The plan for Arsenal next season seems to be shaping up and I think we’re going to see some forceful shifts in how we play.

Two things stand out from some of our style last season:

1. We’re very buttoned-up structurally, everything was very orderly, everyone knew where to be, there weren’t gaping holes in our setup that were easily brutalized like they were under Unai Emery.
2. Sometimes that structure can make us a little robotic and overstructured
3. We came back from going behind in 1 game last season, part of that will be experience, part of that will be down to having no striker, part of that will be that we didn’t have enough flair or BANG BANG in the squad

Mikel Arteta seems to be shifting the side towards a single pivot midfielder. At the moment, that looks like we’re be rolling with Big Mo, Sambi Lokonga, and Thomas Partey there. We’re going full on City here.

It looks like he’s going to counter some of the concerns about exposing our defence by creating one of the most youthful and brutal attacking forces in the Premier League.

We’ve leaned heavy into seek-and-destroy players.

Gabriel Jesus has 76 goal contributions from 99 games, he’s explosive in attack, he can make something from nothing, and he’s a league-winning difference-maker. He’s signing his deal today and having his pictures taken. He’s in, this is huge, 6 other clubs compete for his signature. Do you think we’d be signing him if Arteta didn’t spend time with him for 3 years at City? No chance. He’s coming to Arsenal because he likes the coaching and he knows he’ll fit the vision.

Fabio Vieira gives you total control of the ball, his footballing intelligence is off the scale, and he can pick a lock with something ridiculous in the same way Mesut Ozil could. Again, one of the best producers of end-product last season, with the least minutes.

All the reports seem to be indicating that Raphinha is close to Arsenal because we’re basically the only option left with Barca having no money and Spurs being the least attractive club in the world. This is a player that is direct, incredibly aggressive, as well as being loaded with flair for a final ball, PLUS, he has the guts to score goals.

We tied Eddie down to a long-term deal, he’s explosive, he’s added Lacazette connective play to his game, his movement is sharp, and he is all about end product. Eddie will always, always finish.

Then look at our defence. We’re moving hard on Lisandro Martinez. This is a lock-picker from deep, this is someone that can connect attack and defence like a regista, he will form part of our build-up play and offer us variety from deep.

You put a Tielemans into the mixer and you have our version of Thiago. Elite setpieces, accurate diagonal balls, and a better final pass than Granit Xhaka can offer. He also scores goals.

This new Arsenal team is NOT about power, it’s about control, delivery, and goals. All the players are going to be hard pressing, all are going to be comfortable moving the ball around, every single player has extreme levels of football IQ, and now we’re going to add some locomotion to the goal count.

Arteta isn’t relying on individuals like Spurs will have to. He’s building a machine in which every component piece is finely tuned to the system. You won’t be able to man-mark Arsenal out of game next season because everyone is a threat. You won’t be able to press us out of a 90 like Newcastle did because we have press-resistant players that can find agents of punishment in the forward line.

Arsenal will have a deep squad of players that have swiss army knife elements to their game. There’s balance, but also a huge variety of tactical options available for any situation.

Deepblock? We have pickpockets.

High press? We’ll destroy your players with our fast frontline players.

Thug battles? We have big characters that can ride that bullshit.

This could be a team that runs teams so hard and punishes so quickly… teams are beaten before kickoff.

If this Arsenal side delivers a good August, who knows what we can do this season, but we should be looking at dethroning Chelsea in 3rd place.

We need to use this season as a platform to make a charge at the top 2 next season.

The Europa League campaign needs to be seen as an opportunity for the fringe players to ask questions of the first team. I want to see Charlie Patino, all ripped and fit, dominating that competition. I want to see Big Mo, Omari Hutchinson, Flores, Matt Turner, and William Saliba absolutely dominating proceedings.

Next season can’t be about 14 players, it needs to be about 20 players all giving it their best and stepping up when called upon.

This transfer window is fucking wild.

It’s the one we thought Newcastle in their green and white shirts were going to have.

This is how big clubs operate when they know who they are, what the vision is, who is accountable for executing it.

… and just think, this time last year, we were debating if Aston Villa were a better prospect for Emi Buendia than Arsenal?

Emi Martinez my man, what did you do to your friend?

Ok, that’s all I have today. Get into the latest Patreon where Johnny gives his FINAL views on his top 25 players.

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