I’m late to the party, buuuuuuuuut… welcome BACK to Arsenal, Dani Ceballos.
This is huge for our season. Dani started 2019 well, then slumped into averageness under poor leadership and an unstructured system. He then made things worse by trying to cut his loan spell short under Mikel… but then something clicked for him and he hasn’t looked back since. His restart stats were amongst the best in the league. He’s proven to be an aggressive presser of the ball, he loves to tackle, his reading of the game makes him expert at interceptions… he’s looked the real deal. Could do with some refining of that final third passing, but that’ll come.
Here is what he had to say.
“I think everyone will have seen last season that from the moment I joined, I bought into the club completely and always gave 100 per cent both on and off the pitch,”
The fans love Dani because of this. He also seems to love the adulation he gets from the fans and he always looked like he wanted to crack it in England. I’ve not seen a player enjoy the fans as much since Patrick Vieira donned the shirt.
“The fans repaid me for that by showing me a lot of love… when I was at home they were sending me messages asking me to come back and saying that they needed me here. I think they’ll be as happy as I am that I’m back and I’m sure we have a great year ahead of us this season.
“When the coach, the club, the players and everyone is asking you to stay for another year, you realise that they see you as a good team-mate and a good player,”
“I feel proud that the club, the coach and – most importantly – the fans wanted me to stay. I didn’t doubt it for a second. We’ve been negotiating around my contract all the time, right up until today, but I’m very happy to be back here and that I’m going to be with Arsenal for another year.”
Now, I know we like to think the players don’t pay attention to the fans, but here we are again, a second player in a week commending the lunatic fanbase that DMs and begs them to join. I feel like it’s quite a unique Arsenal thing and it amuses me no end that Arsenal’s digital fanbase is now an official secret weapon of the recruitment team.
Edu, who is trying to cement his importance in a post-Raul era, had this to say.
‘We’re thrilled to have Dani back with us for the new season. We all know his qualities after an impressive 2019/2020 campaign, which ended with him playing a key role in our FA Cup success. We’re excited to add Dani to the list of quality players we are bringing in.’
DID YOU READ IT: ‘to the list of quality players we are bringing in’
That’s great news. I’m hearing whispers that ESR might be loaned out this season. If that is true, it might indicate that we’ve found someone for the role of ‘playing in the pockets’… could be Willian or it might be someone else. Either way, it seems Edu is confident that we’re going to bring in more names.
I suspect we’ll see a big week next week for exits. Sokratis, Torreira, Holding should find new clubs. I also wonder if we’ll start to see Matteo, Lacazette, and maybe Bellerin noises grow louder. It’s clear we need to sell to buy, and it seems like clubs are starting to move. The season literally starts next week, bumming around on deals makes little sense to anyone…
Interesting to see Wolves moving hard. They offered £15m for AMN. 100 games in the Premier League. Just pocketed some of the deadliest wide players. Won an FA Cup and Community Shield. We turned them down. So what do they go out and do? Drop a club record £35m on an 18-year-old from Porto with 12 games and 1 goal to his name during a pandemic. He’s the Football Manager wet dream, but that valuation seems nuts (especially as his break out season last year didn’t really come to much). That’s Van De Beek / Partey levels of money. I do not miss ‘contacts’ scouting.
Arsenal were beaten 3-2 by Villa today. It was a behind-closed-doors affair. Not great, but hey, preseason is all about experimenting. Ceballos, Auba and Willian played… annnnnd, Mesut Ozil! No blonde hair this preseason. Is this forgiveness? Has he found a way back? Is ESR going out on loan because Mesut is back in favour? It’d be a huge 180, but in keeping with a manager that doesn’t hold grudges if you do what he asks of you. You can’t say our midfield doesn’t need the playmaker’s creativity… question is, can we get it combined with the off the ball work we don’t normally get? Jury is out.
Let’s hope we’re ready for the big game after the international break! Also… let’s hope Arsenal speed up those midfield signings!
Right, that’s all I have for you today… see you tomorrow. x
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Pedro
You’re missing the point once again.
Mesut may be performing well in training (although I doubt it)
But how would Arsenal and Arteta look if we let him back in after all that’s happened.After working so hard to move away from the soft touch of Wenger, we’d be have every player playing fast and loose with the ‘non-negotiables’.
