ARSENAL FRONT 4 SHOWCASE BRIGHT ATTACKING FUTURE (SUBS DID NOT)

by .

Arsenal finally matched a good performance with a full 3 points. Mikel Arteta put on a well-choreographed win against a Leeds team that comfortably beat Leicester 3-1 a few weeks ago.

We pressed better than Leeds, boxing them in, forcing mistakes.

We controlled their attacking game with excellent off the ball work, closing down passing lanes and making it generally difficult for them to break against us.

We also took our chances, something we’ve been terrible with over the past month.

The game was mostly about the return of Auba. We’ve been waiting for a game like that from him for a while. He’s been off from a confidence level all season. He was then rocked by issues with his mother’s health. Yesterday, he seemed to shake all of that off with a really, really good game of football.

Arteta seemed to find a formula that works for his star striker. He built pace and creativity around him. Saka, ESR and Odegaard buzzed around him all game and gave him the freedom to do what he does best… score goals.

His first one was all him. He was found by Xhaka on the left, he dropped some Cristiano stepovers and dropped his shot into the bottom corner. His second was a penalty after Saka was fouled by the Leeds keeper. His third came from excellent ESR box work with a 6-yard cross he found. He also hit the bar with a first time shot.

There was also a fourth goal from Hector Bellerin. Dani Ceballos threaded a pass into him in a crowded box, Hector finished with a smashed low shot.

The first half was inch-perfect. We controlled the pace of the game, limited Leeds strengths, and played to ours.

The second half was always going to be tougher. Leeds didn’t ever stop. They came at us, they scored 2 within 11 minutes. We didn’t control the game in the way you’d have liked. Let’s be hoenst, most of us were watching that game through the lens of ‘TIOTE SCOOOOOOORES.’ It was unpleasant to say the least.

What also didn’t help the optics was seeing Mikel Arteta roll-on Willian as his ‘let’s control the game’ sub. The narrative of the game wasn’t on the Brazilian’s shoulders, but the sub just stuck in the throat for a number of reasons.

  1. You don’t control a relentless team of attacking kamikaze pilots with a player that doesn’t have legs, energy, or desire.
  2. Nicolas Pepe could have done with the confidence boost after putting on a show in his last few games.
  3. Martinelli could have done with the minutes after being dropped post-Villa after a drab performance

Willian didn’t ruin the game, I think we were on the way to that anyway… but he didn’t do anything to improve it. I read a stat that he lost the ball 5 times from 10 touches. If he was brought on for control, it didn’t arrive. Where was the value? Why does Arteta keep doing it?

The value should be in giving Martinelli and Pepe chances, not Willian, who is so obviously not part of the ‘non-negotiable’ set of principles everyone else has to abide by. Young players have to have perfect 10s every game to keep landing minutes. Willian? He can drop 6 after 6 after 6 and it just doesn’t change Arteta’s opinion of him. He didn’t even get dropped for going to Dubai unauthorised.

The story shouldn’t be about him. We just beat Leeds with Xhaka and Ceballos in our midfield. No Partey or Tierney. That SHOULD be the story… but we’re still talking about weird in-game management. We’re wondering if Arteta has it in for Martinelli? We’re wondering why the manager wants to die on the Willian hill?

We’re also wondering if the stories about Arsenal giving David Luiz a new deal are real? What could possibly justify that? His experience has us in 10th position in the league. Whatever he’s bringing to the table, it hasn’t worked, so why don’t we just cut our losses and give his place to a young player?

Dishing out deals to £160k a week Luiz as you cull jobs behind the scenes is why they fans get annoyed. Time to move on. It hasn’t worked for 2 years, this shouldn’t even be an agenda item. It might not be. It might be Kia PR trying to force a question in his next presser… the point is, it’s believable which shows there’s work to do.

Anyway. I hate that we have to talk about this.

Saka. What a fucking star. Once again, he was a difference-maker. His decision making was superb again, he was hard to mark, he won two penalties. We are a different beast with him in the side. He looks like he’s really enjoying his game.

