FOUR STANDOUT PERFORMERS AGAINST WATFORD

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Arsenal smashed Watford 4-1 in a fairly simple outing.

The intensity of the game certainly wasn’t at Premier League level and Watford really looked a bit sad at times… but you can only play what is put in front of you and as afternoon’s go, it was pretty decent.

I won’t deep-dive the game too hard, but there were some standouts.

Sambi Lokonga: The 21-year-old looks very sharp. He picked up where he left off in the last game and took control in midfield. He seems like quite a big personality, loads of swagger on the pitch, he looks like he belongs. He also answers a very clear problem, namely, we are very slow at transitioning the ball forward. He brings all the control of Xhaka, but he does everything a little faster and with more ambition. I really like how he sits outside the edge of the opposition box and connects with runners. The one-touch passing is a delight as well. Very promising, he’ll be an important player quicker than we thought.

Eddie Nkeitiah: I’ve been quite critical of Eddie. He’s been a great finisher, but outside that, he can be anonymous in games in terms of contribution to the overall play. Out on the left, he showed that he has a lot of really positive attributes. He ran at the Watford backline, he pressed when needed, and he showed up with a great goal, cutting in and curling a shot into the far corner. I suspect he’ll be sold, I just wish he’d gone out on loan last season. That’s up to the player though, he chose to stay like Reiss and wasted a year of development.

Thomas Partey: He’s the boss in that midfield now. He showed off his range of passing and vision. He looked fit. He looked like the big boy in the playground who has decided based off zero evidence he’s peak-Juninho with long-range shooting and freekicks. This season, he’ll know the league, he’ll be acclimated, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to bang hard.

Nicolas Pepe: You know what goes nicely with a cup of Nico? A splash of ESR. The two look fantastic together. The backend of last season seems to have given Nico a lot of confidence. He had a lot of sauce to his game today. His movement was good, he used his power and pace well, and he showed that he’ll be a force in the G/A hunt this season. This is the big year for him, he needs to impose himself and make it happen.

Concerns? 

I really struggle with the idea that we’re going to roll another year with Mo Elneny. He seems like a beautiful human, but the football really isn’t up to much. Azeez, who scored a screamer, looks much more the part, and he seems to have built out athletically as well. We are an injury away from a stagnant midfield again next season and that is frightening.

I’m also a little worried about our strikers. Lacazette, right now, is our best option by a margin. Auba looks happier, but he’s not quite there on the pitch. It could be a bit of self-preservation, but the lack of sharpness is concerning. We’re creating a look of good movement and energy upfront, but it’s not converting with our strikers. That needs to be addressed this coming season.

Things to feel good about?

The squad is starting to play a bit more like an Arsenal team. The passing was accurate and fast, the combinations in the final third are much more interesting, we look far more fluid all over the pitch. We’re moving out of that overly choreographed feel into something more silky and cognitive. Part of that is the coaching settling in, the other part is just having a squad that feels more fit for purpose. Having two centre midfielders that can break the lines at speed gets the ball to our attackers fast. Having ESR and Pepe connecting with each other because their comms has improved whets the appetite. There’s still plenty to go, but things are going to be better next season.

I keep reading people say that our starting 11 is the same as last season. Sure, I get that, but it’s not the same starting 11 it was at the start of last season. The squad that’ll start this season will be the group of players that racked up top 4 form for 60% of the season. That alone is not enough, but we’re infinitely better off now than we were last summer, which is great news.

We’ll be announcing Ben White before this weekend… so you’ll have the Lokonga effect in defence, which again gives us more options.

We’ll have to make a move on Odegaard or Maddison pretty sharpish, that’ll add more sharpness and end product to our attack.

We might move on Tammy Abraham or… Lautaro Martinez (lol), which would give us more energy and aggression in a frontline that’s a touch soft.

I suspect there will be a replacement for Xhaka who has to be moving.

This summer could be a really good one. Next season is going to be different, that much I’m sure of.

Right, catch our latest podcast. We talk about ‘B-list’ England players, Sambi Lokonga, and debate Madders vs Odegaard.

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WengerEagle

Lautaro Martinez isn’t fit to lace young Aguero’s boots.

CG

Dissenter

”””There’s nothing wrong with admitting that we are overpaying for White.”””’

Crikey, no wonder BHA have ‘American Express ‘ sponsored on their shirts.

BacaryisGod

Dissenter-Pedro already linked to a clip of Bielsa saying they offered 30m for White but that’s not the main issue here. Most of us agree that last season was a massive disappointment. We missed all European competitions (even when UEFA added a new one) and losing to Emery was the tomato sauce flavoured crisps on a Spinal Tap s*it sandwich. We’ve all gone back and forth regarding the uptick since Christmas but no-one here thinks 8th or an Emery loss was acceptable. But here’s the good news. Because of no Europe and the crippling Covid revenue impact, I fully expected… Read more »

China1

Divine true it’s not whites fault but his success as a signing will be based on to what extent he is value for his fee

Just like xhaka. If he was some 12m player I don’t think any of us would mind him being flawed

Tom

I’m a car enthusiast and I also watch more PL than anyone I know, and I’m here to tell you Pedro’s Leeds supporting uncle has no clue about cars or football when he says White is a RR of a defender.

