ARTETA’S SUSTAINABLE FOOTBALL, A PROGRESSIVE MODEL BUILT FOR THE FUTURE

by .

You gotta love beating Spurs. Nothing feels better. It’s the only thing outside a trophy that has such a sensual afterglow.

But let’s get back to business, we gotta talk turkey about what we’re seeing and why it matters.

There are two ways to build a football system. You can structure one by throwing money at it, or you can be smart, and build out a sustainable football system.

Spending lots of money on an unsustainable system can work. Lio Messi at Barca is a case in point. But longterm, it’s killed them. Madrid created an unsustainable model with the Galacticos, a very expensive model that wasn’t really that successful.

Spurs are not building a sustainable football approach, after years of being pretty decent at it. Jose Mourinho, now a glamour coach, has one plan. They are working on an anti-football system that can kill opposition with the brilliance of two players on limited chances. That is not a sustainable system of football. One of those two players picks up an injury and it’s back to bang average. Jose constantly cries about the lack of money because his coaching is dated and it can’t outsmart the best like it could when he was at Inter Milan. He needs worldies in every position to make up for his coaching deficiencies.

United are very similar, they chuck a lot of money at players, but there’s nothing particularly interesting about what they do. They are second in a shit league season and bumming about in the Europa with us. There’s not another level under OGS except them spending more money on better players in the hope something might click. It won’t.

Clubs like Liverpool (prior to this season at least) and Manchester City have sustainable models. They are incredibly hard to create chances against, they run teams ragged, and they are deadly with their creativity. Their systems are strong even when they are bad, which is generally not for very long (because they rich). Big clubs like Bayern have sustainable football. They have great infrastructure, a certain style, so when Hansi Flick gets the job, he can tweak the football and make it electric.

What you’re seeing (or trying hard not to see) is that Arteta has spent the last 14months trying to build a sustainable model at Arsenal after years of the club shortcutting the hard work. Teams do not like playing against us now. We control games, we restrict opposition chances, and we’ve now added creativity in attack with two players with #10 like features that can hold a 97% pass completion rate against a deep block of a top 6 side. Our rolling xG since Christmas is going the way of Liverpool’s way back when Klopp started showing promising signs… we are conceding less xG and creating a lot more. Players roll in and roll out of the system and the output is pretty similar.

A lot of the press yesterday was about how bad Spurs were. Wrong. Arsenal were brilliant. They rattled Spurs. Their players hated that game. Jose knew he was in trouble because the system Arteta has can’t be bullied by ‘aggressive pressing.’ Spurs were limited to 6 attempts at our goal. They spent most of the game uncomfortably chasing shadows… but that wasn’t new from Arsenal, we’ve controlled every game since Chelsea like that.

A sustainable football system is what makes all of our centre backs look elite at the moment. Under Emery, the back four were under attack 50% of the game because he had a shit system. Now they’re only activated 20% of the game because of the way we set up. The system is making Gabriel and Luiz look like rockstars because it protects them.

The football is more cognitive now. Players understand the patterns of the game, they move with ease and fluidity, space opens up all over the pitch, and now we have killers to find those pockets and pass around corners. Look at the football, look at the intelligence of our movement, look at how protected we are all the time. That’s no accident, that’s what progressive coaching gets you. Lee Dixon, George Graham, and Tony Adams all saying they’ve heard the coaching is excellent… because it is.

Now, the great thing about this sustainable football approach is that it’s very clear what needs to be improved upon. Before Liverpool banged, they were consistently a really difficult team to play against. The criticism was Klopp couldn’t coach a defence, he always said that was nonsense, then he brought in the best centre back and keeper in a single summer and the rest is history. Before they could afford those mega players, they sold and bought smartly on a low net spend like we’re going to have to do. City, when Arteta joined them, were knocked out of the FA Cup by us and they bumbled into 4th. They had a bad season on paper, they were making defensive errors, and they weren’t finishing enough chances… but everything else was the best in the league. One summer and BANG. The best team the league had seen. Arsenal can’t afford to move that fast, but we can upgrade this summer, improve, rinse repeat in the next window until we get to the levels needed.

