Quite stunning to read some of the pitiful reaction of the fanbase to the potential signing a player for big money yesterday. The fear should be ‘we just had a brutal pandemic, we’ll have no money’, instead, it’s clear we now have cash and the panic is ‘ooof, this feels rich.’
We need to pick ourselves up. We’re behaving like mistreated dogs. We have ‘bad summer’ PTransferSD after some horrendous letdowns over the last decade. YES, I remember Wenger’s big surprise signing being Silvestre, but it’s time to get over it.
Arsenal fans need to trust again. Let yourself be free. Live, laugh… love the rumor-mill again.
Here’s a piece on Ben White. It’s interactive, so you need to watch this entire video before you jump in.
This is the summer of positivity and I’m not going to allow the bad noises in.
We’ve landed a number of potentially exciting things in Ben White, IF, IF, IF, it happens.
Firstly, pace and athletic profile.
This kid can move at speed, something that is essential if we want to play a high line, something that massively important for a team that is prone to ‘WE NEED RECOVERY PACE’ fuck ups. Bringing a player in that can hold their own against pacey forwards, but also use that movement to break lines with good dribbling is going to be a big bonus for us next season. I think we were already pretty robust against counters, but he’ll add more security.
Mental Alertness
This player is sharp. When Pep G won the league first time with Arteta, I think they recorded the least tackles in the league. Quite something. It felt counterintuitive. Arsenal is building a system where controlling the space is going to be absolutely key to our defensive work. City and Liverpool set up so if you even slightly misplace a pass, their players are there to nick the ball and break at pace. Orbinho on Twitter had a great stat that showed Arsenal ranked 16th for interceptions last season and Ben White ranked 5th in the entire league. This is a player that reads the game well in a positional-based system. Also one that is capable of applying fast pressures. This move feels like the analysts have identified a weakness and found someone that can solve for it.
Flexibility
I love reading the conspiracy theories about what players can possibly do in the Arsenal system. Wenger was the master. He’d bring in a DM and play them at right-back, or turn a winger into a world-class striker. Ben White played 7 games as a DM last season. When he was at Leeds the season he won the Championship, he played 4 games there and was also regularly deployed in that role in their training sessions.
Arsenal fans have had fantasies of a centre-back that push up into midfield since the days of Vermaelen. Manchester City have players that can play both roles. I don’t think it’s beyond the pale to imagine that part of the appeal with White is that he has that ability to offer additional cover. Notable he can also fill in at right-back, so if push came to shove, he could offer inverted cover at some point, though I imagine he’s mainly going to be used as a center-back.
Adaptability
I would imagine a big push on why he’s so appealing comes from the different environments he’s played in. He slipped into the Leeds central defence during their title push and rocked an astonishing 46 games. That proves that he is robust, mentally capable of playing for one of the most demanding managers in the game, and more than capable of playing a highly intensive game if there’s a need. Leeds was so keen on him, they bid three times for him, the final one topping out at £25m.
He then shifted into Graham Potters team, slinked beneath the radar and landed an England call-up. This line from a Brighton journo was interesting.
He has been a consistent presence who has barely put a foot wrong whilst playing more Premier League minutes than any other Brighton player.
His ability to cover multiple positions has proven to be extremely useful and ultimately, he has ended up becoming only the second Albion player ever to go to an international tournament with England after Steve Foster.
Who was our best defender last season? David Luiz. Could you say that he didn’t put a foot wrong? Absolutely not. I’ve seen people say that we need Ben White to come in and blow-up like peak-Cannavaro to represent value. I’d maybe disagree there. We need Ben White to come in and ‘not put a foot wrong’ for a season. We don’t need spectacular, we need someone that can be trusted to stay focused, move the ball at speed with confidence, and not make massive game-changing errors every 5 games.
It’s a huge ask. The pressure will be different. But if you can play for 16th place Brighton and get ‘not a foot wrong’ reviews from fans, that’s a positive.
Center-backs are important
I honestly cannot believe how many fans think that the defensive situation last season was ok (despite the solid numbers)… and worse, how many people come into the comments section here complaining that ball-playing center-backs aren’t a key part of the system we’re trying to play.
You have to look to City if you want to understand the foundations of the vision Arteta is trying to bring to Arsenal. City signed Ruben Dias last season, a centre-back who was player of the year.
This is a write-up about what he offers to City.
