Well happy damn FriYAY to you all.
There’s been a weird debate going on in some of the sports media that needs to go juvenile to make money in 2022. I am juvenile, so I’ll lean right into the ‘GABI VS RICHARLISON’ argument.
- Spurs chased down Gabriel Jesus first. There isn’t a world where an elite club would do anything different. Attitude, technique, output, winnertivity… Gabi J has it all.
- The goals comparison is ridiculous, Richarlison starts all the games, Gabi does not.
- Richarlison’ Premier League record is a goal every 290 minutes
- Gabriel Jesus’ Premier League record is a goal every 160
- Minutes-wise, Richarlison has clocked 4672 more than Gabi (that’s 51 more 90 minutes). In that time Jesus, someone who isn’t a prolific starter of games, has 10 more goals and 14 more assists.
- Arsenal bought a serial winner for £45m, probably lower, because the selling club leaks. Spurs purchased a sulker for £60m that was part of the worst Everton side we’ve seen in years.
Arsenal has the better deal here.
I’m gonna go out on a limb. If Eddie Nketiah can score the same amount of goals as Richarlison in a season when he was largely ignored, I’m gonna predict he scores more than Richarlison next season.
£60m and the best defence of him I’m getting is ‘there’s a good player in there’… mate, there was a good player in Jermaine Pennant when he wasn’t vomiting on himself at training.
I’m honestly living in a parallel universe when I have Spurs fan in my mentions purring over Perisic, Forster, Bissouma (cleared of sexual assault, yay!), and a £60m forward that doesn’t really score goals.
Arsenal said goodbye to Matteo G. Good riddance. I’m just a bit gutted we gave him away for such a pitiful fee. He’s really been transformed under the guidance of a macho manager in Sampaoli. I wonder what would happen if that manager left?
… too late. He’s out the door. Utterly furious that Marseille didn’t sign Saliba. Now, that tells you something… maybe Matteo was kept in check by a manager who as a bigger nutter than him. We’ll see. Either way, amusing that William Saliba is so good, managers end their own careers over him.
Things feel slow elsewhere, but you always have to remember, that’s because you don’t know what’s going on… it’s not real.
Gabriel Jesus is done, it doesn’t matter where the announcement is, the content team takes care of that.
The Raphinha deal might be frustrating, but he’s not moved to anyone yet, and it sounds like a crazy deal by any standards.
Martinez was always going to be complicated because Ajax don’t want to sell him.
Getting angry at transfers on the internet is the oddest of quirks, but we all do it. Arsenal are clearly making moves, there’s clearly investment, we’ll win some, we’ll lose some, but make no mistake… we’ll end the summer in great shape.
Right, short one today, but while you wait, check out our podcast we recorded for Patreon on Wednesday. We’ll be releasing these after two day because they are news related.
We discuss Gabi J, Raphinha and if we’re that bothered, we talk Martinez, and Johnny weighs in on standards merchants.
Sign up to our Patreon FIRST. Then watch the content and deeply regret the purchase after.
I’ve said it before but the Wig loving freaks need their own thread and preferably different site .
Call it Arsenal supporters for Conte. They can push pamphlets outside the Emirates and adopt some sort of group uniforms ( orange robes or such like )
Domi B really does need to piss off he’s a disgrace
Graham62
It’s like making the perfect Christmas pud: a mix of all the right ingredients
Richarlson is a Brazilian Danny Welbeck, a 100% trier who will have his moments but will inevitably let you down due to a flawed technique.
There certainly are C*nte and Spud obsessives on here but they’re not necessarily the ones that you might think.
Pierre not too far from the truth with the exception that Richarlison is not made of glass and is also not a team player unlike Welbz.
Nigel
He came to Arsenal because he wanted to play for Arteta.
Jesus told you that did he?
I lost all respect I had for the guy, and find this blog irrelevant. Actually, we all should stop visiting for that reason and show that it’s irrelevant now
Don’t let the door hit you on the ass.
CaliGooner
Are you talking about Pedro?
Josh, offer Serge what he wants. He loves The Arsenal. Serge has the Right Stuff!
A quick calculation of goals scored during welbeck’s and Richarlison’s premier league history .
Richarlson , a goal every 288 mins in the premier league
Welbeck , a goal every 269 mins in the premier league.
gnarleygeorge9July 1, 2022 23:21:03
Josh, offer Serge what he wants. He loves The Arsenal. Serge has the Right Stuff
Yeah gimme gimme gimme
For the one’s who think that Jesus has better stats because he plays/played for better teams, there is a reason he plays for better teams ……he’s a better player, even Welbeck played for better teams than Richarlison because he is/was a better player.