City, Bayern and Liverpool has the benefit of a world-class backroom to feed off. Arsenal hasn’t really had that and it’s still debatable if we do heading into the summer. My views on Edu haven’t changed. We have wasted so much money that could be helping us right now. However, what is exciting is the gaps are fairly clear. Add some elite quality and mobility to central midfield, build some support around key positions (full-backs in particular), and sell the dross and we could be cooking. Can Edu fuck that up? Who knows. No one had Willian in transfer bingo last season, the hope is Odegaard is more reflective of where we’re heading.

The point is, we can now go into the summer with a clear idea of what needs to happen for us to move forward next season. The reality is, we’ve been playing like a top 4 side since the Chelsea game. The results haven’t always followed performances, but let’s be true to ourselves, we’d rather be performing well, than shithousing wins on a road to nowhere… it’s dominant performances that’ll show us whether Arteta is the right man for the job and now we’re getting them.

What I don’t think is in doubt now is that Arteta is the right man for the job. You aren’t getting this sort of progressive football from any of the managers that were in our price range, I can assure you. Who is talking about Jose, Carlo, Hassenhutl, and Nuno now? Not many.

Arteta has been rebuilding the club from a very low ebb. He’s made plenty of mistakes, some absolute howlers, but that was priced into the move. Alex Ferguson wasn’t exactly in great shape in 1990, many United fans thought he was going to lose his job that season, but an FA Cup run saved his bacon. He was in his 3rd full season with the club, United lost 16 games in the league, conceded 47 goals and scored 46, finishing in 13th position. The fans were calling for his head from December onwards. The FA Cup win against Palace saved him. He never looked back, becoming their greatest ever manager.

Arteta’s ‘cup win’ wasn’t the actual FA Cup from last season, it was ESR hitting the ground running and raising the bar for everyone. His electric partnership with the other Hale Enders brought new energy to Arsenal. His performances shamed the slacking seniors. His progressive skillset opened up our entire style. That was a stroke of luck because most teenagers can’t do that, and 3 more games of losses might have seen the Spaniard with a P45 in his hand.

Things are different now. Fans seem behind the coach. The Auba move yesterday has been lauded by the media, ex-players, and fans. Gunnerblog reported the missed covid test I’d heard about earlier in the season, apparently he ‘missed’ it near an ugly away game in the Europa. That sort of sloppy behaviour has been all over the club this season. Even with some of the Hale-Enders that aren’t in contention at the moment. Simply put, you can’t tolerate dickheads, especially if they are your most important players. For Arteta, the most important thing is the decision was correct… as Merson said, he’ll have gained a lot of respect from the players after that.

There’s still a lot of games to go this season. No doubt there are more bad results to come, but the reality now is that we’re a very good side going places. If we sell off the remaining dross this summer and buy well, we’ll be extremely competitive for top 4 next season. If we have a good summer the year after, there’s a very good chance we’ll be competing for the Premier League title.

Football is a game of faith, no doubt, but if your faith in an idea is underpinned by a good hypothesis, it has a chance of being successful. I think we made a sharp move hiring an innovative young coach, with City IP, that knew the club. The major problems have been structural at Arsenal. Julian Nagelsmann is the German equivalent, except he’s always had great systems built around him. Hoffenheim were an elite budget outfit run by the guy who owns SAP. He moved back to Leipzig who has one of the best structures in the world. Arteta hasn’t had that sort of leadership around him which is why we’ve seen some pretty big errors. The hope is the club has learned from them and this summer will not be a repeat. Fingers crossed. We get the next window right and next season will be very sexy. x

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andy1886

Morning!

Hitman49

Another day closer to game day…

Hitman49

Where is everyone

Hitman49

No

Hitman49

Got the 4th

DM

Morning all

Leedsgunner

North London is Red.

Having said that, we need to learn to be consistent.

Did you also notice something else? When we don’t make mistakes and sabotage ourselves, more often than not, we win.

More of the same please.

Captain Tierney

Wota lovely day. Seeing the Pundits, try their utmost to discredit the penalty was hilarious.Same people were saying the Luiz incident was a pen but not a red.Well Davinson Sanchez clattered into Laca and got nothing of the ball.They are describing the tackle as reckless, and then finish by saying still not a penalty for me. Well we got given a penalty against us for Luiz having legs. And all these pundits were in agreement it was a penalty.But when a similar decision is granted in favour of us, all of these pundits are furious. The hate. Massive performance from… Read more »

The Bard

Excellent post Pedro. My thoughts precisely. We need to up our game in the transfer market this summer. Edu is in the spotlight. If he messes this one up he has to go. How much dear old Kia is involved will tell us whether this part of the club is fit for purpose. But with our finances in the shit I don’t expect us to be able to afford Odegaard sadly.

