Money and fame won’t buy you out of depression.
That’s the reality my friend.
Gambon
“Just because Dembele has an African father you assume he can only be a defensive destroyer”
Lenny Henry has an African father but I don’t assume he can only be a defensive destroyer.
Dembele plays a classical box-to-box role for Spuds.
All their players have developed their defensive abilities under Poch with good coaching. He’s learned how to use his body to break up plays and draw fouls. Poch just helped him find the defensive side to his game.
Gelson Martins rumours look true then, potential bargain there
Cesc
I think the Gelson Martins stuff is just agent bollocks.
Or have there been any developments?
Gambon
There’s rumours of an actual bid, seems to fit in with us trying to find bargains this summer. £26 Million offer and Sporting want £35 Million despite a £53 Million release clause.
Eddie NKetiah scored a brace for England U21s last night.
His scoring record from U17 to U21 is absolutely ridiculous.
Really think we have to find some time for him next season. Way too early to say, but he looks like someone that could make it to the top.
Cesc There is no bargain in the Gelson Martins rumors. Our scouts need to get their act together. All the players we are being linked with are players that anyone here would have thrown out as possibilities. We need to start scouring South America and the unfamiliar parts of Europe for those 3-5 million buys that will explode in the league. I’m yet to witness the supposed “world class” chief scout we’ve employed make a spectacular find. It’s still,early days, I guess. It seems they assigned him a new title of director of recruitment, a task that should be the… Read more »
Lenny Henry has an African father but I don’t assume he can only be a defensive destroyer.
Actually Lenny Henry would refer to his Dad as being Jamaican – Maybe if you want to get all ancestral but his Dad is definetly Jamaican.
Gelson Martins looks great on the ball, insane speed and close control and he’s scored about 1/4 which is excellent for his age and position.
My only concern watching his highlights is how often they cut away from him after he does something brilliant but before he plays a pass. Editors normally only make those cuts because the following pass was poor. When he has so many of those cuts it worries me that he’s not rinsing people on the ball before usually losing it
But I don’t know his pass completion stats. Maybe my fears are misplaced
Gelson Martins?where as that come from?… what happened to the likes of Malcom,Dembele,Bailey,Fekir?..No more Wenger..still penny pinching?looks that way from where I’m sitting.
If all that stuff has been going on at Sporting I can Martins ready to jump ship quickly.
Also if we buy martins I hope we get a beastly new DM because martins is about 3 foot tall
Gelson reminds me of Cuadrado.
Not sure if thats a good thing or not. Cuadrado can be both excellent and useless.
Gambon. Fabianski comment is just ridiculous. You havent seen Leno if you are making that quip seriously. Leno is a quality keeper coming into his prime. I have the same feeling about him as I had about Hugo Lloris before he signed for Spurs. I do not want to miss out only to be right again. Pavlenka has one season with a bottom of the league team. He doesnt have anywhere near enough runs on the board as Leno. From what I can gather, Leno is more a modern keeper. Pavlenka is more old school. Leno is a shot stopper,… Read more »
qna
I have seen Leno about 5-6 times, and he has ALWAYS made a mistake.
Theres a reason hes not in the German squad, theres a reason no-one has bought him despite a reasonable buy out clause.
We have been killed by GK mistakes in recent seasons, not sure Leno solves that issue.
Pavlenka has been an absolute monster in goal this season. I would wait 12 months for him, bearing in mind Alisson and Oblak would take up our whole budget.
Vicuntious, another one who only believes in signings coming from Barelona or Madrid…
“No more Wenger..still penny pinching?”
Plus he tries to make us believe his old master would have do much better on the transfers window lol
*Barcelona
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/12023/11397029/mesut-ozil-facing-germany-world-cup-fitness-battle
He can’t have the flu all the time lol
“Arsenal are close to signing the 17-year-old midfield prospect Yacine Adli from Paris Saint‑Germain”
I thought it was a done deal ??