Smith Rowe added another assist to his name with a world-class cross to Auba at the back post. I love how he passes around corners. He’s highly efficient, he puts numbers on the board, and he’s going to be a vital part of keeping Auba in the goals this season.

Martin Odegaard looks top-class. He was fairly quiet today, but I love the way he probes and searches the game out. He moves really well, his passing is fast and sharp, and I think he’ll be decisive when he finds his role in the league.

Big shout out to Granit and Ceballos as well. I thought they’d be in big trouble today. They weren’t. They were smart in possession, both had an assist, they were ZERO drama which is what we wanted.

Arteta still has a lot of work to do. We didn’t manage the second half as well as we could have. But overall, let’s look at the positives. The football was really good at times, our front 4 looks exciting, we kept the most productive team in the league to under 10 shots, and we continued our good form with chance creation clocking 13 shots.

We have a rough month of games coming, but we’re more than capable of delivering some good results. City is a write-off, but Leicester, Spurs, West Ham, and Liverpool are gettable.

It is ridiculous, but we’re 6 points off top 4. Liverpool lost. Everton lost. Spurs lost. Villa drew. I don’t think we have much of a chance, but a good run out of this batch of games, who knows. At least we’re in the mixer.

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Socrates

“I agree with Pedro.”

The guy has zero originality.

Sid

Y’all moaners dont know Auba was grieving, his best position is on the wings,
at CF he cant bring the playmakers into play. Y’all full of agendas

Emiratesstroller

Arsenal’s major weaknesses are poor leadership and control particularly when the team is under pressure. That has been blindingly obvious in far too many games this season and leads far too often to ill discipline on the field of play. The recruitment of Partey should have improved our control in midfield but sadly he has suffered too many injuries this season to make a real impact in that department. Our defence may have improved slightly since Arteta took over but it remains brittle as we saw yesterday when Leeds put us under pressure. There is a general reluctance to invest… Read more »

AFC Forever

Radio Rahee.

Me too. It is physically impossible for the starting 11 on Thursday to play Sunday. In the past, we have been caught stretching ourselves too thinly. It is a different balancing act because you want your best players to play whenever possible. It will be interesting to see the team selected Thursday. Lacazette, Martinelli, Pepe will all start I suspect but if they play 90 they won’t be playing against City

Nelson

One thing I would like to mention is that Leeds didn’t have their captain and their most important player, Kalvin Phillips, yesterday. They play a 4 1 4 1 formation. Losing that “1” in the heart of the team hurted them more than us losing Partey.

Olis

An exciting attacking performance against a tricky aggressive team that we swatted aside in the first half and killed off in the first 5 mins of the 2nd was what we were asking for. But call me shocked that out of all the positives from that performance certain cretins are focusing on the William substitution. Absolutely no shame. He was brought on to give ESR a rest and let me guess save Pepe for Thursday night. Don’t think people realise Martinelli has come back from a serious knee injury so WILL NOT be rushed back. We have shit loads of… Read more »

Time Up

I just hope Pierre doesn’t start see in Willian something that, he and Arteta can see. We just closed the door of 7 years of Oziliogy and only him and same as him 70 year old Arsen.

I think with age people start seeing things!.

Time Up

As I said Benfica is a poor side, we should have no problem to beat a team that came second in their group to Rangers!. Generational has to win simple as.

Rich

Yesterday we had Aubameyang up front, we surrounded him with 4 technicians, in Odegaard, Smith-Rowe, Saka + Ceballos Against a team of inferior quality, who press all over the pitch, and leave space in behind We won a game, we should be winning Before Chelsea on Boxing Day, only Saka was creating The emergence of Smith Rowe, and loaning Odegaard, now makes us much more dangerous Rodgers showed the blueprint on how to stifle us in the second half against Leicester, Luiz went off, they man market Xhaka, and then let us have the ball Villa, Wolves, Spurs, Burnley, Everton… Read more »

Nelson

AFC

I find that you bring good luck to our team. Don’t get sick again!