Pierre is correct of course jesus is the better player
Mr S
😂
No I’m talking about the dildo that posts on a blog to badmouth a blog which is basically the most pointless thing to do.
Cor DUIFG
glad to hear you aboard
Such an asset to the arsenal community
Cali
Nice try mate
What’s irrelevant is a Californian trying to convince a bunch of Londoners to stop discussing their club
Sit down and silence yourself lad
Yet again the comments is loaded with misery
Mostly seems to be yanks.
Whatever
Can’t say the needle hasn’t moved
We ahev a couple premier league goal scorers in the ranks
We didn’t last season
Move the needle?
What the hell? Ok Un you win. A guy tells everyone to stop reading the blog and I tell him don’t let the door hit him on the ass on the way out and I’m a bad guy cuz I’m from California? That makes perfect sense.
On the topic Jesus is better at richarlison at everything except heading the ball, diving and having a bad attitude.
Just read a Daily Mail article for what that’s worth comparing , Richarlison vs Jesus
They reckon Jesus is the better player, but Richarlison is better at drawing fouls, well, he’s gone to the right team then, at the business end of the season, the refs were lining up to give Tottenham soft penalties, as they have done for some time.
Un
Cali was quoting Domi b, he wasn’t telling anyone to stop reading..
Graham 62
“He came to Arsenal because he wanted to play for Arteta.Jesus told you that did he?”
No, he chose Arsenal because he DOESN’T want to play for Arteta.
Are you happy now? Does that suit your misery better?
See how the agenda that posters that aren’t happy with Arteta always trash each of his decision doesn’t hold up.
Me, Pierre, WE, Samesong, Marko, Thierry Martinelli, Batistuta,, TR7, Freddie L, China, Goober, Ishola, dunno what Carts position on Arteta is but let’s include him here too, List is long. Correct me if I’m wrong but all of the posters mentioned think we can do better than Arteta but are happy with Arteta and Edu signing Jesus. Whoever says that certain posters thrash everything that the current regime does is fake.
Ben Jacobs
@JacobsBen
· 6h
If Arsenal reach an agreement with Leicester, told Tielemans will sign. But for now, #AFC haven’t decided on him. The genuine interest from #MUFC may force Edu to make a decision quicker than expected, especially if ten Hag pitch proves appealing.
AFC, from last post. I liked your run down of lisandro/cancelo. I agree totally. But I think the only person who said lisandro at CB was Un. Everyone else is more of the thought that he will be that versatile FB, that makes his way into midfield the more we have possession and are on the front foot. And it’s not just pep and cancelo, Klopp and TAA are essentially the same. Playmaker from RB or LB. Albeit taa plays more like a winger than a deep lying midfielder, but the premise of hugely versatile is still valid. We even… Read more »
Pedro Utterly furious that Marseille didn’t sign Saliba. Now, that tells you something… Huh, what makes you think they didn’t try. They wanted saliba to stay. If the parent club says no, what are you gonna do? Over pay ?? Its ironic how, if arteta was paying 15m for saliba rather than getting him back on a free the tune would be very different from Pedro. Then he’ll be creaming his pants posting stats of saliba and trying to justify his signings. Pedros opinion these days are made from the the direction artetas farts are flying in. You’ll see Pedro… Read more »
I concur with someone who posted earlier about Artetas struggling with rotation. I’ve said it before here.
I’m backing Artetas project and all he’s trying to do, but I have valid concerns about some tendencies.
5 subs and a bigger squad, he needs to rotate much more like Pep than like Wenger.
It’s also possible to like someone and criticise fairly.
Don’t blame Un. Making sense of words was never his strong suit. It also wouldn’t be very much like him to let facts or reality stop him from putting his xenophobia in the spotlight, proud of it as he is.
How’s that digestive system of yours doing Un? Still bleeding from your ass now and then?
Surprise no one talking about Neto at Wolves. Now that boy can play and still 22.
As for Martinelli, just watch Renaldo and compare his number when he was 20 at Untied and it will hit you on the face hard, even if your football knowledge crap, we’ve in our hands in Martinelli especially talent with ESR and Saka.
Welbeck is not a better player than richarlison lol
Welbeck was really really off the pace at this level.
Rich Atkinson is well overrated too – but that’s like saying bentdner was better too just because he played for us and Juve. He wasn’t.