And for what? Get maybe get a few competent performances from Özil ? Is it nearly worth it ?
Mesut having turned it around now would be as believable as one of those Jerry Springer attendees where the whole family tries to convince some poor gullible girl to leave her BF who keeps cheating on her ‘No Mam, Kevin’s changed! He apologized for all 12 of the times he cheated on me and even bought me some flowers! They were roses and had a note on saying he won’t do it again and next time he goes out with the boys and doesn’t come back until 11am the next day, not to worry as he’s probably just doesn’t wanna… Read more »
Yeah Pedro there’s a big difference in good leadership between forgiving a mistake that someone is trying to remedy and being gullible as fuck when all signs bar none point to him taking the club as fools As a dad, I have a non negotiable about making my son apologize if he does something really bad. But him just saying sorry isn’t enough, context matters. If he did the same bad thing 10x in a row and when he says sorry he says it with a sly grin on his face then he might as well not have apologized at… Read more »
If Arteta is willing to overlook that in 5 mins because he’s now running a bit in training again or something it will be shocking.
It will be a major red flag. Literally the biggest thing that he had going for him was that he was standing up against Ozils bollox and standing firm. Ozils attitude and workrate was no longer going to be acceptable for the betterment of the club going forward. I hope for his sake he sticks to his word
Marko, you spent the whole of last week bitterly complaining that Arteta had made a mistake keeping AMN, a player that has been exceptional.
Now you are expertly trying to tell us that Mesut Ozil returning to the starting 11 will invalidate two trophies and pretty positive turnaround of the culture at Arsenal.
Your inability to see nuance in situations is fucking painful and it constantly leaves you looking silly. Arteta and Emery are very different as people have tried to explain you already. It is not surprising you cannot grasp this absolute basic.
Not to mention the fact that he’s ready to roll once again in the final year of his contract after sitting on his arse for a year seems far too convenient to be a co-incidence.
Nothing about this Özil reconciliation smells right.
The biggest thing was standing up to Ozil?
Not beating big 6 teams
Not making us better defensively
Not the two trophies
Dropping a player.
You couldn’t make it up. Literally bottom of the pile when it comes to achievements.
And for all my disliking of the player, compare ozil with xhaka Xhaka was down and out after telling the fans to fuck off, but it was actually his only offense against the club in terms of poor behavior. He got his head back down and worked hard, kept his mouth shut and earned the trust of arteta who put him back in and over time xhaka got forgiveness from a large section of the fan base Now compare with ozil who has a list of offenses against the club as long as your arm spanning years up until a… Read more »
Pedro you’re letting your (valid) love of arteta cloud your judgement
This isn’t grey area, it’s extremely naive
Forgiving guen would be grey area. He is young and foolish and made one or two mistakes. That’s grey area.
Forgiving mesut is just outright dumb at this point. You have to understand that arteta doing really well so far and being a really good choice doesn’t mean every decision he’s making is right man. It’s not all or nothing, arteta has made mistakes too and if he really does bring him back in it will be his biggest one to date
No China, I just understand football.
Players love to play with the best. That is a fact.
Ozil is one of the best that has lived,
If you get him to commit like the rest, you have an asset.
You kid hasn’t won a World Cup, yet. If Mesut is staying and he wants to play ball, why not?
Arteta has been in the game 25 years, pretty sure he’s not gullible.
If Mesut is back, it’s because he’s ready to work. If not, he won’t play.
Pedro, please Ozils stock has long since fallen off a cliff at both international and domestic level. This isn’t 2017 anymore. Players are joining us because they like the project and arteta and the clubs history and name. Who is name dropping mesut on the way in? Did Willian or Gabriel mention him? They name dropped Luiz and arteta. ‘If you get him to commit’. Oh like last season emery got him to commit? And this season arteta got him to commit? Arteta already got stung lol. He had him running around a bit for a few weeks then dropped… Read more »
Now you are expertly trying to tell us that Mesut Ozil returning to the starting 11 will invalidate two trophies and pretty positive turnaround of the culture at Arsenal. It’s one trophy and it will absolutely take a steaming dump on the notion of Mikel changing the culture at Arsenal yes. If the culture is commitment and hard work and you bring back someone who has none of those things then I don’t think you can say turnaround no. Your inability to see nuance in situations is fucking painful and it constantly leaves you looking silly. Ah yes nuances like… Read more »
Funny thing is I would have agreed about the change of culture stuff under Mikel or the ongoing attempt to until today when Ozil was brought back.