Kroenkephobe

Pedro

I was genuinely puzzled to read your view that Man City is a sustainable club. How? To my mind, they, PSG and the Spanish duopoly are anything but.

Rich

Nice post

The essentials this summer

Quality competition for Leno to keep him on his toes

Quality competition for Tierney, so we don’t end up running him into the ground and breaking him

Odegaard who has a really high ceiling

Sell Bellerin, and go big on a quality right back

Renew Smith-Rowe + Balogun

Bring back Willock for Ceballos, and Saliba for Chambers

Clear out the deadwood, our squad is still far too big

Gommit

I agree with Kroenkephobe.. In what reality is City a sustainable club? Don’t let the halo of Guardiola hide the fact that City is outspending its real revenues. If they were managed by someone unlikable like Mourinho you would never have stated that City was sustainable as a club or a model. Leicester is a sustainable and admirable model and a much better case of owners and management with a plan.

Matt

Good post Pedro. Still enjoying the win from the weekend. The one negative, Aubamayangs behaviour. The more I read the more I wonder how this guy was ever given the arm band in the first place, let alone how has he managed to keep it. We seem to have a knack of giving the armband to the most unsuitable characters, albeit in recent times I will admit, we didn’t have many stand out candidates. As much as he has his comically bad moments, I would rather see Luiz as captain than Aubamayang, who whichever way you look at it, is… Read more »

Nelson

Our “sustainable football system” turns quickly into Emery system once Partey is tired. This Summer we have to strengthen our CM position. We’ll need to replace Xhaka and a backup for Partey.

Aasim

A couple of things: – I would be fairly optimistic on MO chances of staying at Arsenal. The trio of Saka, MO and and OSR are all fluent in English and they general vibe should suit his palette more than the Madrid vibe. In Arteta you also have a manager who scored much higher on empathy and growth than Zidane. So fingers crossed on this …🤞🏽 – with our remaining fixtures, we have three tricky ones. WestHam, Pool and Chelsea. I would think a total of 24 from 30 remaining points would be a pretty decent output. 65 points have… Read more »

Leedsgunner

Whether we can afford Odegaard is all depends on how quickly and how well we sell in the market.

If we say Real Madrid could be persuaded to sell at £50m… if we sell Elneny for £5m, Chambers for £10m, Bellerin for £25m and Torreira for £20m we have more than enough to buy him with change left over.

That’s even before we decide what to do with Guendouzi, Willock, Nelson, and Nketiah.

Leedsgunner

*dependent

James wood.

Didn’t three of those attempts Spurs had hit the woodwork?
They also swamped us with headers won and tackles.
Whilst we won these areas need to be addressed.

High Power Mutant

You haven’t talked about Raul in a while Pedro. Maybe we can pin some of the lack lustre output of Edu on him. If you’re realistic the winter window is the first that Edu/Arteta planned without Raul. This gives an additional reason to be optismistic about the summer

bacaryisgod

Aasim-the last thing we need right now are projections like 24 from 30 remaining points. There are too many variables involved (Europe, Injuries etc) and I’m just pleased we’re moving in the right direction.

David Boyle

Do your know we are 10th not 2nd

Emiratesstroller

Pedro I posted after our games that Arsenal are beginning for the first time in several seasons to look like a team albeit that there are still some weaknesses and we are periodically “error prone”costing us a couple of games since Christmas. We have been outplayed in only one game since Christmas and that was against Man City. That does not mean that we can afford to sit on our laurels. As you posted we are still a “work in progress” and there are positions in the squad where we need to upgrade. In January we recruited both Odegaard and… Read more »

DivineSherlock

Ole lucked out with Bruno Fernandes , Pedro . Just to add to your point ,also he gets injured and they will collapse.

Mb

Are we seriously planning to spend 50m on Øde? He is a good player and I would love to see him here for next 5 years, but 2 months back, he was playing on loan Real Sociedad, and there is no chance he gonna make to Real’s first team – not in next 2 years at least.

Why we factor the market while selling our own ( 15m should be fine for AMN in this depressed market?!?) But ready to pay 50m for Øde?

If you gonna spend 50, add 20 more and get Grealish.