Dias is equally important for both the defensive actions and the build-up play. While he shows great composure and anticipation skills in defence, he also shows confidence on the ball and strong work under pressure.
He reads the game well and shows intelligence in his movement and actions. His awareness often allows him to win the ball through his positioning and anticipation skills and his smart pressing movement is often beneficial for the team.
He doesn’t dive into many ground challenges and his concentration helps him to avoid committing fouls. While he doesn’t often dive into risky duels, he does use his physical strength to recover the ball and gain back possession which he could then use to start the team’s offensive movement. As the manager mentioned, he always looks out for his centre-defence partner and supports his actions. He was most frequently paired with John Stones who also saw a huge improvement in his form, partly thanks to the leading figure that Dias is.
What he lacks defensively is a distinguished aerial presence. He is rather successful in the air but simply doesn’t contribute with many efforts which is unlikely for a centre-back. He also sometimes has difficulties defending in transitions against pacey players but does compensate with the right timing of his interventions in the defensive third.
While he is an important part of the defensive set-up, his biggest contribution is to the build-up play and retaining possession. Dias is confident on the ball and helps in circulating the ball at the back and his solid work under pressure is very beneficial against teams that employ a high press.
His passing abilities and spatial awareness are crucial in building up from the back where he often has to find the holding midfielder or the wide players in aim to progress the ball.
Now, I’m not saying we just signed Ruben Dias, but you can draw some pretty clear parallels between our needs and what City wanted. You can also see parallels between the strengths. Ben White is more about space, he’s not aerially dominant, and he’s appealing because he has midfielder levels of passing which will be massive to our often-flawed and sluggish build-up play.
If our centre-backs aren’t supremely confident with the ball, like David Luiz was, then the whole system weakens. We become easy to defend against, there’s more chance of errors in the system, and our attackers have to feed off scraps or attempt to break down deep blocks because it takes us 4 hours to move the ball up the pitch.
Now, our system needs more than a Ben White. The most noticeable loss to our build-up play last season was Emi. We also need a better outlet on the right. But a centre-back that has done it in Potter and Bielsa systems is a pretty decent bet, even if the fee feels pricey.
Graham Potter also talks about the benefits of Ben White in his attacking system.
“You need balance in the team,”
“We’ve got wing-backs in Solly and Tariq whose strengths are more offensive than defensive, so you have got to give somewhere, especially when you are coming to the top teams. It depends on how you want to play, of course, how you want to attack, but Ben gives us a good foundation, a good balance.”
If we bring in a right-back that can do what Tierney does, then again, it makes sense we have someone like White to give protection.
Experience through the spine is needed
The William Saliba narrative is beyond boring at this point. If you take the emotion out of it, which many seem unable to, he’s a 20-year-old defender that has a massive career ahead of him. He’s quick, tall, and superb on the ball. No way he’s not going to develop into something special. There is literally no top manager at a big club in Europe that would take a chance on him in a pivotal season. No one. Not even Wenger dabbled in 20-year-old center-backs and he happily started a 15-year-old Cesc Fabregas. People keep citing Fofana, but neglect to pay attention to the output, which was Leicester conceding 20% more goals than they did the season prior to his inclusion. Will Fofana be an amazing centre-back? Yes. But in the short term, did he move Leicester forward? No. Arteta needs to mitigate risk next season, because one major personnel mistake puts him in the gutter.
The ideal scenario for Saliba would be to see him compete for places with the other centre-backs. But even then, if you took a rational view of the moment, what is better for Arsenal? A few games here and there… or some Premier League minutes in the legs so when he lands, we don’t have to go through the painful adaptation period we did with Partey/Gabriel. Premier League minutes mitigates the risk of Saliba costing us points. If we want top 4, that’s a good thing.
I’m not fussed either way. You don’t have the right to a first-team place because Raul Sanhelli splurged on you. You also cannot be #ArtetaOut because you think he’s a rookie, then seriously suggest that he roll a dice no other top manager would roll this season on an untested player in an absolutely pivotal position.
The player is also going to the Olympics, which isn’t ideal, but it could be a nice get out of jail card for the club. If he blows up there, like Serge Gnabry did before we lost him, then it could be a big statement that he’s ready to compete.
Final point…
Complaining about the extent of our summer after one ‘it’s close’ rumour is so very boring.
Arsenal has money this summer.
There is a will to cycle out players.