1 goal 2 assists, 1 big chance created. From a Cam, in 1600 minutes = the best… Doesn’t matter what he does in training when he isn’t good enough anymore to play for us. Seems like Arteta isn’t satisfied with eking out an extra 5-10% from average players like Mustafi, Xhaka and Ozil judging by all the links to players in their positions. If we’re serious about becoming a to club again none of them are good enough, doesn’t matter how much effort they put in or if they improve slightly. Mustafi is already replaced so now we just need… Read more »
*Top team
*low block
China, Mesut Ozil might be out of favour, but he is an absolutely huge pull for young players.
He might not make it back into the starting 11, but if he does it’ll be because he’s delivering what is needed in training.
We’ve had more than enough examples of conversions to demonstrate it is possible. Xhaka, as you pointed out, committted the ultimate sin and he’s now playing great football.
Losing to AV in a preseason friendly is meaningless particularly if half of squad are missing.
Personally I don’t care if Ozil played in such a game or not. The real test is whether he is in the squad of 18 when we start playing competitive matches.
Let’s be clear Arsenal are short of midfield players for next season and we need at least one or two new players in this department if we are to progress.
Marko, literally no one cares if you agree with a fact.
Freddie, they are ramping up the upgrades. We’ll improve next season regardless of where he ends up with the squad.
Pedro as someone who always bangs the drums about statistics and their value in decision making, imagine if you could quantify ozil’s behavior in statistics Any decision to trust that he’s changed would fly directly in the face of what has been a clear pattern of poor behavior stretching back year after year. There’s no evidence based reason to believe he has changed. If he walks through the doors at colney today and says sorry then runs his ass off for 2 hours this won’t be evidence either because we’ve gone through this boom and busy cycle so many times… Read more »
But Pedro xhaka only commit one behavioral ‘sin’
Redeeming yourself for one mistake is a whole lot easier than doing so for 3 consecutive years of shitting on the club.
Again who are the young players joining us who wouldn’t have joined if not for mesut? Young players now are probably far more interested in auba
Jesus, Mesut seems to have inherited Wenger’s power of polarising and riling up Arsenal fans by the mere mention of his name 😂
Xhaka also worked on redeeming himself within a matter of weeks
Evidently ozil didn’t get back into artetas good books for several months. But now he’s changed for realsies?
China, in society, if you commit a crime, do you forever pay for it? No. Serge G, shite for WBA. What would his past behaviour stat look like? Mesut won a World Cup, countless others personal accolades, he still boasts some of the best chance creation numbers in the league… if he wants to come in from the cold for his final year and play by the rules, it would be silly not to allow that forgiveness. Leaders that don’t forgive are not great leaders. President Lincoln on a disobedient general. ‘ All I want out of General McClellan is… Read more »
And, additionally, I wrote extensively about how great managers work out a way to connect with players to get the best out of them,
Emery didn’t have that.
If Arteta can get a turn out of Ozil, it should be commended.
Xhaka committed sins on the pitch weekly. He told the fans to fuck off because we hated him
Pedro when it comes down to it, in any other facet of your life, if someone let you down time and time again, was unapologetic for months at a time and this kind of bullshit went on for years up until literally a couple of weeks ago, you simply would not trust that person to have implemented any lasting changes regardless of what they have said or done in the last 2 weeks. Years of repeated patterns of bs >>>>>>>> 2 weeks of whatever good behavioral he is presumably showing So if you wouldn’t trust that person to have changed,… Read more »
No Pedro, xhaka not being a good player and making footballing mistakes is completely different from bad behavior, of which he only made one mistake
Or if you’re going to make footballing ability and contribution a factor to consider in whether ozil should be forgiven, ozil contributed absolutely nothing for 2 years now on the pitch. So his footballing aspect is as piss poor as his behavior in 2020. All the less reason to bring him back in from the cold
Ozil was played again and Arsenal lost! Is that not a clear reason to get rid of this guy who has expired and only living in old glory? Arsenal has been winning without Ozil.
Pedro
We need to find a “settled team” very quickly at start of next season particularly with the early away games against some of top teams.