Jamie

No one is paying £50m for Øde. He’ll be entering the final year of his contract in the summer, and he hasn’t done anything sufficiently special in Spain (or here) to walk into Real’s first team next season.

Selling Torr and Guen should generate enough cash to get Øde, assuming we aren’t using player sales to fund the £200m loss Arsenal has sustained over 3 years.

Leedsgunner

Mb

Isn’t Grealish 26? Odegaard is 22. I would say Odegaard is better value.

The £50m price tag is what I think we will need to come up with to convince RM to sell. Personally I think that’s decent value taking into value his age… and we can raise the money selling our fringe players if we are smart about it.

Leedsgunner

Jamie

If you are right about next year being his final year, £40m should enough.

I wonder, just wonder if they would take Lacazette in a swap deal…? Considering Laca is in his final season too…

Ben D

@James Wood, is it rather disingenuous to count Tottenham chances which didn’t end in a goal but not ours? Didn’t we also hit their post and bar, plus create numerous other chances?

We need more balance. Assuming every chance the opponent creates could be a goal but discounting chances we create as a way of showing a match is closer than it was isn’t sound analysis

Leedsgunner

*should be

Jamie

Leeds –

I just double-checked and I was wrong – his contract expires in June 2023.

I wouldn’t spend £50m on him, so I hope that isn’t the figure Madrid are expecting.

Would they take Laca at his age? Benz still doing the business and still has a year on his deal.

Matt

I would take Grealish all day long for £70m over MO at £50m, regardless of age. I like the look of MO, but at the moment Grealish is a much better all round player. There isn’t really anything that MO does better than Grealish in my opinion.

Jamie

Yeah, Grealish is by far the superior player. Ode has time on his side to improve though.

If it’s a £50m fee, can’t see us moving for him this summer. The club’s finances really are grim. We desperately need to be in the EL next season if nothing else for the cash (and a moonshoot backdoor entry into the CL).

Emiratesstroller

Arsenal are not going to buy Grealish. He falls in the same category as Zaha where his current
club will demand a grossly inflated price, which only someone like Man Utd are willing to pay.

I think that our club has learned the lesson of not paying inflated prices for players. Arsenal’s
budget this summer will be between £75-100 million and that will be covered mainly by sales.

Emiratesstroller

Odegaard’s contract expires in June 2023 according to Transfermarkt.

However, I suspect that Arsenal will be able to negotiate a deal between £35-40 million particularly if Odegaard expresses the wish to join us on permanent deal. We have already
paid a loan fee for him.

TT

“What about next season? Tierney at 24?”

How old was Adams when he was made captain?

Dissenter

At the time the Lacazette. penalty was given during the game , I called it a 100% penalty. Now with tha lasagne of time and after watching it over and over again, I think we were a bit lucky. Had it not been given, there wouldn’t be any fuss because Laca had an embracing air shot. Sanchez is a clumsy oaf but he never made contact with him until after Laca had scuffed his shot. I’m not complaining about the penalty though. We were by far the better team and we earned our luck. It would have been given the… Read more »

Nelson

I read that Grealish has a messed up private life. His playing style challenges the defenders head on. All these factors can cut short his football life.

Dissenter

If the reports of Ronaldo returning back to Madrid are true, then that’s excellent news because it increases the chances that we keep Odegaard for next season.

The news is gathering speed that Ronaldo will be going back to Madrid because Juventus is tired of him.

Matt

ES

For me, a player like Grealish is worth paying whatever is being asked. We spent £70m plus on Pepe – that was a massive gamble and you would have to say, it hasn’t paid off, despite improved performances of late. Grealish isn’t a gamble, even if he cost you £100m

I’m not under any illusions that we are not signing Grealish by the way, but as I said, some players are worth paying whatever it takes to sign them because they will undoubtedly improve the team.

englandsbest

Spot on, Pedro. Beyond a doubt Arteta is the right man for the job. We are fortunate to have him. He is honest and straightforward. And not just with his players and staff but with us, the fans, too. No more sly Gazidis and wily Wenger. He stated his aim at the start: to return Arsenal to the elite. He told us this would be a step-by-step process. And I am sure he made that perfectly clear to the players at the outset. And he gave them the choice of staying on board. Those that resisted have for the most… Read more »

James wood.

Ben D 11.06
Your absolutely right we had equal chances.
But I was trying not very well to highlight our lack
of heading ability and tackles lost.?