There is a desire to bring in exciting names and move us forward with a leap versus a bump.
If we have enough money to go after Ben White for £50m, take that as a positive, because it means there’s a large pot of cash they are working with.
Right, that’s me done. ENJOY UR DAY x
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Rich, actually I hope both their wives and kids give them hell. Selfish, moronic b*stards. Hardly a surprise that serious philanderer supports him either.
Bob N16June 26, 2021 12:02:17
Rich, you really think that aide is a looker. I trust your talent spotting on football but otherwis
One person’s pug is another person’s super model lol
@Bob ” …questions are: Do we have enough money to satisfactorily upgrade on 3/4 other starting positions if we splash this much on a CB upgrade?” I agree if we get the other players we need, sell holding and keep Saliba. I’m all for waiting till Xmas . However Bob the past and current performance ( not giving Mavro or Saliba a chance , missing out on Buendia ) does not fill me with any confidence that Artedu are in any way capable of delivering fully. Hence the concern. The signs aren’t good that after 18mths, the plan is we… Read more »
Defensive coaching is overrated, get ballers in midfield and you are good enough for tr4phy.
Defensive solid has taken us nowhere
Im telling you for free.
“Those that I have labelled as ‘agenda driven …’ are because of the way they try to’cancel’ others with personal attacks, have a strange way of interpreting facts” This coming from the same guy that claims Fofana being present in a worse Leicester defence is bullshit, despite it being an objective fact? Makes sense. Who is trying to cancel anyone? That’s just another pathetic assertion born out of disagreement. Normally it’s a statement about how Arteta worshippers are telling everyone to ‘trust the process’, a phrase that’s literally never used by people on here. Instead there’s a daily dissent and… Read more »
@Charlie “Mark: “Why don’t you try to respond to his points rather than just berating it? Why is it Shit, cos it differs from the Shit you spout on here regularly??“Also Mark 2 mins prior: “Unless you can specify how Fofana impacted those goals then what you and Charlie are saying is BS of the highest order!”” Seems like you’re struggling a bit today Charlie boy. I don’t really understand what point you’re trying to make with the above quotes. To give it some context my 1st quote was a response to Sergei’s no substance to put down of Arsnil… Read more »
England’s best.
I feel the opposite Mikel is pushing really hard for this, the player wants to come, Brighton standing firm. It’s gonna happen and it’ll be very close to £50m and probably exceed that with add one.
Again nothing against the player or improving the squad but having your trousers taken down in public is not a good look. Not fitting for a club of our long ( not recent) history.
Andy As long as their not breaking any laws, our political classes private lives are their own business, not anyone else’s There’s an excellent argument to be made for sacking Hancock for being incompetent, there’s never an argument for sacking anyone for what they do in their personal lives Bob N16 Whether you rate her or not, she’s easily a 7 when you take into account her age, and Hancock would be punching with a 4/10 Jumping 5 grades is the most competent thing Hancock has done since he’s been in office, but the fact he got caught, will come… Read more »
For all the people on here who talk ill of Arsenal, be it the manager, Edu, transfer policy, who we’re not a big club etc etc.
The way the club is run on the inside is amazing, I love all the staff, I love all the players, I love the manager and working with them is an absolute joy. Being happy in life speaks for a lot and I’m happy right now.
KT
Ah but Charlie
“Fofana being present in a worse Leicester defence is bullshit, despite it being an objective fact? Makes sense.”
You didn’t just say he was present. You insinuated it was because of his presence that Leics performed worse!
Which was your (and Pedro’s) rationale for not starting Saliba for us.
Maybe you should change objective to selective!
Rich, sorry but I disagree. Being dishonest is not a trait I want in our ‘leaders’. Nor is being stupid enough to get caught. If the guy is prepared to lie to his entire family do you think there’s the slightest chance he’d be straight with the public? If so you’re very naive.
Rich, interesting how those pictures were acquired. As a married man, social distancing aside, snogging an aide who he’d employed ( an old friend) is not a good look. Hancock is in fact never a good look.
Mark, who doesn’t think a high class, proven manager (e.g. Conte) couldn’t improve us?
If Arteta fails, we’ll try again with a different manager.
As yet we haven’t gone down the Chelsea way of doing things…might need a new owner for that though.
MatB
Yes, but KT is the type who sees snow falling down and thinks this is fucking awesome, I’m gonna go outside and take off my shirt.