Re Jesus coming to the club to play for arteta I dunno if Jesus had commented this anywhere but if he hasn’t it’s an assumption. Managers come and go every few years. Unless you as a manager can get a personal appeal to a player (maybe in this case as they worked together before anyway), you could just as well be coming because you like the club, history, stadium, fans, direction, city, money etc. there are a dozen reasons to join a football team. Wanting to play for the manager is only one. But I wouldn’t doubt that Jesus believes… Read more »
Rich Atkinson LOL richarlison autocorrecting from a Brazilian to an Englishman!!! Racist autocorrect 😂😂😂😂
I don’t think for one minute it’s going to happen and I don’t know if it would work out anyway, but is it only me who’d be interested to see the club experiment with Saliba at DM if we don’t upgrade on Xhaka?
Saliba at DM then means Partey can be an 8.
Saliba has imo all the qualities to do brilliantly there but I’ve not known of him playing there before and who knows in practice if it would work. But on paper it looks like a decent idea to me
Raptora – I’d doubt there’s many Arsenal supporters on this blog, within the greater blogosphere or at the ground who’d give continuous support for Arteta if he finished outside top 6 without any trophies. In my mind that’s pretty much a given. However Continually slating both him , team choices and running a propaganda machine on the greatness of the Spuds when we haven’t even started the season is just bizarre on an Arsenal blog. Believe me the Spuds aren’t knocking Arsenal this bad. There’d be posters from this blog ( if they ever attend in person) who would be… Read more »
Guendozi got 14 assists??? In a season? Wow. Never thought he was that offensive or had that much of an ability to pick a pass. Was it how we were using it or he just really came on in one season?
Missed opportunity there.
Marky you will find out that no one does more spurs comparison than Pedro himself. If we could just focus on Arsenal, many people commenting on them won’t care. He probably needs the discussion to drive traffic so don’t sweat it big man.
Oh and anybody he gives support to Arteta after this season if he fails to make UCL either through the league or EL is an agenda driven dunce
*who gives support…
China, Saliba at DM? Lol. No thanks. On the other hand, white is the Rolls-Royce of a defender who glides and passes like a CM. So maybe worth a cheeky try at DM…
Yep White might be okay as a DM. He has played there for Brighton..He is very versatile. He can play RB too. Saliba is CB. We don’t need to use him else where.
I can’t understand Arteta at times. We missed out on Bruno Guimaraes who would have been a huge coup in midfield and now we are deliberating whether to sign Tielemans because we have Xhaka. It is mind blowing to me. How can a guy that played with Santi, Ramsey and Wilshere on top of their game think that Xhaka is enough? He also saw and coached the likes of Gundogan, B.Silva, David Silva and Debruyne. But some how Arteta thinks an unathletic, totally lacking in agility and a CM that can’t impact the game forward like Xhaka is enough? But… Read more »
Habesha
He (would have) recommended Xhaka to City. There’s something about Xhaka that Arteta can’t get tired of.
It’s because xhaka is the exact same kiss ass Arteta was as a player.
I wonder what xhaka bought for Arteta with the club/player fines.
(I loved Arteta as a player, he was great for the toffees. He brought his leadership to us and played a bit deeper for us, which I feel he did well enough, definitely wasn’t on him that we didn’t kick on a level)
azed
“Ben Jacobs
If Arsenal reach an agreement with Leicester, told Tielemans will sign. But for now, #AFC haven’t decided on him. The genuine interest from #MUFC may force Edu to make a decision quicker than expected, especially if ten Hag pitch proves appealing.”
lol this Jacobs covers all angles and scenarios.
In the know not.
Winging it.
Don’t tell me Jacobs gets coin for this sort of stuff.
He obviously doesn’t have a clue.
We will as usual be buying second tier players as we cannot attract the top players any,ore.
We are not in ECL and Arteta is not a proven top manager so players would be taking a risk playing for us.
To attract players we simply over pay them and then they decline and become hard to get rid of.
Arteta will not address the midfield problem, he doesn’t know how
Wouldn’t mind Onana from Lille as the midfielder we get in. 6.5″ 20 years old, strong, pacey. A little raw maybe and could improve attacking wise but a monster defensively already. Could play with Partey in a double pivot when we need more physicality, like against Palace, Newcastle etc, and can play as a 6 with 2 of Vieira, Ode , ESR when Party is injured. This profile of player makes a lot more sense to me than a Tielemans. Not sure he is the one though considering his age but I’ll take anything that makes Xhaka irrelevant at this… Read more »
Having a midfielder that is more press resistant than Xhaka is handy against the majority of EPL opposition.