My view is that Arteta will continue to play 3 CBs at back until he is sure that
the new recruits in this department adapt to EPL.
Our Central Midfield will continue to be Ceballos and Xhaka unless someone
like Partey arrives at club.
Frankly I don’t see where Ozil can or will play in the team if Arteta maintains the formation we played at end of season.
China, when you’re spending 18m on someone and they won’t leave… might as well see if you can make it work. You are calling bad judgement on something 1) You’re not even sure has happened 2) That you have no intel on regarding why it could have happened 3) You don’t know if it has succeeded. Let’s look at the facts. 1. Arteta has clearly defined what he will and will not tolerate with his non-negotiables. 2. He has said everyone has a fresh chance. 3. He has successfully rehabbed a whole group of players labelled uncoachable or unfit to… Read more »
Emirates, who knows what he’s going to do… but if he can make Ozil work in a system that has zero creativity, why the fuck not?
Pedro
Do you think that Arteta will change formation to accommodate Ozil in team?
Frankly I don’t see that happening.
We were missing yesterday much of the engine room of team eg Tierney, AMN
and Xhaka.
“Mesut Ozil’s xA/KP in 2019/20 is 0.05. So, while he’s leading the Gunners in key passes, he’s creating shots that aren’t much better than layoffs outside the 18 yard box, folks. And this is a major decline from last season’s 0.10 which is pretty average. In 31 key passes this season, Mesut Ozil hasn’t created a single big chance for his teammates. It’s not a surprise then that his total assists numbers are low.” From arseblog in february. Sure, he’s had to drop deeper and add some work rate to his game but that means he can’t do what he’s… Read more »
Emirates, absolutely no idea. But I know that Arteta values servers (play between the lines), so it wouldn’t shock me.
If we can find a way to make AMN and Xhaka work in a system, pretty sure there’s a way to extract something out of a world class creator. He’ll have to change though, clearly.
I’m not fan of Ozil, but if you made him work in a modern system, you’d still have a player.
Pedro
Creativity is a luxury if you have a good team with a solid base and the player is
making an impact. That was sadly not the case with Ozil when he played last season.
Emirates, agree.
How do things look with Partey and two fast centre backs that can play with the ball at their feet?
Might still be shite, but I’d be game to see.
Emirates, what do you think of Aouar?
This place went nuclear after I left.
Give it a rest guys. Arteta may not be too impressed when he learns he’s lost your love but I doubt he’ll be boo hooing too much either.
It’s a bit silly to argue over a player being selected in a pre season match tbh but then, this is Le Grove so it’s kinda expected.
Pedro I have not seen personally enough about Aouar to make a judgment, but he played well in the Champions League. My personal view at the moment is that Partey will make more impact within team, because he is “proven world” class at what he does. Personally I don’t expect Arsenal to finish top 4 next season in EPL, but I hope that we will close the massive gap. Arsenal are still very much a work in progress with a lot of good young players like Martinelli and Saka coming through. Patience is a virtue, but sadly most posters on… Read more »
To the real Pedro:
I think Pierre has hacked your account, better do something about it before he does irreparable damage.
Ozil a world class creator, lmao.
Reality disagrees with that statement so hard.
An Arsenal fan went to the Armoury to buy his son the new kit. Noticed there was no number 10 Özil shirt on option.
Too many possibilities to consider.
ES
I think most reasonable people would have patience if they’re seeing the club moving in the right direction and buying in exciting top quality players.
We’re heading in the right direction these last 2 years with the profile of player we have been targeting but the gap was too big to bridge in such a short time. I’m all for going young again this window if we don’t have the funds to buy ready made.
My personal view is that Arsenal’s route to the top of English football will be
built on consistency and hard work ethic rather than flair in short term.
The starting point is making us hard to beat. It is all very well beating teams
at bottom of table scoring a bucket full of goals, but absolutely meaningless
if you are losing badly to teams at the top of table.
Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City found it difficult to beat us at end of last season and that was start of process.
The Aouar deal looks a little shaky. Report suggest Edu is in talks Lyon but they are looking for €60-70 mil with no player exchange. If Partey is our no 1 priority I don’t see the Aouar deal coming to anything. Possibly why Özil has been brought back from the cold.