You just can’t trust his judgment.
“You didn’t just say he was present. You insinuated it was because of his presence that Leics performed worse!“ No I didn’t at all, I made a point of using the word CONTRIBUTE because it’s ridiculous to lay total blame for a collective aspect at the feet of one player. But by that same token it’s absolute nonsense to claim he was anything but a net positive for them at 19 years old in his debut season. Taking that stance because you want to promote the idea Saliba should’ve been involved for us is nothing but dishonest. That’s the long… Read more »
The Fofana costing Leicester points debate is not only boring by now but laughingly superficial. For example, going just by Leicester’s goals per game allowed with Fofana in the line up vs without, they did concede more with him playing. However, Leicester had a whole bunch of injuries to their starting XI including their entire mid, and without any detailed analysis who was missing and when, as well as taking under consideration how that might’ve effected their performance on any given day is about as thorough an analysis as saying Xhaka is at fault for Arsenal missing out on CL… Read more »
Grealish to City…
Bob, I’ve only seen that on talk sport and they are the trash bin of sports reporting. Most outlets say Villa have rejected or will reject any offer. I hope so, as a kid I was fed up with Liverpool hooving up all the talent in the 70’s, I don’t think that it’s good for the game.
Out of curiosity,is there anyone else interested in Ben White.? If you go for English players in the prem you end up paying the premium.Is that a given?Is it because the so called lesser clubs don’t need the money? Can afford to haggle all day long?Dont want to strengthen there competitors or simply petty rivalry?How often does any top club pick up a top player from a prem rival for a steal?
PP – Short answer appears to be ‘No’.
Mark I doubt that Arteta will be given a lot of money to spend by the Kroenkes. Mostly he will have to sell to buy. And overall he will be looking to reduce the wage bill. In which case he seems unlikely to blow £50 million on White when he has far more pressing needs in midfield. And even more, if Xhaka leaves. Admittedly Arteta’s progress has at times seemed erratic, but with personnel his intentions have been clear from the start: get rid of the overpaid uncommitted elderly, bring in the young and vigorous. He blurred the line with… Read more »
Grealish to City is an interesting one.
I happen to think he was more valuable to Villa then KDB was to City and by that standard alone the league’s MVP.
Now with Grealish playing for City, of that becomes a reality, his entire game might need a rethink to suit their style.
Yes Andy.With regards to Liverpool.I remember that too.Every summer at least one British/ Irish “ Galactico”.Uet talking to the cocky b’ stardust you’d think every single player they had was a home grown youth prospect & they never spent a penny.!
Typo:stardust should read B***ds! 😉
PP, true, the one we missed though was Barnes in the ’80’s, he was a Gooner and wanted to come to us too.
“‘”””Defensive solid has taken us nowhere””” Sid Knows Arsenals defenders in recent years. (£ millions) Mustafi 35 Paulista 10 Saliba 30 Gabriel M 30 Mari 10 Luiz 8 White 50+ Simply bored the pants of all the fans and got us just above midtable. In 14 home fixtures last season, Arteta’ s Arsenal managed just 4 bloody goals. And whats the first thing he does , go out and buy Benjamin White from Brighton H A for £50 million (a team who also renowned for not scoring goals and being dour) And there are still wallies , who think this… Read more »
I respect the fiscal responsibility view presented by the likes of Marc and Andy in regards to Arsenal’s spending vs debt, but personally couldn’t care less about it.
I welcome all big transfer signings that generate excitement and create possibilities of attracting new support as well as reinvigorating the old, I just don’t think Ben White is in that category.
CG knows
Bob there have been no bids for Grealish from city
Andy All politicians lie, or if you’re being kind, you might say they’re using spin and misdirection, or being economical with the truth, they’ll drop their principles in a heartbeat, providing the opinion polls point them in a different direction It’s a bit like our current midfield options, I’d be pick Xhaka because he think he’s better than Elneny, Ceballos + Torreira, and more experienced than Guendouzi Sometimes you don’t get presented with any good options, so you’re left with picking the least worst There’s a South Park episode called the Giant Douche vs the Turd Sandwich, you should watch… Read more »
Rich, no wonder the world is going to shit is it?