Such a shame that it seems yet again that nothing will be done in this regard.
We’re nearing the start of preseason… Starting 11 quality Cm…. Please. It’s been about a decade we’ve been waiting. Let’s not do this any more please. Just go for a quality CM. Are we allergic to fixing the most important position on the entire pitch? This dates all the way back to when Gilberto left and DM became a perennial issue under wenger. As soon as Song looked good there, he got ahead of himself and started trying to play b2b and abandoning DM. Then sold. Coq wasn’t good enough. Ramsey was quality but lacked discipline. Can we just for… Read more »
It’s literally been about 12 years since Gilberto left. Maybe more. In that time how many season have we had two players in the starting 11 in midfield who have the ability AND mentality to provide sufficient cover for the defense and get attacks started? We’ve had loads of great players in this period. What is it that makes CM so so hard to fix? Every single time quality players there come on the market, even at prices we can afford, we tend to look the other way. Meanwhile we historically load up relentlessly in other positions (used to be… Read more »
Starting cm isn’t the biggest issue in our team. We still don’t score enough goals. That is the biggest issue in our team
Arteta thinks Xhaka is a sufficient player. We know he doesn’t think he is quality because he tried to offload him to Roma for peanuts and Roma didn’t want to pay that. But then he gave him a new deal.
It has been a while since we had a genuine top CM at Arsenal. And it is in that time we have drifted off to a Europa league place. It is very annoying to be deliberating about it’s necessity when every Arsenal fan and his dog knows it is our weakest position in the starting 11.
Raul- signing a CF in Jesus is surely addressing the scoring issue. Signing an upgrade to Xhaka will result in much greater control and incisivenesses in CM which in turn should lead to an increase in our chances to score.
“It is very annoying to be deliberating about it’s necessity when every Arsenal fan and his dog knows it is our weakest position in the starting 11.”
Well, apparently not if you look above you…
Since the Vieira+PetitgGilberto days we’ve had at most 1 great player in CM at a time, not counting one off purple patch seasons from some that didn’t last.
It’s so obvious what’s needs to be done and still nothing happens window after window, so frustrating.
Raul, Every top team in the world has a a properly functioning midfield. With partey out, we have only ode capable of doing something special in the centre of the pitch. If we get in a proper baller, we will actually be able to utilise the whole pitch not just the wings. It will also hopefully link up the defense and forward line quicker and more directly, which will allow our forwards to actually have space to break into, rather than slow ponderous play which a massive chunk of the time let’s the opposition reset. It will mean we don’t… Read more »
White was meant to do wonders for our attack.
And I think he will get better at dictating the play back there. But why not just get a midfield engine that actually gets into the other half and can do something
raulishuss
“Starting cm isn’t the biggest issue in our team.”
If you get a good central midfield this can have lots of benefits to many aspects of the side.
Besides who wants to be a lop-sided team that is better in some areas and weaker in others.
Mind you I think you have been one of the dwindling Xhaka enablers along with Pedro now of course.
If we want to get serious about challenging the best it has to be sorted. Can’t keep postponing it.
Serge should be an Arsenal player before the end of this window. Has to be done. Simple, easy, intent on both sides, quality unquestionable, it’s just a no freakin brainer. It will be done iA.
Get him, Tielemans and LB cover, that’s our window done
Arteta’s disregard for CM doesn’t just apply to Xhaka.
It showed in the extension to Elneny as well.
I don’t want to hear about Elneny being a good professional. He is overall an average player.
A big Amen to that Aasim….prefer him to even raphinha as he is ambidextrous and can play both wings with aplomb…….is there any leg to us moving to get Federico Dimarco from Inter if Martinez doesnt work out? anyone?
Wenger used to stack in other areas other than midfield because the club were a bit skint at times and Wenger had to make a decision on where to put that money in the side. I don’t see such excuses for Arteta though now do you regarding financial. That Xhaka arrived during Wenger’s tenure is a blot on Wenger though. Not good. Wenger didn’t sign him? I find it hard to believe that Wenger didn’t give approval. Wenger used to like signing some players that had “succeeded” in life after overcoming some adversity in their early private life years. Some… Read more »
Wenger had his African period.
Then he had a little Balkan period.
He liked that aspect many times of players as said before that overcame from early adversity.
I suppose it was thought that this showed good character. Strong mentality.
Unfortunately this didn’t apply to Xhaka. I have the feeling Xhaka was very much over-indulged after his very early years. There is a spoilt aspect to him.