Nothing is for certain until you see it with your own eyes on arsenal.com or Jesus Ornstein’s twitter.
Tbh the rumored release clause for Shaqiri is laughable for a player with his quality. Not in the position we need the most but we could even sell Iwobi or just let Wilshere go and get Xherdan. Dude’s about 5 times both of those players and still 26 yo with huge experience and over 100 games in total for Bayern and Inter Milan and 90+ games for Stoke. No need to get used to a new league, leadership qualities and had his standout season in the EPL just this last season with 8 goals and 7 assists. Not sure if… Read more »
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5815943/Arsenal-launch-new-Puma-away-kit-2018-19-season-peacoat-navy.html
Sweet mother of God…
Puma should try moderation in their bid to revolutionize sportwear, if you can even call it that.
Ridiculously Tight fitting shirts, multiple chromatic colors, bizarre lines or zigzag designs… Failed attempt at trying to promote athletes as Marvel or DC superheroes?
Seems Ozil is actually carrying the injuries Keown made fun of… Awkward that. He hasn’t trained for four days.
Nope you and that other idiot Pierre need to do your homework he got “injured” in one of the warm up games. Knee apparently though with him it could be allergies.
Also Pierre with the whole Dembele stuff explain how a “holding” midfielder dribbles so much and has so many touches in the opposition’s half?
Bellerin in full “top fashion model” role lol
If you don’t have a form fitting physique you don’t stand a chance wearing these ultra tight fitted kits at Arsenal
RR, I hate both the home and away shirt for next season. Puma looks like wanted to eff us up one last time before Adidas comes on board. Since I started following Arsenal (DB10’s first season) my favorite home shirts have been probably at number 1. Nike shirt with the Dreamcast logo on the chest from season 1999-00, and 2. The Invincibles shirt by Nike again and O2 as sponsor. As far as away kits go – yellow shirts were okay. Especially the yellow and blue Nike shirt from 2008/09 that I have with Fabregas’ name on the back. Following… Read more »
If we don’t want to break the bank on a new keeper this summer what about Nick Pope?
I’d rather we didn’t keep putting off getting a goalkeeper. The fact that we have failed to properly address this long-term issue makes us look so amateur
My favourite home kit was the one from 2004/05 an absolute beaut. Favourite away kit is 1998. Third kit from 2008/09 (white one) was pretty nice too!
Third kit was actually 2009/10.. my bad
“Nope you and that other idiot Pierre need to do your homework he got “injured” in one of the warm up games. Knee apparently though with him it could be allergies.”
Takes an idiot to know one, has’t your period ended already
I think it is difficult to make assessments on what players to sell until we see how Emery sets up his team and what playing style he adopts. Take Danny Welbeck for instance, based on his performances so far for Arsenal under Wenger I would certainly say he doesn’t make the grade so we should sell. However if Emery is playing a high pressing game, a player like Welbeck in the front 2 or 3 could be very useful. He actually has a very good scoring record for England and not every player in the team will be “world class”.… Read more »
So admit that you’re an idiot receding? Good just in future make sure what you’re saying is accurate otherwise you’re a liar too
Sorry meant “will not be world class”. Also I am talking about us as fans, hopefully team SMEG (Sanehli, Mislintat, Emery & Gazadis) will work it out much quicker based on what they see in pre-season and their already formed ideas.
* So you admit
It appears that marko has the decorators in again.
|* So you admit”
No one needs your corrections kid, i got the nonsense you were trying to say the first time.
Now go be hysterical elsewhere
Deflect away you little freaks but Martin Keown was right and you too were wrong. This “injury” was his knee nothing to do with the imaginary back injury he had. Also no injury during the Atletico game as Pierre alluded to he just didn’t show up
Pierre lets see if we can have a Jeremy Kyle moment any chance you can explain Dembele’s touches in the opposition’s box? Or his successful dribbles stats? For a “holding” midfielder it seems odd
Marko
Fair enough, if it bothers you so much then Dembele is not a holding midfielder because he dribbles with the ball (normally sideways and never in the opposition box) ..oh and because he passes a lot in the opposition half (that could be due to the fact that Tottenham spend the majority of the game in the oppositions half).