At least we have Arsenal to lighten the load…lol
“ if you blow-up at the olympics like Serge G did, makes it more likely you’ll get a chance.“
Remember that Gnabry left Arsenal via Dortmund to Bayern Munich. Happens to DIMWITS who lock the stable only after the horse has bolted. Anyway serves Arteta to get Saliba bee out of his bonnet.
Rich / Andy… steering you gently back to inverted right backs
Sorry Pedro, bored with that. Tell me about that midfield we desperately need to sort out.
Sid
Defending with a bus load of 10 will definitely not get us anywhere , specially since it is a non-negotiable arseholery with a checkerboard for beginners setup that does not make a fast counter unworkable. Our total goal tally says it all, and simply do not blame Auba. He is set up to fail too
Sorry
…….that does not make a fast counter workable
History sheeters
https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/transfer-news/arsenal-transfer-mistake-serge-gnabry-20864785
the word “Premier league-ready” is over emphasized.
Alexis Sanchez moved from Arsenal to Man UTD and what happened?
Danny Drinkwater moved from Leicester to Chelsea what happened?
Torres moved from Liverpool to Chelsea and what happened?
schneiderling moved to Everton and what happened?
whereas Drogba, Essien, Silva, Adebayor, Fofana, Payet, Guendouzi (ligue2), Diop, VVD, KT3 and many more all came from the so-called “inferior” leagues and nailed it here.
Pedro I’ve given up on trying convince people that White played predominantly within a 2.5 metre space of the right touch line last season Even if you present them with conclusive evidence, they still don’t believe it We might well be signing White as a right sided centre back to play in a back 4, but if that is the case? We won’t be signing him because we liked what we seen of him in that position last season, and we’ll be asking him to play an entirely different role Unless of course we decide to split our central defenders… Read more »
Well in Zaco
More shithousery , hopefully click bait…but who knows how the Sauce turns ?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9727785/Aston-Villa-considering-SECOND-bid-Arsenals-Emile-Smith-Rowe-initial-25m-move.html
“The Fofana costing Leicester points debate is not only boring by now but laughingly superficial.“ Only thing laughable is dismissing the more than reasonable suggestion that a teenager isn’t the finished the article and Leicester paid for that in the short term by integrating him from day one. In the unlikely event we buy a 19 year old to be our starting CAM watch the exact same criticisms come forward about him not being ready to deliver what’s needed as of next season. It’s not some special dispensation for Saliba ffs. Maddening that some of the basic rules of football… Read more »
Hurray positive
Tierney signs to stay till 2026 👌👍
We simply have to get it right in the market this summer .So many factors riding on it.No more f** k up guys( whoever is doing the negotiations).If we can end this window well it might,just might go a long way in uniting a lot on Le grove who I know only have Arsenals interest at ❤️ just different views on getting there!
I guess the other way to look at this is whether Daliba or Fofana is more likely to hit the ground running in the Prem next season.
Our year was a complete write off, so did we maximise our opportunities to give our promising future players time in real games?
I work with a few Brighton ST holders as I am based on the South Coast, and one of them in particular is gutted to be losing Ben White, and also thinks that “he can do better than Arsenal” and “he should be going to City or Utd”
I convinced him Ben White can achieve all his ambitions with us!
I hope we’re also considering our lack of leadership on the pitch with our signings?
For me this has been a huge issue for us. Our senior players bring little to the table in this regard.
I know he’s young but does White have leadership qualidees?
He should think about Arsenal as a stepping stone to a top flight club…
Uh — we are a top club ffs
With the Arsenal’s White interest the chances of Saliba playing for Arsenal under Arteta seem to be minuscule to infinitesimal, with White’s signing , a planck length*
* the smallest possible size for anything in the universe ………..or polar opposite of Arteta’s ego then.
We don’t act like one.
Moray Well said regarding saliba and could’ve been integrated last season slowly playing some europa games against the group gash opposition. So if getting him in the side last season at the expense of ironing out a few mistakes can anyone tell me how that would’ve impacted our season ? Remind me how playing him would’ve cost us our title challenge ? Oh wait ! Remind me how it would’ve cost us our top 4 place ? Oh wait ! Remind me how it would’ve cost us our bare minimum of reaching the europa league ? Oh wait Remind how… Read more »
When arteta signed, we were led to believe he is this generational coach who turned sterling into a great winger and scorer of goals, he comes in and all the goals start drying up
Also turns out he is a poor man’s cheque book manager
Gonstrous
Other than arguably xhaka slightly there isn’t a single player who’s progressed under arteta . Not a single one . Saka and ESR are naturally age progression and most of the rest have regressed
‘Poor man’s check book manager’ . Trying to get my head round that pearl of wisdom.