Nelson

I may be off the mark. I would suggest Martinelli to learn a few things from Odegaard. He has the speed comparable to Odegaard. He has also a good shot. What is missing is Odegaard’s passing skill. It could save us a lot.

Emiratesstroller

Matt

Every footballer is a gamble.

Grealish is a good footballer, but he is not worth more than £50 million in today’s market. AV
will demand more than that.

Realistically there are very few players who are potentially available this summer who will
cost more than that figure.

Obviously Haaland is the one player who could be potentially available and will cost more.

To put it in perspective Upamecano will be sold this summer for £45 million.

Leedsgunner

No to Grealish for me.

We’ve already gone through a similar player with Jack Wilshere. No matter how good he is, if he’s not professional enough to keep his off field life in check his performances will eventually be impacted and suffer.

If Real Madrid were willing to do a deal, £40m is a fair price for Odegaard… we need to sell quick and sell smart.

Matt

ES I think that the vast majority of footballers are a gamble, but there are few who are not and those are the ones who you break the bank for. Haaland and Mbappe clearly being the two stand outs in that category, but I also put Grealish in that bracket. You bring Grealish into this Arsenal side and immediately our top 4 chances next season increase significantly. We may not get a huge amount of re-sale value, but that’s one of the issue I had with Wenger and his obsession with not signing players who have little re-sale value. You… Read more »

Pedro

Spudnik, true, but we had just gone away in Europe, so fatigue was always going to be an issue.

Spurs had 6 attempts at our goal, we kept them pretty quiet

The Bard

I think the more important issue in the transfer debate is the wages they’re asking. We need to get our way bill down not inflate it. Grealish will be looking for something north of £200000 a week. He’s out of our league. Untd is a more realistic destination. If Odegaard continues to improve I suspect bigger clubs than us will be interested and willing to pay him big wages.

DivineSherlock

Ødegaard on a season long loan next year , with an option to buy should do it. Ceballos can go and help Madrid . I would keep Torreira and sell Elneny , like for like .

Matt

We cant pay £200k to Grealish, but we can pay it to Willian?

I know there was no transfer fee for Willian, but if you are talking about getting out wage bill down then that’s a good place to start. Unfortunately he is going nowhere and will be a financial drain for years to come!

Leedsgunner

That’s why selling our fringe players quickly and smartly is important this summer. It kills two birds with one stone. Brings in transfer funds and frees up their wages from the wage budget.

Leedsgunner

Willian is Arteta’s football security blanket.. no more no less.

Rich

I’d take Odegaard instead of Grealish Buying at the top of the market isn’t smart business, we need to be identifying elite talent at the bottom and middle of the market, and then increasing the value of our players Our judgement on the progression and regression of players over the years has been awful Turning down £60mill for Alexis, only to swap him for Mkhitaryan 5 months later, who we then loaned out, turned down an offer of €10mill, only to end up paying him to leave Offering £300k p/w to Ozil who was clearly in decline, and a 3yr… Read more »

Jamie

We still have too many players on massively inflated wages, which is worrying. Willian Laca Pepe Luiz Hector Xhaka Am I missing anyone? Apart from Pepe, I wouldn’t miss anyone from that list. We’ll take a bath if we try to sell him, so we might as well keep amortising his expense until we can sell him at a break-even price. And fringe players Eddie, AMN, Torr, Guen, Nelson, Chambers, Elneny, Willock who should either be loaned or sold in the summer. I’d like to think we’ll bring Saliba back into the fold. Hard to believe we’re still talking outrageous… Read more »

Pedro

We can’t afford Grealish.

Martin O will be here another year and I suspect we will offer to buy him, like Divine said

NORG

There are only a very few clubs in Europe that will be in a position to spend ‘big bucks’ on any players this year and there are only a couple of players that merit being termed as a ‘game changer’ player. For most clubs budgets for player purchases will depend on player sales and in most cases prices are on a projected downward cycle. Players on over inflated contracts who do not fit the ‘super player’ criteria will be the hardest to shift. We have a few of these that will ultimately affect our purchase intentions – unless, of course,… Read more »

N9

Sell Saka and ESR for £150 million and buy J Grealish and Mö for the same amount of money

Nelson

Rich
“players with big potential who we can improve and mould them into superstars ”

We already have Martinelli but we are not helping him to grow!!!!

Bergkamp63

My thoughts on Grealish are known, not for me, and certainly not for £50m-£70m.