Olis

Benfica aren’t actually that good. We’ll have lots of space on the counter as they bomb forward and their defenders are slow and always left isolated (otamendi and vertonghan).

UEFA are jokers though why two legs and why away goal when both venues are neutral?

AFC Forever

Nelson

Thanks but I’m not sure about the luck part!

Mb

Bring Guen next season and partner him with Partey. He can learn and grow, he got potential and we have seen him playing good under Emery. If you are better than Emery, he will do better.

Bring in Saliba, let david luiz leave.

Loan/sell Willian if possible. Don’t wait for Ozil-esque situation. He is a bit older and misfit everyday.

Develop a combination between ESR, Saka, Ø and Martinelli. They are the future and that future can be next season!

Sell Laca, Xhaka, Bellerin.

AFC Forever

Olis

“UEFA are jokers though why two legs and why away goal when both venues are neutral?”

They always have been clowns.
We are in the middle of a pandemic and they decide to send an entire squad & all the support staff on planes halfway around Europe. Absolute madness. They had the opportunity to make it a one-off game somewhere.

Emiratesstroller

AFC Forever Arsenal’s squad has frankly limited options when we need to play two games a week in EPL and/or knockout stages of Europa Cup. As you point out we are playing Benefica and Man City next week. There is no question that Arsenal need to turn out our best starting X1 against Man City if we want to compete with them, which frankly we must do. So that poses the question how we manage the game against Benefica. Are our second X1 good enough to start against them? Do we play Ryan, Soares, Holding, Mari, Ceballos, Elneny, Pepe, Lacazette,… Read more »

China1

What I like about Odegaard and ESR is these are both highly, highly technical sorts who are all about seeing things nobody else does, or seeing it sooner and having the technique to make it count, often very quickly We’ve had Özil in the past with that kind of skill set but what makes these two so much more exciting to see is that they do not skimp on work rate and are ready to throw themselves about to get involved, win tackles and make things happen ESR is particularly impressive because he’s English. The reason that’s a big deal… Read more »

Mb

The fact that Chelsea went for Rangnick and not us sums up everything at Arsenal.

May be Arteta is on right path, build from the defence. Concentrate at one point of time.

But he is poor in man management. Willian, Luiz – IN. Saliba, Guen – Frozen out.

Torreira – loaned, market valuation depreciated when he was one of the good ones under Emery.

andy1886

Nothing sadder than a ‘superfan’ on a blog telling others what their views should be. What a dick.

Overall good performance yesterday (would have been very good had the second half matched the first). The best bit was Auba getting back to his old self. Saka continues to excel and to be fair Xhaka and Ceballos were better than many of us expected.

The initial line up was excellent, the only reason people get pissed about Willian is because this isn’t a new develpment, he manages to get game time despite being awful for months not just a few games.

Bergkamp63

I think it actually suits Arsenal better to play Benfica over two legs, over 90 mins anything could happen, extra time or penalties, over two legs, we should have enough to see them off.

Nelson

The GK will be the weakness of the UK national team.

China1

If Pepe is finally kicking on as we have hoped, i would very much like to see us build our offensive unit around rotating combinations of saka esr ode pepe martinelli auba Behind them it should be partey and a new Cm Defense should be built out of Tierney Mari Gabriel holding saliba and a new RB Leno as keeper and a long term backup My hope this summer is: Bring in: Ode New CM/DM Saliba Guen Ode and a new CM may cost up to 70m so not sure how much we can get from sales and how much… Read more »

China1

Nelson yeah we haven’t had a good English keeper since Seaman. I really don’t know why we struggle so much in this position but have churned our some serious quality in most other positions semi regularly

Crabregas

There are definite positives from yesterday. 60-70% of the game we controlled, really imposed ourselves and didn’t look in any trouble. We still had issues in the second half and both the players and manager are responsible for that. We need to enhance the positives whilst reducing/removing the negatives. Their first goal was a great header which can happen, Saka lost his man and Luiz as a zonal player will often lose the 50/50 with a guy making a run on him. We were collectively poor on the second goal as they opened us up. However, if we can made… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Andy 1886

Willian came on effectively as a second half midfield replacement primarily because our
options in that department are exceedingly limited since we offloaded both Willock and
Maitland-Niles.