Diet cheque book
Bob
Nothing to get your head around. It’s just irony.
I am obviously biased but really think Saka needs to start on Tuesday against Germany. It’s still amazing how intelligent a player he is for his mere years and I think his excellent decision making will be very valuable against a team such as Germany.
Already got a strong sense of dread ahead of playing the Germans, they are happy to be playing at Wembley and despite their erratic form I will be very pleasantly surprised if England participate in the quarter finals.
“Only thing laughable is dismissing the more than reasonable suggestion that a teenager isn’t the finished the article and Leicester paid for that in the short term by integrating him from day one.“ Charlie, nice try. No one said he was a finished article….ever, so kudos for the straw man argument. As of today no one has presented any evidence he cost them more points than any other Leicester CB , or the CL places. And the closest anyone has even come to the latter was Keown said so so it must be true. But I did like your musings… Read more »
He’s made mistakes of course but that was to be expected
The players we’ve been linked with all look upgrades on what we have
We’ve moved out older, over-paid and yet ineffectual players
We’re signing up our best young players to long-term contracts
There’s even a suggestion that he’s learning from mistakes
Looks to me like we’re heading in the right direction
Sid, Oscar Wilde had nothing on you. You’re the Mae West of Legrove. Priceless!
CC saying that Saliba would have cost us points last season, like Fofana cost points to Leicester, is as stupid as it gets. You realize that we ended up with an 8th place that gives nothing and a failed European campaign. Playing Saliba or not wouldn’t have cost us anything as we didn’t achieve anything. Just the opposite. We gave the minutes to average players like Holding and Mari when we could have been working on the potential partnership of Gabriel and Saliba, on Saliba integrating to the squad instead of being alienated, on having an even better version of… Read more »
Saliba has excellent passing stats and that’s why White is being brought in. Maybe, just maybe if we gave Saliba a chance last season we would have done better offensively as White is going to help us a bit in that department, which I totally agree with.
Thing is, we are about to spend 50m that we could have saved whatsoever if we gave Saliba the chance to show he’s worth it and exactly what Fofana did at Leicester.
DavisLuiz was supposedly our best defender and yet he had a penchant for mistakes that led to conceded goals
Same as Leno, good keep but he was full of gaffes
It’s not only younger defenders that make mistakes
Sid 😂👏
I know that City don’t want to swallow their pride and do a Paul Pogba but 100m for 26 year old Grealish while United are signing 21 year old Jadon Sancho for 77m is interesting to say the least.
I’d argue that Sancho is a better fit than Grealish too.
Already stacked with inverted playmakers with Foden, Mahrez and Bernardo Silva along with De Bruyne in CAM.
City need Haaland or Kane this Summer. Grealish is a great player but it’s somewhat similar to us buying a CB when we need CMs. If City get Haaland (especially) or Kane they will dominate for years. For me their CF is 100% the far more important position to drop a 100m in.
I suspect that Grealish to city will be as impactful as Thiago Alcantara to Liverpool
Both are excellent players but I’m not so sure they add value to their destination teams because there has to be a sea change for them to work.
Everything goes through Grealish at Villa, he won’t have as much of the ball at city.
Wenger Eagle
I think Sancho can be a great success because he will be an exponential upgrade on Anthony Martial.
Surely they have to sell Martial if they buy sancho
I actually likely see Kane staying put, think that Levy won’t budge as he knows how crucial Kane is to them and City aren’t desperate (won’t pay the 125m+ that Levy is looking for) and can look to Haaland as an alternative as you say.
Would be hilarious if he retired at Spurs potless even if Shearer’s record is inevitable.
“No one said he was a finished article….ever, so kudos for the straw man argument. As of today no one has presented any evidence he cost them more points than any other Leicester CB , or the CL places“ I never said that, I said the argument that he wasn’t the finished article was being constantly dismissed as some unreasonable stance. He was a 19 year old CB in his debut campaign in the PL and you’re making an issue over the statement that his immaturity hurt Leicester in the short term. Like I said on the previous page: “Only… Read more »
Let’s hope city get grealish because let’s all at least get realistic and admit city improving doesn’t affect us one iota (we are not challenging for no fucking title ) but it does weaken a direct rival in villa .