Bojangles
Frankly I don’t see Arsenal buying both Aouar and Partey in this transfer window.
I don’t think that we have the cash to do it nor will we generate enough from
outgoing sales.
However, I do think that we will buy one and as I responded to Pedro I think
that Partey is the more realistic and reliable option.
We are already speculating with Gabriel and Saliba and that is enough for
this season.
Bojangles We’d still have Willian and ESR for that role. Both better options than Ozil. I think and hope that it was only because it was a meaningless preseason game and Arteta isn’t actually thinking about putting him anywhere near the first team when the season starts. I’d still love us to activate Szoboszlais release clause, 24m payable over 3 years is a snip for a player with his potential. Loan him back for a year to Salzburg since he wants to stay there and then bring him Get a CM and Edouard in this season and we can make… Read more »
ES
I agree on Partey. He fills the most urgent need for us at the moment.
Freddie
Forget Szoboszlais for a year or two. He recently signed a new contract with his club. Don’t know the details but if it contains a buyout clause it’s going to be greater than 24 mil.
Bojangles
He hasn’t signed a new contract, just said he wants to stay with them for another year. If we wait it’s going to be too late, better to get in early and do a Saliba style deal with RB.
Freddie
I read last week he’d signed a new 4 year contract.
Freddie
The report I read seems to have been pocus. I just did a search for it but came up empty.
Pedro what about the last 2 years is not an argument against the whole team because many of the players in our squad pulled their socks up and did better in the closing part of the season. They turned a car crash season into something salavaged at least – as well most of the team are not responsible for repeated bad behavior and arteta can’t drop the whole squad even if he wanted to I’m not saying arteta has forgiven ozil or will be involving him again next season, I’m saying if he has or if he does it will… Read more »
I’d honestly rather see ESR get minutes this season than ozil even if ozil behaves well. He’s not going to magically get better and he’s been poor for years now ESR is only going to improve if he plays, so if he’s not sent back out on loan then he needs to start getting minutes, even if he’s not in the first 11. If we are back to giving game time to ozil just because he’s willing to break a sweat then we’re wasting our own time because he did that already under arteta but was largely very ineffective in… Read more »
Also Pedro what intel do we need to make this judgment? He has been a waste of space and badly behaved on the regular for years and years now What possible intel could we be missing that would suddenly make him trustworthy again? He said sorry? Sorry is just a word, anyone can say that. He worked hard in training for a week? Congrats, that’s bare minimum and every other player in the squad has done for the last 6 months apart from maybe guen? So what magic intel could we be missing? He had a special virus that made… Read more »
Ozil Always plays well When his contracts up for renewal. I suspect Tets knows that and is going to get some of that in the team. If he does really well maybe he will win another four years and a pay rise…
Yeah moray he was quality in the few months leading up to his last pay day
Maybe he has his eye on a pay rise lol
Bojangles
My thought, too, that we have no money at present, so Arteta has to improvise with Ozil.
Probably has got Pierre scurrying around his cave looking for his Ozil sock collection to bring them out of hibernation.
Giving players a “fresh start” = like a new signing
Honest Arsenal Stats:
No European trophy since 1994
6 FA Cups since 2004 (16 years)
No league titles since 2003/4 (16 years)
Non negotiables = ze mental strength
Uncoachables = qualidee
I think people have such polarising views on Ozil because he was such a marquee signing back then , he was supposed to be phenomenal . Also he was quite was awesome at the beginning , now its just like Gareth Bale at Madrid. We know the talent and the possibilities, its just sad to see them wasted on sidelines.
Maybe Ozil playing today was Arteta showing the board/Edu how much the club lacks midfielders and Ozil will be playing this season if they don’t buy soon? We know the board/Edu would rather Ozil leaves and aren’t thrilled about his return either.
And now you know why I call them “Ozil Obsessives “.
Well done to Pedro for being the voice of reason and trying to talk some sense into them..
Aouar looks good on YouTube but he’s managed just 4 assists in all competition last season. Wonder what all the hype is about?
“No European trophy since 1994
6 FA Cups since 2004 (16 years)
No league titles since 2003/4 (16 years)
”
Let’s count from 2004 and had 16 seasons.
On average, conservatively £100m player budget per annum.
AFC spent £1.6 billion in wages.
In effect, £260m+ per FA cup. Not counting the Sheilds.