Xhaka can play 90 minutes without substitution, but can the others do so even when match
fit?

China1

ET why on earth should we be putting out our second string against Benfica in our most important game of the season so far just to rest players for the City game which is highly unlikely to make a difference to our season regardless of the outcome? Win the EL and this season has been completely resurrected from the dead and turned into a success. Frankly if we get a few scalps in the league en route to coming 5th or 6th and lose in the EL due to not treating it as a priority then that would be a… Read more »

Charles Christie

Great PODCAST guys. a real good listen : )

China1

ET we had Pepe martinelli el Neny Nelson all available and superior to Willian. Willian was picked because arteta loves him and nothing to do with footballing reasons

Emiratesstroller

China 1

Actually we did have an outstanding goalkeeper who could qualify for England. His name is
Emiliano Martinez. By all accounts he considered taking out UK Nationality.

China1

ET Martinez is the one that got away then haha

Emiratesstroller

China 1

Arsenal are not going to put out a weakened team against Man City. Arsenal are still in the
frame to qualify for Europa Cup next season.

Crabregas

ES

Martinez would have probably attempted to represent another country if England didn’t 100% guarantee him the number one jersey.

I joke

Kroenkephobe

Olis and AFCF I reckon the neutral ground fiasco is because Uefa want to be seen to be fair to all teams. Others may see an unfair advantage in letting a team through to the next round if they only play a single game. But over the coming weeks it’ll just about affect all other teams that progress. Plus there’s 2 games bringing revenue rather than one, and I daresay some tough contractual issues. It harms Benfica and Arsenal but they (Uefa) won’t give a fuck about that. Looking on the bright side, we hopefully see a resurgent Arsenal twice… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

China 1

Martinez will have lived and played in England continuously 10 years in June so he is unquestionably qualified to take out UK Nationality.

Do you not think that he is good enough to play for our National Team. Let’s face it the Argentinians have not been chasing him and their current options are not exactly outstanding.

BlackStock

My optimism has somewhat diminished now that I know Leeds had missing several key players.

China1

ET we’re still in the frame to qualify for the CL next season via EL

Why would league qualification for EL be a higher priority?

Danny+S

I wonder what Martinelli, Nelson and Saliba have that Arteta doesn’t like.

The only thing I can think of is youthful arrogance maybe. Nelson and Martinelli also both like to get around a lot, maybe they struggle to work to Artetas specific instructions.

Nelson, Saliba, Martinelli and Guendouzi could all be getting their values pumped this season but instead we persist with Willian, Luiz and Elneny at times.

I know Guen is a bit renegade but a good manager could have got something out of him, Emery did for a while.

BlackStock

Looking at the game dispassionately I’d have to say Arsenal’s best player was the Leeds Keeper.

AFC Forever

Emirates “Do we play Ryan, Soares, Holding, Mari, Ceballos, Elneny, Pepe, Lacazette, Martinelli and Willian in starting X1 against Benefica and who plays Left Back?” To answer this question I suspect we need to decide which game Arteta is going to prioritise. We all know Man City are on fire at the moment and the best team in the Country, so that’s an awkward game. Factor in the fact we won’t be coming home until Friday, then it’s even tougher. He has Mari, Holding and Chambers, Mari can play right back depending on how Arteta sets us up. Chambers can… Read more »

China1

If we treat benfica like mugs and lose the tie it will be dumb as hell

Crabregas

Imagine this place if we lose to Benfica

AFC Forever

“My optimism has somewhat diminished now that I know Leeds had missing several key players missing”

So did we. I think the stats show what a loss Tierney has been to us the last few games, especially offensively. Getting him back will improve us, so too will getting Partey back.