What do you want dembele to do ,stand in his own half so he makes fewer passes in the oppositions half to prove that he is a holding midfielder .
If we don’t want to break the bank on a new keeper this summer what about Nick Pope?
Jim I like this keeper coming on leaps and bounds at the moment at Burnley. Young keeper also. I mentioned him earlier in the season and I i was impressd with his development.
oh and because he passes a lot in the opposition half (that could be due to the fact that Tottenham spend the majority of the game in the oppositions half).
Dier or Wanyama don’t have nearly the same amount of touches in the opposition’s half as Dembele why is that aren’t they both in the opponents half because Spurs dominate such possession. Not like you to admit that you’re wrong so don’t answer any of that
At the moment I think that the only CERTAIN deals that Arsenal are entertaining are: LICHSTEINER RB Confirmed by Club SOKRATIS CB Expected to be confirmed soon ADLI MF Probably agreed but can only be complete -d when he reaches 18th birthday in July. Personally I do not think that there are any further additions planned UNTIL Arsenal have finalised contract negotiations with Ramsey and Wilshire. In the case of Wilshire we should know something by end of month. If both these players are staying at the club it is highly unlikely that Arsenal will be adding any new midfielders… Read more »
https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2018/apr/19/mousa-dembele-stuttering-striker-complete-midfielder-fa-cup-tottenham
When Dembélé came to England in 2010, signed by Fulham, he was a striker; now he is a midfielder, albeit one hard to categorise. He is not a typical playmaker, nor a holding midfielder or box-to-box-player. He is not merely a Zola-esque technician or a pure Keane-esque tackler; he is all this combined and more.
Stroller no offense but you’re about as much in the loop at Arsenal as you are short on words. I would take everything that “informed” people tell you with a pinch of salt. The idea that we aren’t targeting a midfielder because we’re waiting to see if Ramsey and Wilshere sign on is stupid
Hairc*nt + Pierre + Auberjune = the death squad!! lol
Aubergine if he was such a holding midfielder how come he gets so many touches in the opposition’s half? It’s a simple question you don’t see other holding or DM midfielders get so many touches. Literally his own coaches and ex coaches and whoever refer to him as a CM or box to box. Pierre would have you believe that he just sits and protects the back 4 which isn’t the case he’s a box to box type who happens to remember his defensive duties as well. It’s that simple and no amount of cretins can change that
“You really are a dumb shit aren’t you? Blatantly never played football apart from on your PlayStation.”
nail right on the head there about Marko,being acting like a spoilt brat even before the opening of the TW, wish he’d take a break and come back on after deadline day for his SANITY…the moaning has become so tedious and difficult to skipped by.
gambon
You think its ideal to have a £50m, £170k per week striker at prime age sitting on the bench?
yes, cause 50m for a good striker is peanuts.. 170k a week to make an impact and get us points when we are running out of ideas ? yes please…
https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham-genius-mousa-dembele-has-same-talent-as-diego-maradona-and-ronaldinho-says-mauricio-a3774476.html%3famp
Puts him next to Maradona and Ronaldinho two of the greatest “holding” midfielders of all time
Marko spamming the blog with irrelevant articles just to save face after showing himself up as having Zero clue about how Dembele can churn out outputs even as CM playing the holding role,moron.
Vic because in those articles I’ve shared not one football writer current or former coach has described him as rigid as a holding midfielder its always a CM/playmaker/box to box. No amount of Arsene fanboys going through withdrawals from his sacking will change that. Arsene would be proud though you all stick together like good lemmings
I don’t understand all this hype surrounding the Nigeria’s kit for the WC…
It’s fucking ugly.