Ceballos is a squad player and nothing more if Arteta harbours any, any ambition to have a go at the CL in 3 years. However they manage to sell the dross, don’t care. Just fix the long neglected and weak mid field or the weakest link stays and hurts another season. Some reports hail Ceballos a replacement of Auoar. We don’t need this sort of jokes. Edu should focus on getting the Partey and Auoar level qualities in before October. Unfortunately, with an owner like Kroneke, if it means raising funds and selling Bellerin at £20m + 1 , so… Read more »
China agree with everything you said about ozil.
Inviting him back to drop him again which is what will happen will Cause more disruption and smoky arteta even more at press conferences
I would rather have geealish than Aouar
A spark plug and turbo engine as a cam. That type of energy and running will take us up so much more than Aouar and his finesse game
Don’t like all this new chance talks. It’s what buries managers. You bring in a player that has caused trouble, you will look weak.
Also, ozil is not going to change and put in great performances all of a sudden. If he does, don’t know how long it will last.
Bringing Ozil back would be an unfathomable mistake for me. You can’t build a winning team with a player that has one foot out the door. The only reason Ozil is staying is because he loves living in London with a 350k package. Other wise Arsenal might even have canceled his contract by now. If he was on a 130k ish a week, he would have left by now. We need to look to the future. I would rather see ESR and Willock stink out the place than see Ozil play for Arsenal again. At least they will learn something… Read more »
What is Arteta being rounded on exactly? Just because he’s trying to use all the players at his disposal? Especially our highest earner?
Isn’t that his right? What exact is wrong with that? Especially if it helps the club?
Özil s legacy at Arsenal is marked. If Arteta manages to rescue something from it, it says more about his man management skills than anything else.
Any sniff of Guendouzi? Or is he still acting like he’s a football god even though he has nothing to show for it?
Pedro
I would refrain from calling wolves shit spenders. They sign players that ho up in value every time. I haven’t seen a single dud player that they have signed over the past two seasons. You might have egg on your face moment if Fabio Silva turns out to be as good as Joao Felix.
Ozils engine has gone full stop.
He might give you 60 minutes.?
And look good against a lesser side.
But hey —-He play’s we get beat he
does not perform.
What a Moral downer for the the squad.
Let him sit there brolly up.
Play the new boy’s play the yoooooth
but don’t play Septic.
I don’t think it’s an olive branch at all
International football lack of options more like
We are a stupid club and we 100% deserve Ozil.
While we find it impossible to make up our mind on him, he and his agent have been consistent and unapologetic that they’ll keep milking us till the very end.
IF we’d given him the Jose Mourinho–Michael Carrick’s treatment, I’m sure he’ll be gone by now.
Ozils professionalism is in question
How does someone who gets paid as much as him just give up mentally once he gets the big new contract
He’s been shit
Wouldn’t have played him in a championship team tbh.
He just can’t be bothered
Ozil clearly wants to be in Turkey
He’s best buds with the government and his wife is Turkish
*exactly…
If Ozil is staying then it makes to use him. If he doesn’t train properly then cancel his contract for breach. Otherwise let’s suffer him for one more year and blood ESR in to grow into that role gradually. Willian could also be tested there.
This assumes we don’t sign Aouar
As we have a number of players that can play #10 I would make signing a CDM a priority over a cam
Leeds
“Any sniff of Guendouzi? Or is he still acting like he’s a football god even though he has nothing to show for it?”
I think you will find he was the captain of the very good french under 21 side the other night..something to be proud of one would think, as is Eddie being captain of the very good England under 21 side; and leading by example with a hattrick.
The community shield isn’t a trophy. Its a curtain raiser for the season, a preseason friendly… Tired of reading two trophies won. Pedro never counted them when he was running his Wenger agenda and rightly so, they shouldn’t be counted now. Emery brought Ozil and Ramsey back and was called weak among other choice names by Pedro, now there is a chance Ozil will be brought back by Arteta and he is defending it like his life depends on it. By the way saying a coach with ten trophies to his name, three straight top three finishes in La liga… Read more »
These middle of the road signings are not inspiring at all.
The spectre of Ozil for another season is farcical.
RH
Emery did leave us in a terrible mess though didn’t he.
I’m sure that even you would be prepared to admit that.