BlackStock

Lots of unwanted records broken which tells me the empty stadiums are a major factor in teams like Fulham beating Everton in the league at Goodison for the first time in their history

Anonymous Commentator

He keeps playing willian and let’s our talent rot in the bench.

andy1886

ES – If Mikel had no intention of playing Martinelli or Pepe (rather than Willian) why were they even on the bench? There must be five or six players who deserve minutes more than him.

alexanderhenry

Great stuff yesterday.

Saka in particular looks like the real deal . If he could add a few more goals to his game , he’d give something we’ve been sorely lacking for the past two seasons- a goal threat from midfield.

BlackStock

Arsenal have a bigger squad and more experience than Leeds who coped with the loss of key players as best they could.

Samir

Arteta needs to get his shit together.
Once the fans come back into the stadium he will get a lot of stick for his terrible substitutes. Willian should be training with the U23s on current form. Where is Nelson?

David Luiz new deal? No thank you. Yes he’s experienced but he’s also more trouble than he’s worth.

AFC Forever

Andy

They were on the bench in case he needed them. I’m sure if we needed a goal they would have been bought on but we didn’t. His first 11 selection was spot on, personnel-wise and tactically did a job on Leeds. Bit of squeaky bum time in some parts of the second half but it is a massive benefit that we will have fresh players for Thursday because that has a knock-on effect for Sunday. Hopefully, those on the bench yesterday feel they have something to prove and that competition for places, as we know, is very important.

Jamie

We still have far too many CBs on the books.

Chambers
Holding
Mav (loan)
Saliba (loan)
Ballard? (loan)
Mari
Gab
Luiz

Extending Luiz would be criminal. Good that he’s probably helped both Gabs settle, but he plays with nowhere near the required consistency needed for a top team. And he’s turning 34 in two months.

Let him retire with Benfica.

bacaryisgod

mb

On talent alone, it would be a no-brainer to have Guendouzi and Saliba back in the squad next season. Arteta is too insecure to have them return though.

AFC Forever

alexanderhenry

Yes, Saka is a great player. He won that penalty by sheer desire, running forty-odd yards to put the ‘keeper under pressure. If he keeps progressing as he is, Saka is going to become world-class. He has his feet on the ground too, humble lad, who admits he is still learning from Arteta and the experienced players around him. His link-up play with ESR is on another level at times.

AFC Forever

Jamie

Chambers is not a CB, he is really a right-back, although he has played centre back. He is versatile, when he was on loan at Fulham he played regularly as a Defensive Midfielder and actually stormed the fans Player of the Season award with nearly 50 per cent of the votes—over three times any other player nominated. Unfortunately, he ruptured his ACL against Chelsea which he’s not been that long back from.

Kevin

Arteta dying on the Willian Hill, indeed. That’s a gamble Arsenal shouldn’t take.

Emiratesstroller

AFC Forever

The absence of both Partey and Tierney was in my view possibly the two most critical for
Arsenal in recent games.

Let’s be perfectly honest both are irreplaceable. Our midfield options don’t control a game like Partey and we have no genuine left back option to replace Tierney as has been demonstrated clearly in last three games.

Nelson

“It took 24 league games to find a formular that works for Aubameyang by Arteta”

I agree with RH on this observation. Slowly but surely, Arteta is finding the way. I have high hope for next season.

Emiratesstroller

AFC Forever/China 1

All our EPL games including against Man C, Leicester and Spurs are/should be the priority,
because our performance level in EPL is our bread and butter.

Winning the Europa Cup is a 1 in 32 chance at the moment with no guarantees. There are
plenty of good teams left in the competition including Man Utd, Leicester and Spurs.

Nelson

“The absence of both Partey and Tierney was in my view possibly the two most critical for
Arsenal in recent games”

Allow me to remind you that both Partey and Tierney are not goal scorer. We may look good but we may still firing blank. For me, getting Auba firing again is most critical.

AFC Forever

Emirates, yes I agree. Some players you can’t replace because they offer something others can’t. Tierney has been a big loss for us, a bigger miss than Partey imo. Cedric has filled in well but he doesn’t offer those driving runs and the accurate crossing of Tierney. He takes defenders into places they don’t want to go.