Compared to the home kit — the away kit isn’t actually that bad… although my favourite away kit is is still the yellow and blue “O2” one for the 2002=2003 season.
bullshite legend
I don’t understand all this hype surrounding the Nigeria’s kit for the WC…”
no worries I don’t expect you to ‘understand’ anything.
Now, now girls, play nicely.
lol Vicuntious, you hurt me so bad…
Jim Lahey
June 7, 2018 11:22:23
If we don’t want to break the bank on a new keeper this summer what about Nick Pope?
——————————————————————————————————-
Agreed. He made a LOT of saves for Burnley. I’m not so fussed about the whole sweeper keeper thing – it’d be a nice bonus to have somebody on a par with Neuer for the whole closing people down stuff, but Bravo proved that no matter how good you are with the ball at your feet, you’re still useless if you can’t actually save anything. Which Pope can. Really well. A lot.
Looks like the psg fans are really upset about losing Adli.
funnily when I was playing football, the DM were just called midfielders. the names were never given but the roles each player played fell into a category. we had a mid who would play deep and help the defence and two box to box… 2006 and we were playing the 4-4-3 when at that time most schools opted for the 4-4-2
we are signing adli for 200,000. that’s what I have just read or am I wrong ??
Aubergine, stop showing how limited you are. Defensive midfielder is a position. Holding midfielder is a role. The argument is if he is a holding midfielder or not, so it’s about his role but you wouldn’t know that. I honestly think that all of the people on Pierre’s side are actually the same person lol. Same Pierre who first says how: “Dembele and wanyama or dier =2 holding midfielders.” and then says “I am using the same logic of the dim wits who think that dembele is a box to box, not a defensive midfielder even though he never ventures… Read more »
Marko The “informed” journalist is local. He is focussed on Arsenal and unlike most national journalists spends a lot of time at the club. No-one is suggesting that he is getting information from “horses mouth”, because Arsenal are fairly secretive about what is going on. However, he can offer some expertise that most journalists don’t have and his view is that Wilshire will stay as he is a local boy. I have a different opinion. He has also said that he thinks that the goalkeeper situation is now on back burner until next summer. Having said this he agrees with… Read more »
Imo those roles BS like deep-lying playmaker, holding midfielder etc are stupid af. Fan of the classic approach – Defensive midfielder with more defensive than offensive tasks, pure CM (called box to box by the same holding midfielder bs) doing his bits at both defending and attacking, and AM that is mainly concerned with his team’s attacks but also belongs to the midfield and not all the way like Dele Alli playing behind the striker as a false 9 or shadow striker or whatever the football games came up with. All this “advanced” terminology sucks ass because a certain player… Read more »
On a secondary matter we keep on discussing the need for wingers. Frankly I
don’t see where such a player if recruited will play.
At the moment we have got on the books 6 experienced offensive players plus
Nkietah, Nelson and Aldi. They will all expect playing time next season.
The club indicated some time ago that they were not looking for offensive players.
In terms of expectations for this season, I don’t expect us to win the league. Top 2 is probably out of our grasp.
All I want to see is the return of St Totteringham’s day.
That I think is achievable.
No idea why anyone brought this lame discussion up again, but Dembele is not a “holding mid”. He’s more of a box to box mid. Dier is the holding/defensive mid at Spurs, and he and Dembele do not play the same role. Saying Dembele is a holding mid would be like saying Rakitic is a holding mid, or Verratti is a holding mid. They’re not. Other plays play that role in their midfield set-ups.
12 year old obviously bunked off lessons today
“I’m yet to witness the supposed “world class” chief scout we’ve employed make a spectacular find.”
” It’s still,early days, I guess.”
You’ve just answered your own question
@Emiratesstroller
We most definitely need a quality wide man tot stretch the play when required.
To my calculations we don’t have a single winger in our 1st team squad.
Nelsons still young and has looked green when played last season (Massive potential though) And Adli looks more of a CM AM player. Nketiah is quite clearly a Striker.