He might have one or two more decent seasons left in him but he is very much in the Ross Barkley, Joe Cole, Alexis Sanchez mould or even Eden Hazard, he looks like he will break down before long with his style of play, he also doesn’t fit into a system that relies on team effort more than individual flair.

We should be looking for the next ESR not buying one at the peak of their powers or valuation.

Northbanker

At this precse point in time I’m sure most of us would take Grealish but he has character flaws as well as being older. We will get Ode at half the cost of Grealish and he is a far better potential investment. If we continues along the same trajectory (and we’re unlikely to buy him anyway of he doesn’t) the by the Summer we can safely say we are buying a player who is Prem ready and who we already knows fits into our team and the dressing room. Combine that with his age, and we would be getting a… Read more »

Leedsgunner

Willian is going nowhere with those wages. We need to stop being the club of the last big payout especially for ex Chelsea footballers. However we still have plenty to get rid of. Laca Luiz Hector Xhaka Willock Elneny Nketiah Torreira Kolasinac Nelson Chambers Runarsson Sheaf Anyone I’ve missed? Surely even if we sell badly we should be able to realise £150m from this group… and replace with a classy back up partner for Partey If he can I would urge Arteta to convince AMN to stay to make the RB position his own. If he is set on being… Read more »

Northbanker

Another great post from Pedro as we build the excitement of what this team is becoming. The Summer should build on that without a net spend (I hope though we can continue to find the gems at 6-10m – one per season would be good). Ode for Guen; Bissouma for Torreira; Edouard for Laca and Aarons or Lamptey (injury permitting) for Bellerin. Bertrand and Ryan in on frees. Sell Willock, Nketiah, AMN to help with any shortfall. I’m hoping Saliba and Dino return to compete with Holding for RCB. There might be a bit a remaining shortfall there (Guen’s MV… Read more »

Leedsgunner

*… back up partner for Partey, a quicker midfield partner for Partey (all our existing base midfielders are two slow):and perhaps a new young target man to complement Auba… good in the air and good at linking play…

Bergkamp63

I’m not so sure RM will want to loan MO back to us, Ronaldo’s potential return to them is more likely to have the opposite effect on us given his comments regarding MO, he will need a creator and the more he starts to show his worth with us, the more likely they might want to keep him ?

Unless of course he decides himself he is not going back ?

Northbanker

Leeds – although not in my business plan above (lol) I would welcome another go at rehabilitating AMN (make it clear to him he’s a RB not a midfielder) and Guendouzi as cover deep midfield (but with Bissouma as main choice)

Vintage Gun

Real Madrid are at the crossroads regarding Odegaard this summer. The fact that he’s tasting regular football with us and is seemingly enjoying himself thus far counts for something.

The fact that he has just been appointed national captain will add further fire to his desire to be an important player somewhere rather than a backup for backup in Madrid.

Regarding price. i was thinking around £40m. If that is the case then the sale of Torreia and Guendouzi should cover that.

Bergkamp63

Leeds,

I would have put Guen, AMN & Ceballos (return him) on that list too (clean sweep needed)

It’s still a really big job to get that lot done, which is why I don’t think all this will be done this year, hopefully by Summer 22.

Dissenter

I was wildly enthusiastic about Ceballos last season, now I’m lukewarm about us keeping him. .

He’s a squad at best this season. What’s the point of paying big money for a Madrid squad player to become an Arsenal squaddie?

The only reason why you make a loan permanent is because they have become central to your plans. Ceballos is not central to anything at Arsenal, notwithstanding his recent high profile mistakes.

We can get cheaper players with higher quality than him in Spain. Many of the clubs are bleeding money.

Northbanker

Most of the younger players will be on smaller contracts and have the potential to increase in value if they get game time on loan (a season of full stadiums will also help this) so i don’t think they are the priority..Torreira is a bigger priority to shift than Guen; Laca’s value will diminish so he needs to go too. Bellerin too for that reason.