Jamie

AFC – I remember when we signed him Wenger had him at RB. That was ages ago, though. Yeah, he’s versatile, but at 26 he isn’t great in any position. He isn’t fast enough to play as an attacking fullback (which is how ours are deployed), his movement and passing aren’t good enough to play in central mid (it might be for a relegated Fulham, but not for a club with big plans), and imo he doesn’t read the game well enough to be a top CB. I’d take 15-20 million for him all day long and reinvest in a… Read more »

AFC Forever

Nelson

Yes, very good point. We have been carrying Aubamayang for large parts of this season. Losing his goals caused us a lot of problems but hopefully, yesterday will have helped him. The first goal was what we have been missing, cutting in from the left and smashing them in like he used to. Any time struggles he they miss their best goalscorer. Let’s hope he kicks on now.

Graham62

The Willian saga is beyond a joke.

Why jeopardise the progress of the team by playing someone that shouldn’t be playing.

He is unable to play himself into form and should be told to go away and train with the youngsters to regenerate himself, if he can.

Pepe and even Nelson should be above him in the pecking order.

BlackStock

The win against Leeds felt somewhat euphoric which is probably down to the low bar set for this season.

Matt

Blackstock, as someone said previously, ‘6th place off of 4th place’ is the new ‘4th place is a trophy’

Very slippery slope, but one that many people on here seem to be happy to slide down!!

underrated Coq

We have gone from a team with rare losses to a team with rare wins.

But hey, something amazing is brewing

Apparently

Matt

And most of the rare wins come against teams that only a couple of seasons ago would have been considered absolute bankers!!

Leftside

Nothing is brewing, we are at about our ceiling with Arteta.

This side has far more quality to be languishing around in 10th place with as much wins as losses in a season. There are a whole load of managers who could do a better job. Managers with good game management, good tactics and a manager that is willing to admit a wrong in order for the team to progress.

Arteta is putting his ego and himself first by playing Willian in the hope that he will come good, when he has been absolutely woeful.

underrated Coq

Man City(H)
Leicester(A)
Burnley(A)
Tottenham(H)
West Ham(A)
Liverpool(H)

My oh my
The Sauce will be going off boil for a while
When do you reckon it will start to brew next?

Leftside

And if your a young player watching the likes of Pepe, Martinelli and co on the bench, Balogun not in squads at all and watching Willian with his ridiculous hair stink the place out regularly, why would you come to this club? In addition to the likes of Guendouzi, Torreira etc being farmed out on loan. Arteta is not progressive, he’s a cowardly manager with a penchant for elder players.

I agree on Rangnick. The guy has stated his desire to manage in the premier league and his love of the English game. He’d take this same squad Arteta has and in less than half a season you’d see a far greater improvement than any we’ve seen in the 14 month under Arteta .

StormieTee

I see that as of the time Arteta brought William on, the game was as good as won, unfortunately William isn’t working at the moment but persistence in playing him might work eventually to the advantage of the team. Also we should get Odagaard on a permanent deal, add midfielder that can play along Partey or a cover for him and we can compete for top 4 next season

FACupofTea

You just get the feeling that under a proper Manager like Pep or Flick, Gabi will be tearing the defences apart for fun. He’s needs confidence to flourish and that comes with consistent gametime.

Graham62

Leftside

I’m in agreement with what you say.

Willian playing is just not right.

Does slimeball Kia Joorabchian have a say in all of this?

There’s no other logical explanation.