Sad as that sounds but that’s the facts and the table backs this up
Dissenter
Interested to see what happens with Martial all right, looked like he had turned a corner with a very good 2019-20 season but he has regressed this season back to being very inconsistent.
Still feel that he has incredible talent and would thrive in the right environment, wouldn’t quite go as far to want him here as he would cost a fortune and gives us more of a another problem than a solution in the balance of the front 3.
He needs to play through the middle like he did before Cavani arrived.
Wenger Egle ”””””I know that City don’t want to swallow their pride and do a Paul Pogba but 100m for 26 year old Grealish while United are signing 21 year old Jadon Sancho for 77m is interesting to say the least.”””””’ Different game post Covid. Shrewd clubs need the latest attacking superstars to get the punters back into their grounds. eg Grealish, Sancho, Lukaku, Haaland. And they all need to sell their tacky kits with these names on the back of them. I can’t see too many takers with ‘Benjamin White’ on the back of theirs.( although I think Bob… Read more »
Heard the rumor of our very own Donyell being courted by Liverpool? It’s on Liverpool’s dot com although it’s not confirmed by the club. Malen fits Klopp’s style to perfection. At £34m the supposed asking price that PSV is looking for him, we could be looking at another Salah, Mane bargain deal. How do other managers have clear profile of players that they want – you look at Malen and he’s a Klopp player alright- pace, pressing, power, work rate. You look at Grealish and it reminds you of Iniesta possession type of play – highly comfortable on the ball,… Read more »
Wenger Eagle
Martial should try to join PSG. He won’t be the main man and he can pad his stats.
CC whenever I watched Fofana last season, I thought he looked a decent CB. Given it was his debut season in the PL, I thought he did well. I imagine Leicester fans are very happy to see him in their line up. I don’t think Saliba would have fared much differently if he’d been given the same opportunities. Suggesting Leicester’s defensive record, goals conceded, is a clear indicator of Fofana’s contribution last season is in my mind, limited in value. You have to consider injuries, depth of squad, defensive midfielders, commitment to attack etc. If your team is set up… Read more »
Clueless Git
Raptora, Klopp signed Alcantara last season, was that a power and pace move?
It’s obvious that Rodgers thought Fofana wasn’t handicapping their defence all that much, as he played him in every single game but when he was injured.
Pedro, And we saw how that transfer turned out. Thiago has looked out of place all season long. But Klopp already has a base. His team is complete, although not deep enough, and of course it needs some new names as Gini is gone now. What am I saying is that he maybe wanted to add another layer to his team, have that plan B. To help them break teams that defend deep. It makes sense in theory. But we don’t have a plan A. How do you bid for Buendia when your #1 priority is Odegaard? If you want… Read more »
Bob Of course it’s limited value, but it’s not the entirety of any debate about Fofana and never has been. We could’ve integrated Saliba or not, I understand the value and mentality in both decisions and have no issue with the fact we loaned him out vs keeping him. Trouble is there’s some fans who managed to use that decision as means of losing their shit as per, neatly wrapping it up in the narrative that ‘if Fofana can play for Leicester then Saliba should for Arsenal’. Fofana had a good season all things considered, but those things are that… Read more »
Was Luiz our best defender last year? He may have given some of the best individual performances but is that the same thing? For me, Holding was out best central defender as he very rarely played at all badly, and no one was particularly better. Same goes for people saying Xhaka had a good season – he had some good games, as he usually does, but where’s the consistency? He was nowhere for over half of it. Anyway, if Ben White can perform *consistently* to something remotely like Dias or Luiz at his best, great, it will improve us. As… Read more »
Now Perez is saying they have too many players and might have to send some on loan again… so Ode might be back on?
We can’t have held Luiz in that much esteem last summer, if you recall it wasn’t clear for a long time if we’d extend or let him go. Remember his ‘performance’ against City less than two weeks before his contract expired? Which he blamed on uncertainty over his contract.
“Now you’re demanding a microanalysis of each moment Fofana cost Leicester this season vs actually accepting the view a fucking teenage defender had a learning curve to address coming into a new league. It’s pathetic.“ Here you go again with the teenage defender learning curve straw man argument. Get over it, my argument has always been that if you think Fofana cost them the points( which he undoubtedly did) , show me the data that proves he cost them more than their other players, I watch more PL matches than most on here ,since I don’t follow any other leagues,… Read more »
How can Fofana have cost Leicester anything when they did better this season overall than last?