Get Gnabry, I know its far from easy, but get Gnabry. I know we’re not in the CL. But get Gnabry, High wage? Indeed, still get Gnabry.
Gnabry————– Jesus—————-Saka
GET GNABRY.
Ishola, I think you’re spot on there in regards to Wenger and spending, up to ironically the season he bought xhaka 😂
Goobergooner
“up to ironically the season he bought xhaka”
His Balkan splurge.
Mustafi also had an overcoming adversity story to give to Wenger.
Wenger was woke before anyone.
Trailblazer for wokeness.
Trailblazer for wokeness 😂😂😂😂😂
Asim
Serge should be an Arsenal player before the end of this window. Has to be done. Simple, easy, intent on both sides, quality unquestionable, it’s just a no freakin brainer. It will be done iA.
I am well past my sell by date at this point 😃
Tbf, Wenger didn’t sign Xhaka the way he used to sign other players. Stats DNA threw him up and Wenger had to buy him. Gazidis had openly started taking some of the Wenger control on signings so that was what brought in Xhaka.
Never seen Wenger second guess a player the way he did xhaka. He thought he was a b2b at the time of signing.
Wenger would never scout and sign a player of Xhaka’s quality in midfield. No close control, no technical ability, dribble, nimbleness. Never
Wenger’s final signings were very unlike him to be fair
🚨 Arsenal are said to see Lisandro Martinez primarily as a left-back. Mikel Arteta’s side are pushing for his signature. [@TheAthleticUK]”
Unless he is being signed primarily as a DM, I don’t see the point in spending north of £35M for Lisandro.
Don’t believe it.
Wenger had to give the nod to the Xhaka signing.
And remember despite Xhaka’s obvious weaknesses he was seen as quite a technical player. Nice left foot. Wenger would have liked those aspects at least.
The latch key story from Xhaka though probably sealed the deal for Wenger.
Maybe Tierney is off.
Lone of the reasons (there are a few) that we don’t score enough goals is because we aren’t good at controlling the midfield. We aren’t good at beating the press which helps start quick counters, incredibly useful for creating chances a few seconds down the line – we also struggle to impose ourselves and dominate midfield and have to constant manage our formation to protect ourselves from our weaknesses there
Put a great CM in that position like young Cesc, Alonso, Kante, etc etc and the midfield jumps up levels and our attack will feel a clear benefit
Amadou Onana can’t be worse than Ellneny surely
Brentford has an agreement with Bologna for Aaron Hickey for a fee £14.25m rising upto £17m with addons . Currently not looking good for the Left back position for Arsenal.
I don’t know if hickey is the level we need but if he is then at that price and if it’s only brentford after him we should be on that
So if we do sign Martinez, how any defenders does that make that arteta has signed?
How many defenders has arteta signed up to now?
Just what I said China. Also agree with Ishola’s post, just as we don’t want players with obvious deficiencies that have to be accommodated, all areas of our team need to function complimenting each other. It’s obvious to say it this is the time of year when we can get players in to allow Arteta to play in a way that will allow all the players to function to the best of their ability. That said this window, we’ve needed to upgrade Tavares, Xhaka, Soares, Leno, Pepe and Laca; any supporter with a modicum of intelligence knows this. So far… Read more »
Why not just sign a LB that plays as a LB? What’s with all this converting CBs into FBs?
I love Tomiyasu but he doesn’t offer much of an offensive threat down the right flank. Another primarily defensive FB means most of our creativity will have to cone through the middle and that means better players from deep than Xhaka and fecking Elneny.
@WengerEagle
He keeps buying defenders and yet no real improvement defensively. In fact if Ramsdale hadn’t been like superman in the early games it could of been worse.
Weagle
“I love Tomiyasu but he doesn’t offer much of an offensive threat down the right flank”
Wasn’t that said by some when he first signed and some posters took offence.
He does make some bursting runs at times but not really a natural attacking fullback.
“What’s all this converting centre backs into full backs” In order to get 5 attacking players onto the pitch, that usually comes at the expense of aggressive full backs, there’s also asymmetrical versions of the system . The full backs jobs are to play as defensive midfielders in possession, to progress the ball into the final third, beat the press, read the game well, win the ball back early, and help pin opponents in their own half. This then allows for a second No8, 2 wide players, and a striker to be on the pitch at the same time. Full… Read more »
If you are seen as an expansive side really both your fullbacks should be capable to cause a real threat offensively when they come forward as we see with the two best teams in the land Man City and Liverpool.