Rich

Nelson I wouldn’t worry too much about Martinelli, we tied him down for 5 years last summer, I think he’s being lined up as the heir to Aubameyang If we manage to move Lacazette on this summer, which I think will be difficult in this market, Martinelli will become our internal replacement for Lacazette If we fail to move on Lacazette, and fail to qualify for Europe, then add 12 months to Martinelli’s contract, and send him out to play 40 games in the Championship, where he’ll play every week He’ll be 21 when he comes back, and as we’ve… Read more »

Rich

Northbanker Guendouzi has 12 months left on his deal this summer, clubs will know we’re not keen on bringing him back into the group, we’re in a weak negotiating position, and in a weak market Torreira has 2 years remaining, but if we fail to get a buyer this summer, and instead loan him out, we should do it on the condition he signs a 12 month extension, to ensure we protect his value Providing the vaccine works, the summer of 2022 should see a return of the transfer market, even if it’s still massively deflated I don’t see hardly… Read more »

Leedsgunner

Ceballos is an enigma. He has massively increased in market value with us and when Real Madrid brought him in from Betis he was drawing plaudits from all over the place.

The Spanish press was calling him the next Fabregas… no joke! Why is so inconsistent?

Leedsgunner

*he

Na me ooo

If we have plans to keep improving and becoming a steady and legitimate Top 4 team again , Leno has to be sold to Leeds or something.

He’s not gonna cut it for Arsenal.

He’s gonna be the difference between making Top 8, or Top 4 or 2nd or winning the league. Hes just that difference maker but in the wrong direction.

Mb

Sorry guys, I didn’t mean to just go and buy Grealish. He is a costly affair and we are losing money everywhere.

What I meant was, if you are okay to pay 50m for Ode, who was average at best till now, in a depressing market, you are overpaying.

Mb

We need a forward who can convert those chances missed by Laca and Auba. Manure were really struggling before bruno joined him. 50m for that kimda player will be worth it.

Northbanker

Mb – you’re judging Ode on a few matches when he wasn’t match fit, let alone prem ready. Hardly fair on him! As he increases his game time we are starting to see what he can do. By the Summer he will have integrated into the team. We will know better then but right now you’d have to say he looks the real deal. He has surprising levels of speed and incredible ball control. He needs to adjust to the speed of the prem and frankly i’m amazed at how far he’s come in a few games. I don’t think… Read more »

Na me ooo

He seems to be struggling mentally. Maybe he’s in his feelings about not making the Real Madrid team after all the accolades he got as a youngster. Look at guys like ESR and ODE, guys who are excited to be in the team and want to show what they can do.

Ceballos always seem to be in some sort of inner conflict when I see him play

Nelson

Na me
Leno has to be sold”

I kind of agree but not a priority. Last game, during those 10 hectic mins, Leno also looked nervous. When Kane hit that free kick, he moved towards the side of the wall and was totally stranded. Luckily the ball hit the post and Gabriel covered that side of the net for the rebound..

Nelson

Compared to the other two high price acquisitions, Pepe and Partey, Ødegaard has integrated within the team with minimum difficulties.

Captain Tierney

Grealish over Ode any day for me but probably not gonna happen.

For 60 mil Grealish is worth every penny, maybe even for 70.

Villa probably wont sell for anything less than 80 or 90 tho, so if he goes it’ll probably be for City or Utd .

DUIFG

This summer is all about centre mid for me, need to blow some coin there, want 2 rocks in tbe middle, bissouna for me.

I also like the look of buendida, not sure exactly where he couold play, could he be a driving 8 in the aour mould?

Would like to see a solid right back as well, hopefulky we can sell Hector and upgrade.

Cf largely dependant on laxa, can you get 15 m for him and pump it into a really raw target man who can develop as a number 2

Na me ooo

Nelson

I think replacing Leno is a priority. Look at what Martinez did for the team while Leno was injured last season. We suddenly improved, beat Chelsea and Man city on our way to a FA cup win.

No way we won those games and cup with Leno. Thats the difference

DUIFG

Sanogos profile was superb, hats off to wenger shame the kicking a ball more than 5 yrs looked alien to him.

I want a competant sonogo, the Chelsea reject would be ideal but likely too expensive and they wouldn’t sell to us

Rich

I really like Bissouma

But I’d prefer a highly skilled technician in the mould of Cazorla

Jaroda

I think we’re done with Ceballos and the time, money and effort it would take to keep him. We need an upgrade on Xhaka, retaining Xhaka as squad cover. Ceballos looked alright and had a couple of decent games. But now that Ode’s turned up you can see what a different calibre of player looks like. Two other points. 1) Love the way ESR covers the ground, looks like he glides without effort. 2) Take the captains arm band – stick it on Kieran. If I want anyone talking to the ref, I want them to get fleckled in a… Read more »

Na me ooo

DUIFG

Yep replace Xhaka with a more mobile, less error prone CM and maybe promote Mat Ryan and off we go.