Raptora, there are many ways to skin a cat in this Arsenal system. Odegaard would have been an excellent signing, he’s a great leader behind the scenes, he moves the ball between the lines well, and I think the way he pulled the strings at Brighton was a taster of where he could have taken our football Buendia is far more all-action chance creator and goal-scorer. Less control, but more of an instigator. I don’t understand how you can’t see the profile of player we’re looking at. Tapsoda and White. 2 seasons of experience, athletic, good at dribbling, priority on… Read more »
Why is it Luiz Vs Saliba and not Holding and Mari Vs Saliba? https://breakingthelines.com/player-analysis/player-analysis-william-saliba/ This shows his heat map. He can play in both sides of the defence. Holding isn’t a magnificent player by any stretch but we managed to stop leaking goals after Christmas. Maybe Saliba would have played better than him when you add his by far superior passing and pace. No one knows. What is certain is that we didn’t give him a chance and now we drop 50m on a player that we could have potentially saved. And you keep talking about Fofana not being as… Read more »
New post!
CC, hindsight is a wonderful thing. We’ll never know how Saliba would have got on last season. Concerned how other young players full of potential would view Saliba’s handling but as you rightly say, it’s much easier to give young, attacking players minutes than CBs.
From what I’ve seen of Saliba, he looks like he could have a brilliant career. Just hope some of that is with Arsenal but wonder if it’ll happen.
Guns, wouldn’t be surprised to see Ode back on loan. We never learn, it’s just kicking the can down the road for another season and developing a player for RM. See Ceballos, all in all a waste of time.
Onto the Euros, I’m torn a bit, on one hand I still have a soft spot for Ramsey and Wales, but on the other if the Danes go out at this stage who’s gonna remind me ten times a broadcast about the fragility of human life because a player had a cardiac arrest?
Not like we are still in the midst of a once a century world wide pandemic that’s taken millions of lives and continues to kill hundreds or thousands daily still.
Tom Only you deem a teenage learning curve a straw man argument. I don’t need to breakdown to the minute who was culpable and where in Leicester’s defence to make a comment that a teenager was bringing bundles of inexperience, inconsistency, and less overall ability than coveted player ten years his senior. It’s an observation that applies to any teenager across world football. As far as deciding what cost Leicester CL, that’s an outcome with multiple influences and it’s never been claimed otherwise. You obviously have a particular affinity for Leicester seeing as you were cheerleading the ‘Brenda didn’t bottle… Read more »
No one has a problem with the player. This is just a bad deal. We’re massively over paying.
Pedro if this signing goes to sh*t you’ll be the first person having a go at Edu for wasting money.
why is no other big club willing to pay this figure?? ask yourself that. Terrible deal.
The funny thing with the argument against Fofana is the fact that according to reports Leicester have better stats with him in the team than without him. Also if a player has to be substituted following an injury, it is a little unfair to add the goals scored after his departure in that game to his debit column. Reports seems to suggest that Söyüncü has had a poor season. The game against Newcastle is a clear example. He was at fault for many of the goals they conceded on the day. I think that he and Fofana are not a… Read more »
Good piece. Managers tend to live and die on results and big signings. Arteta wont get everything right but i still think given time and resources he will do a very good job. He came in and the whole place needed a rebuild, He inherited a very poor and unbalanced squad that apart from the odd youthful exception had bang average Defenders, mediocre Midfielders and strikers past their peak. It was a massive task and would test even the most experienced manager. Unfortunately Rome wasnt built in a day. It will take a number of transfer windows to get a… Read more »
“But I’m to believe that kid learning the game played no part in Leicester having the worst defence in the top 8 last season, and their poor record can be explained by everything but Fofana.”
Isn’t Ben White a kid also learning the game?
If we conceded more goals next season, can we blame Ben White for it?
The funny thing with the argument against Fofana is the fact that according to reports Leicester have better stats with him in the team than without him. Valentin CC and Pedro are basically on the everything Arteta wants is gold bandwagon. I posted the stat of Fofana and Ben White two days ago and Fofana’s was way better. Anyone without an agenda knows just a change of formation can lead to either a better or worse defense. Anyone without an agenda knows that injuries to key personnel will change the fortunes of a team. When Ben White makes a mistake… Read more »