Man City linked heavily to the Brighton boy with the big mop who plays really as a wing back shows what teams are looking for.
Trent-Arnold takes it to extremes though.
Such a stupid club.
The game changer in midfield is now
in Tottenham colors.
Only Edu and Arteta could blow such an
obvious move
https://youtu.be/Us1KkY2RDm0
Amadou Onana, our latest linked CM/DM. No idea about the price though, haven’t seen one mentioned. Considering he’s only 20 he looks like a beast in the making.
Edu’s redemption is taking a blow
There is no point hating spurs, their fans, their players for what they beleive in. They are a football team we simply should beat by a huge margin every single match, every single half. They are a set of players, management, people who enjoy winning as much as we do. At the end of the day ita about who tried harder for it and some luck. And vile comments about them, disregarding their abilities isn’t going to get us there. Support for Arsenal matters to me as a fan, hate to Tottenham isn’t a part of it. They are just… Read more »
Arsenal had something like the 11th or 12th highest defensive line in 2020/21 Last season we had the third highest defensive line only behind City + Liverpool, there was a clear shift in style If we want to play a higher defensive line without leaving ourselves vulnerable, and pin teams in their own half Then we need defenders with the athletic profile to cover the space in behind, a keeper with a good passing range to beat the press, defenders who read the game well, and win the ball back early, and who have the technical quality to progress the… Read more »
What a load of nonsense Rich.
Man City play like that, can you name me one other top side that have FBs that operate in possession in the middle as DMs?
And City’s FBs are natural FBs. Walker and Cancelo have played at fullback their entire career before City. They are not left and right CBs converted into FBs like Tomiyasu and now seemingly Martinez.
When we have a team and a midfield like City’s that domiante the ball against literally anyone, then is the time to get experimental with this CB into FB conversions perhaps.
Freddie L
“Amadou Onana, our latest linked CM/DM. No idea about the price though, haven’t seen one mentioned. Considering he’s only 20 he looks like a beast in the making.”
It’s not a signing that is going to oust Xhaka from midfield though is it this coming season if it did happen.
Muppetman
“Edu’s redemption is taking a blow”
All premature talk wasn’t it.
Should really wait until the window closes before big proclamations but this hasn’t been the case with it being described as the “best ever” Arsenal transfer window in history at one point not too long ago.
Ish
I haven’t really watched him more than a couple of youtube clips so can’t say for sure, he does look very good defensively and capable in attack. I know I would sell Xhaka for him in an instant but Arteta seems oddly attached to the Swiss slug so who knows
He wouldn’t be my first choice, that’s probably Nunes followed by Sangare, but considering the likely lower fee and massive potential it could be worth a punt.
A large part of PSGs struggle has been down to a lack of quality at full-back and offensive threat. Hakimi and Nuno Mendes haven’t really worked out as signings. The last top FB performer they had was Bernat at LB. RB has been a long-term issue for them and they have tried to be clever with the CB at FB move with Kehrer as the RB and it was a disaster. He got torn apart by Coman/Davies in the CL Final and offered zero threat going forward. As Ishola says, if you lack attacking quality with your full-backs it makes… Read more »
Freddie L
Very unlikely a 20yo is going to come in and take Xhaka’s place in the side this coming season.
It just doesn’t happen really.
Whether we like it or not unfortunately Xhaka is an established player in the side.
There would have to be a more serious move in the market to replace Xhaka and it looks as if there is still not a will to do it.
Rich, “Then we need defenders with the athletic profile to cover the space in behind, a keeper with a good passing range to beat the press, defenders who read the game well, and win the ball back early, and who have the technical quality to progress the ball from back to front under pressure.” That also includes partey and xhaka in our side. Preferably you’d win the ball before the CBS have to step in. Obviously not how it plays out every single time, but having defenders good with the ball and against the press is great, but if tets… Read more »
Ishola, I’d put a lot of money on Tielemans coming. I reckon Arsenal have said don’t worry, we’re coming in for you but we don’t want Leicester to drive too hard a bargain. Could lose my money of course!
WE Try reading properly, there’s asymmetrical versions of it….. We’ve played asymmetrical versions of it, with our left back playing much higher, we’ve also mirrored it on a few occasions, when we’ve played Xhaka at left back, when Tierney has been injured Liverpool have occasionally played Thiago further forward, and tucked Trent inside as a right sided defensive midfielder Man City did something similar with Delph for a while, and had big succcess with it When they had Mendy playing on the left, they’d tuck Bernardo in behind, and they’ve done something similar on the right with Walker who’s more… Read more »