RH
“The community shield isn’t a trophy”
Oh dear, you’ve opened a can of worms with that statement.
The legacy of Wenger is in tatters.
I am going to make a forecast that Arsenal will start this season at Fulham with the same team that played in FA Cup Final apart from maybe replacing Holding at CB.
If you look at at all the recruitment and promotions made last season only Luiz and Pepe established starting places until March. Ceballos was in and out and Tierney was injured.
Can anyone be certain that Saliba, Gabriel or even Willian are guaranteed a
starting place this season? It is not guaranteed.
Pierre which is why he was sacked. Prior to that he led a squad most didn’t think much of to an EL final and a two points off third place. That is the bar Arteta has to scale.
Everyone wrote off last season because we all saw the difficulties, that doesn’t mean the olympiacos fiasco or the poor finish in the league wasn’t quietly noted.
You either pay off Ozil or you play him. If Arteta has chosen to play him then we will see the product of that decision pretty soon.
Got to say we could have found a way to play Guendozi or at least not make him out to be as bad as we did in the press if we really wanted to get any reasonable funds for him. The constant negative press around the lad doesn’t seem like it’s done us any good with regards bids coming in.
The obvious move would have been to sign some goal scoring midfielders and not fill the team with more defenders.
Batistuta and the whole thing was one sided, the kid didn’t even make any public statements, just the club constantly dropping negative hints about his off pitch attitude.
Continuing my previous comment why just Partey isn’t enough to increase our points tally by much If you look at this goal from Auba against a low block https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsvwajK8aPQ&ab_channel=CrystalPalaceFC Look at ozil,how he moves into a good receiving position. He created a passing lane for David Luiz. Our biggest issue against low blocks is we don’t have players who do what ozil did,there. What we need are players who offer themselves as a passing option BTL,can turn and combine with other attackers,hit runners in behind and run in behind themselves. Any 343 which has been good offensively has had that.… Read more »
Chelsea signed Kai Havertz and Timo Werner. You can’t help but feel that with KSE, we are handicapped.
LFC
The goal v palace was an anomaly since Arteta became manager.
Our play is 95% down the flanks due to the fear of losing possession in the centre of the pitch.
This is the reason why our wide playe are credited with more assists..
I feel we are too predictable in our attacking play and it is too easy for the weaker opposition to frustrate us..
I wonder how is ozil physically. Based on the run of games he had in the 4231 at the start of the Arteta era, he just couldn’t make runs into space like he normally did pre 2018. One of the main reasons,his passes per game is down. His defensive work rate has always been below par. But his attacking work rate used to be top class pre 2018. Always on the move,looking for space,offering himself as a passing option between the lines. Didn’t look great in this aspect under Arteta. Surely the clubs have stats like how many high intensity… Read more »
Pierre
This is in the 4231.
In the 343,we go wide more but its due to lack of passing options between the lines.
If we were afraid of losing the ball in the centre of the pitch, we wouldn’t have tried to play out from the back against liverpool and City who are both good pressing teams.
Arteta definitely trusts Xhaka-Ceballos more than Holding and Bellerin lol
Ozil’s first game back and we lose.
Predictable.
I think that the Ozil debate has been flogged to death. On current evidence Ozil is at best a “luxury player” and that is not what the team needs at moment. Also Ozil has at most 10 months at Arsenal. He is not remotely part of the future of the club. Guendouzi has been overhyped in his potential. He was a 60 minute player at best, but I saw nothing in his play which marked him out as exceptional. He was easily dispossessed and his contribution in attack minimal. We paid £7 million for him and as far as I… Read more »
Predictability is not a problem.
Every team knows how liverpool and City attack.
Still can’t stop them.
Ozil is probably finished physically.
We needed his replacement for 2 seasons now.
LFC Unless Arteta changes his style of play, a CAM is redundant . You rarely see an arsenal player pick up the ball in the centre of the pitch between the lines in the final 3rd. The players are obviously playing to the manager’s instructions. Maybe if we improve our central midfield options with better technical players , we will then see the players take more risks with the ball . Players who take more risks with the ball do lose possession more than non risk takers. Trent Arnold and Debruyne are the most prolific at not only creating chances… Read more »
If the manager is so great then the risk of pushing the boat out and signing £100 million players will be some what negated.