Rio Ferdinand was one and VVD is another , and that’s about it for the last 2 decades for RR defenders in the PL.

Arsenal didn’t pay RR money for White anyways so how about we settle for a Mercedes Benz performance from him if we can get them.

PhD2020

£41 million + add ons for Varane from Real Madrid to Manure vs £50 million Ben White from BHA to Arsenal?

Go figure…

And we’re meant to be championing the Borussia Dortmund model??

Go figure….

TR7

‘White is a RR of a defender.’

Rolls Royce of a defender and yet no other club except Arsenal interested in him.

WengerEagle

West Ham are signing Areola on a loan to buy deal down the line from PSG.

I mean, would that not have been a smarter option than paying 25m for Ramsdale?

China1

Taking the car analogy, I really like the latest BMW 5 series,. Not sure exactly what it costs currently but needless to say if I paid £120k for it no amount of it being a really nice car would make up for the fact that this is not value for money

Tom

I’ll say this much for White though , he is an athlete………..that Rashford clip most fans were deriding him for …….not necessarily a text book defending, but Rashford in the open field is as quick as any player in the world and White matched him for pace.

curse

TR7

“Laturo is not a good striker”

Can’t agree or disagree, haven’t watched him enough. first video I saw he looked very underwhelming, certainly not a 77m pound striker. But I dug for a while, analysed a bit and at 23 he has elite attributes.
His ball control, retention, speed of thought, awareness, being in the right place at the right time, heading ability for a small guy, work rate and versatility is top notch.
If diet Pep’ preferred CF is in the Kun mold I can see why this guy might get the nod.

China1

Varane’s list of trophies is unreal

10 years, 18 trophies I think. Including 4 CLs… also a World Cup winner

Dissenter

Wenger eagle
I saw that Areola deal and wondered the same but the genuises at Colney are looking at metadata you have no access
You also wonder why are the so consumed about signing a 23 yr old keeper.

27-28 is the sweet spot for goal keepers, unless they are like Donarrumma. That’s when they get matured.
We should be signing a mature/experienced goalie to help the young defenders we are cumulating.

PhD2020

Excuse me for being a cynic-Weren’t we building a young albeit British project under an experienced manager in Arsene back in 2012,with the extended signings of: Ramsey Ox Gibbs Wilshere Walcott Look where that got us?Though Pierre will add some FAC’s as justification. At least, then,we were in the CL competitions.Albeit making up the numbers to be bounced out during the knock out rounds. Now,outside of top 6-finishing in 8th for two consecutive seasons and with no European competition, if it’s true we are hedging our bets on the following: -Ben White -Ramsdale -Tammy Abrahams What are the odds we… Read more »

Dissenter

Tom,
Matched him for pace…sliding on his arse?

China1

He’s only 28 as well… at cb he’s got 5 more years at the top

WengerEagle

Curse

Martinez’s passing numbers are horrendous for an elite ST, he’s way down in the 60s % wise. Also only passes <15 times per game.

Pep would dry heave simply looking at those numbers.

TR7

Curse

Have watched Lautaro a little bit. On his day which by the way are few and far between he is very good. But when he is off his game he goes completely missing. Not consistent and capable enough to lead an attack week in week out. He is a decent support striker. Watched him in Copa, he looked very ordinary even though he scored a couple of goals.

Tom

Dissenter, Do you know how difficult it is to go up and down twice in such a short amount of time? That in itself is a skill.
Ok, I’m grasping at straws a bit here maybe, but I’m telling you, he’s an athlete.
Holding only goes down once…………..I’ve heard rumors.

WengerEagle

Tevez and Aguero were both far superior STs to Lautaro.

Also Higuain.

peanuts&monkeys

Everytime i read Lee grove blogs, i get more and more convinced Arsenal is set for a treble this season .

CJ

Some keepers look alright in a dogshit team, where they’re facing 20 shots a game.

Leno under Mr. Good Evening, Richard Wright at Ipswich, Mignolet at Sunderland, Johnstone at West Brom last season.

Whereas this lad still looked absolutely crap at both Bournemouth and Sheffield.

Dissenter

Tom
I’ll take a slower defender who anticipates better and knows when to stay on his feet. Sliding all over the place is asking for contact that will lead to penalties. White was lucky that wasn’t Martial he faced up to there.

I agree that coming back from a bum position for quickly is a measure of athleticism and competitiveness.

Good managers will tell him to stay on his feet, just goes to show that we are paying for raw tapioca.

Steveyg87

Those getting their panties in a twist over the potential Ramsdale deal, which I believe will be in the region of around 25 mill, need to take a look at what’s happening at the club. We are making a concerted effort to get ball players in. Leno can’t play from the back, let me rephrase that. He sucks with the ball at his feet, he is a decent shot stopper point. If Arteta hasn’t identified this yet then I have no hope for this season

WengerEagle

Steveyg87

What makes you think that Ramsdale is good with his feet?