East Upper

It amazes me whenever I read the posts on this site. If most of the people were listened to every team in the world would be changing managers every two months after a couple of losses or bad form. Football is ebb and flow l by season and over the years. I’ve been watching Arsenal for 40 years and the recent performances have been the best I’ve seen for a good five years or so, I’m genuinely excited by some of the football. We have the nucleus of a good team and have good quality talent in most positions and… Read more »

HerbsArmy

It’s always nice to win, and as others have said, the football in the first half was sublime, but we don’t see it enough. If we reproduce our first half performance against City, then we can say we’re going somewhere, and I might even start believing Pedro about Arteta! Anyone remember Martin Keown’s comments on David Luis when he was co-commentator at the 7-1 Germany – Brazil WC semifinal, 2014? It was along the lines that Chelsea had decided to let him go that summer, which Keown concluded was ‘probably the right decision’. The idea that seven years later we’re… Read more »

HerbsArmy

*David Luiz

Graham62

FACupofTea

I’m also in agreement with you on this.

The other week against MU when Arteta brought on Willian at HT for Martinelli, I thought “what the fcuk“.

It was 0-0 at the time and finished 0-0. Tactically Willian did what exactly? Bring experience and know how to the game?

If Martinelli has stayed on maybe, just maybe, he’d have got that crucial goal. On top of that, what had he done wrong to justify being taken off. Lost his man once if I recollect but still managed to get back and clear.

Once again, rank poor man-management.

Graham62

Arteta must get Martinelli playing again or I foresee problems ahead.

Other top teams will be sniffing around soon if this continues.

AFC Forever

I used to be a big Willian fan, I thought signing him on a free was a great piece of business, a proven Premier League player with a pocket full of medals for the youngsters to learn from. It’s not worked out for some reason on the pitch, he’s been a shadow of the player he was. The problem is what do you do with a player with his talent but out of form? Do you bin him or give him games in the hope he will play himself into form? It is a conundrum because he is a very… Read more »

Nelson

“If we reproduce our first half performance against City”

I like your dream. Unfortunately, no other EPL team has a defense like Leeds. They also lost their captain. I would rather play Mohamed Elneny replacing Martin Ødegaard in our midfield three {since Partey is not available}. Xhaka and Ceballos alone will get run over by MC.

Crabregas

HerbsArmy

Not that I disagree with you about us and David Luiz, we certainly shouldn’t be keeping him beyond this summer.

However Chelsea re-signed him 2 years later for over 30 million. I am sure that was desperate and naive at the time as well.

Plus, quoting Martin Keown alone doesn’t add value.m to anything.

Matt

AFC forever I think you are over stating the talent that Willian has, or indeed ever had. He had his moments for Chelsea sure, but they saw him day in day out and saw what he could do (or not do) in games as well as training. On that judgement they decided to offer him one year contract, probably because any talent that he did have was clearly on the wane. Then we come along and decide that actually we know much better than the club he has been at for a number of years and chuck a three year… Read more »

Crabregas

Matt Chelsea offered him a 2 year deal and he wanted a 3 year deal, which we offered him. Plus, last season was his best season for goals since joining Chelsea so having a PL ready player who can score and assist, for free, was kind of a no brainier (wages aside). He has ability without doubt but has been awful in pretty much everything he has done. At present he cannot even pass it properly, never mind score and assist. Whether he will get back to what he was, or carry on with his awful form I don’t know.… Read more »

HerbsArmy

Crabregas

Chelsea signed him under a different manager, when they went to three centre-halves, making Luiz less error prone. I’ve always wondered why he hasn’t been used more as a DM.
You may not rate Keown as a pundit, but he knows how to construct a solid defensive unit as proven with Arsenal 2005-06.

AFC Forever

Maybe Matt but the fact remains he is a very good proven Premier League player. There is no guarantee when you sign anyone, some just don’t work out for whatever reason. It is easy to be a fan or media pundit and dish out expert knowledge based on hindsight, which we all do. He has been disappointing, apart from Fulham he really has struggled.

HerbsArmy

I’d imagine David Luiz played a big part in Willian coming to Arsenal.

Crabregas

Herbs

We know that the manager doesn’t sign the player, the hierarchy does and as a club they still felt that he was worth spending a lot of money on him at the time.

I think he has talent for DM, a few years ago he would probably have offered more in there than say what Elneny does for us today. However now we just need to say thank you and good luck and let him move on.