DUIFG

I think you could do a cazorla on buemdida, get him a bit withdrawn in the middle switching play, him and party would carve teams, in a 3 man mid defensive stuff should be acceptable, we should also have competant cbs so don’t need a classic sitting dm as you can deal with people 1 on 1

DUIFG

Le no is going nowhere, I’m actually more worries about his contract situation.

The club put its money behind Leno which I’m fine with as he’s a very tidy keeper. Eventually you would want somebody in the ederson mould to release attacks but right now let’s hit the low hanging fruit which is in cm and rb for me

DUIFG

Going back on cazorla we saw that arteta seriously looked at jorginho, so don’t be surprised if we taget somebody a bit left field who’s primary strength is receiving deep and being able to evade pressure very well despite their overall stats looking stinky

Rich

Smith-Rowe + Odegaard showed the way with pass competition of 97% against Spurs Xhaka’s pass completion is currently as high as its been in an Arsenal shirt We need a highly skilled technician in deep areas, someone who can play in tight spaces and beat the press, but if the opposition stand off them, they can they run the whole game Apart from the mistake against Burnley, Xhaka has been brilliant since Xmas, in spite of his limitations Barcelona are skint, we should try and pick off Frenkie De Jong for £80 million During an economic downturn is where billionaires… Read more »

Nelson

Na me
My priority would be strengthen the midfield first, like getting Bissouma. You can see the difference during those last 10 mins in the NLD, when even 10 men Spuds could charge through our midfield with ease. A solid midfield can give a lot of confidence to the whole team.

DUIFG

Nelson ye it makes sense to me, can you imagine ball recoveries with oartey and bissouma, our cbs could be in an armchair all game.

Blend is important, if we had ode for another year you could probably get away with having a ball hawk cm rather than an artist as ode can do the other bits(although I think bissouma is v decent on the ball)

The Bard

Rich a good post re Martinelli. I cant quite get my head around the urgency. He is a massive talent and has had a serious injury. We need to be patient. When Laca goes he is probably next off the rank. You can’t play all the youngsters at once. We definitely need a back up left back so we don’t run Tierney into the ground.
Also agree replacing Leno isn’t a priority just now.

Nelson

Jaroda
“Take the captains arm band – stick it on Kieran.”

I fully support this suggestion. I have never seen Auba standing up for a teammate on the pitch. He doesn’t even bother to fight for any 50/50 ball.

Dream10

We definitely need a third first choice caliber CM. Partey is a good signing, but he has not been durable this season. Xhaka has an excellent fitness record. I have the feeling Arteta will spend the bulk of the transfer money on a CB. Odegaard on another loan. 20.25m from Bellerin’s sale will be used to buy a RB and a spare LB. We have a big squad. If we are knocked out of the Europa League in the next month and finish 8th or lower in the league, except the squad size to be reduced. Martinelli, Nelson, Chambers, Niles,… Read more »

Tom

I’ve been championing Grealish earlier than most but he’s not coming to Arsenal nor am I even certain we would want him.
Huge part of his game is inviting defenders to commit and then either drawing a foul or skipping past them.
He’s been the most fouled player in the league but how quickly do you think these decisions given in his favor would dry up were he to put on the Arsenal shirt?
I’d say pretty fucking quick, and then you’d have a player griping constantly with refs, or worse, on a treatment table.

Tom

If the Zagreb coach deserved four years in prison for embezzlement then Jose deserves four years in football prison for parking the bus with Kane, Son, Bale, and Lucas in line up against the error prone Arsenal defenders.

Tom

Absolute love Theirney but he’s not captain material.
Too quiet and unlikely to get into anyone’s face , whether a teammate or foe.
Neither is Auba btw.

Dream10

Tom

Grealish is top quality. Price, Cl demands and attitude might be a problem for management. Not sure Arteta is comfortable of handling quality, high maintenance players. That is the name of the game at top clubs.

With Arteta in charge, I believe the club will avoid signing players who can be difficult to manage. Cohesion over talent. Young players who are malleable like Odegaard over say a Grealish/Madison/Sancho.
All three are out of Arsenal’s budget. Even if they were available to the club, not sure they would be signed under this manager

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