Crabregas

People making judgements about one clip…oh dear.

I suppose it probably is the first and only time some people have seen him play so it’s no surprise.

DivineSherlock

China

I think mainly because its a defender we are really gonna microanalyse him to the point where one backward pass to Leno will be derided , looking past the valuation I dont think there is anyone more highly rated English defender in PL . Lets not forget City paid the same amount for John Stones. It took Stones 3 years to look world class at City.

Crabregas

Plus Sol Campbell and John Terry were pretty good defenders who used to love a slide. I suppose they stayed raw tapioca as they never learned

DivineSherlock

*young English defender

PhD2020

And let’s be honest-how much money would Artedu have had ,if not Arteta spent to get us out of Europe and back into Europe, in his time here-over 20 months?

-Tavares-£8 million
-Lokonga-£16 million
-Partey-£45 million
-Gabriel-£23.4 million
-Mari-£4.5 million
-Runnarson-£1.8 million
-Soares-£5.4 million
-White-£50 million

That’s almost £150 million + under Arteta& Artedu,being out of Europe and being in 8th place x2 , without accounting for potentially Ramsdale(£25 million) & T.A.(£40 million),which would take our transfer spend to over £210+ million in his time here .

Are Artedu the guys,to really deliver the process?

Sid

White bouncing on his behind that fast only proves his glutes are elastic like jelly

CJ

“How many 21yr old deep lying midfielders are playing consistency at Chelsea, Liverpool, United or City this season?” If a player is good enough, a coach should play them. I really don’t care if our first XI is filled with U-23’s question is are they capable? I would rather Saliba got Mari, Holding’s and Luiz minutes last season the moment it the season was done as a contest. Rather have Saliba make David Luiz’s mistakes. Same thing for Lokonga vs whatever senior midfielder that will start ahead of him. Nelson should have been the one starting/getting subbed on in games… Read more »

Vintage Gun

Ben White is a very good footballer. A player who’s career trajectory has ben on the up and up since his debut. Newport , 51 apps, (42 in L2) Peterborough , 16 apps (15 in L1) half season loan Leeds, 49 apps (46 in C’ship) Brighton 39 apps (36 in PL) In four years he’s gone from a teenage rookie in L2 to a full international and a transfer to Arsenal as a starting CB with EVERY manager he has worked with saying that they tried to keep him. So to hear people talk like he’s rubbish is laughable when… Read more »

CJ

Will rather have a team of Saka, Martinelli, ESR, Saliba, Lokonga, Gabriel, Balogun, Azeez, White than watch any more of Xhaka, Willian, Lacazette, Mari, Cedric, Bellerin stinking the place up. I repeat Saliba won’t have made the amount of mistakes Luiz made last season. What was the upside to Luiz? He was important to how we played?? There was no difference to our play or results whether Luiz was on or off. Absolutely none. This is one of the internet things that gets spoken of a lot times it starts resembling the truth.

Rich

CJ Bissouma signed in the summer of 2018 for the 2018/19 season So at the end of the 2019/20 season, he’d been there 2 seasons, it was only towards the end of that season he started finding consistency Luiz + Xhaka will make mistakes, but they have the experience to deal with those mistakes When young players make mistakes it can really effect their confidence, and they often need a period of of the team Case in point Gabriel last season, he started well, then made some mistakes, and needed a period out of the team before coming back He… Read more »

curse

WE

Not sure anyone would class him as an elite striker and the passing stats for me need more context. Maybe he can’t pass for shit or maybe his role/system contributes to that?

TR7

I’ve read a few people echo the same, the first video I watched he came across as inconsistent. I’m not sold on him by any means but at 23 with some coaching who knows. We might be ok this season at CF but that’s if we’re lucky. I’d rather they try to sort out this elephant asap.

Mb

Anyone who think Ben White is crap because Radhford owned him, would probably also believe Ngolo Kante is sh*t because a 19 year old Martinelli owned him.

It was brilliance of Rashford, doesn’t make White any inferior.

He could be decent, could turn out to be a world class at Arsenal.

Only concern should be that price tag!

Mb

And if a manager wants a defender, overpays for him, priorities it over the midfield need we have, I’m all IN but without compromising on the Champions League qualification.

No shifting of goal post, no ‘post Christmas’ table, not even those pretty graphs and numbers; a top 4 for this season must be the bare minimum.

WengerEagle

Curse I am with TR7, the guy is definitely gifted and on his day is a very good ST but he’s not consistent enough for me to warrant paying through the nose for and if he is having a stinker in front of goal, he doesn’t contribute enough in other areas. There’s a real shortage of top class ST prospects coming through, most of the top ones around Europe in Messi, Ronaldo, Lewandowski, Benzema, Suarez, Kane, Lukaku, Gerard Moreno, Immobile are all 28+ with the vast majority of them 33+. Obvious top end exceptions being Haaland and Mbappe and a… Read more »