Holding, Gabriel, Mari and two others is needed with one of them being a young defender like Ballard or something

Crabregas

Luiz to Willian

“Come over to north London mate, it’s lovely here. The demands are less, you’ll get a load of money and even if you play bad you’ll get into the squad. Don’t put too much effort in otherwise you’ll show me up.”

Rich

Men have the hunters gene It’s why we chase a football around a field, and we watch other men chase a ball around the field It’s why we can’t resist a woman who knows how to make us chase them Giving a 32yr old a 3 year contract, was really stupid A guy who’s got a stomach full of steak + chips, and a fridge full of food, doesn’t feel like picking up a rifle, and going out hunting for more food It’s why players perform better, and increase their output, at contract renewal time, they’re chasing the next contract… Read more »

alexanderhenry

AFC Forever

One of the reasons we were successful in the early Wenger era is because we scored plenty of goals from midfield or at least had a consistent threat from midfield- Pires, Lungberg, Parlour etc.
Even later on with Hleb, Cesc, Nasri, Cazorla etc. this tradition continued.

If I was Arteta I’d be encouraging players like Saka and ESM to seize the initiative and take on chances in front of goal.
Whether arsenal score or not should not be entirely dependent on whether Auba is on form or not.

Jamie

Willian’s issue is that his work rate isn’t making up for his declining abilities. He’s always jogging while the play moves around him.

It’s abundantly clear at this point he’s mentally checked out. 33 this summer and we’re stuck with him for another 2 years after that.

Outrageous he’s taking Marti’s minutes.

HerbsArmy

Exactly that, Crabregas.
Petr Cech commented on the difference in cultures between Chelsea and Arsenal, how Chelsea were driven by the need to succeed whereas at Arsenal there was a much more laid-back attitude.
In other words, no hunger or desire for success at Arsenal.

andy1886

Trying to think of a player that we’ve signed from Chelsea that has actually been any good. Recently none come to mind (Cech was ‘meh’ but possibly the closest). Prior to that Gallas was a tw@t. Pre-premier league I could only recall John Hollins but he came via QPR and was past his best.

Mark

https://dailycannon.com/2021/02/how-mikel-artetas-subs-almost-messed-up-his-excellent-gameplan/

Seems like there’s a few people with some concerns.
Even though we win 4-2.

HerbsArmy

George Graham, Andy?

Matt

Andy

We are a team who signed Mikel Silvestre remember. I think we have been as unsuccessful as any club in signing players from what were considered to be at the time, rival teams!

Emiratesstroller

alexander henry Agreed. Arsenal’s weakness in past 2 years has been lack of creativity, assists and goalscoring in midfield. I highlighted this on several occasions during that period. Players like Xhaka, Torreira, Ceballos and Guendouzi offered very little to the team and Ozil was in serial decline in his performance level. We know that Saka’s repertoire offers these attributes and I suspect that Smith-Rowe will also add considerably once he is fully integrated in team. I believe still that Arsenal needs to recruit one additional “quality” central midfielder to rotate with Partey and Xhaka. Someone like Aouar would be the… Read more »

andy1886

Good spot there Herb, I’d forgotten that George initially played for them (and Villa). I think that it’s fair to say that anyone suggesting dipping into the Chelsea reject bin from now on should be handed their P45.

Matt, we’ve signed some real stinkers down the years but that one has got to be in the top ten worst signings certainly of the PL era.

salparadisenyc

The best know when they’ve bottled it and move on regardless of consequence, Arteta struggling with the Willian move on. He clearly thinks he can pick the lock and tap into some unseen quality, it’s bizarre as he’s literally shown so little since the opening game. The league has upped its gears and Willian has gone backwards.

Terrible signing at this stage, but the bigger crime is not acknowledging that continually attempting to polish at expense of others.

TheBayingMob

“The absence of both Partey and Tierney was in my view possibly the two most critical for
Arsenal in recent games. Let’s be perfectly honest both are irreplaceable. ”

No one is irreplaceable, but even if this were true we best start thinking hard on Tierney as he will never be a long term viable option due to his fitness. I doubt he will play a full season.