FORWARD LINE SHAPING UP

by .

My word, Gabriel Jesus seems like a proper decent chap!

I’ve seen him tell the media:

‘I’m not here to be a superstar’

… and then:

‘I’m looking forward to playing with a striker with his qualities’ (Eddie)

I don’t know about you but I’m still absorbing his performance from yesterday.

It’s still quite amazing that there has been quite a few people that have doubted whether adding a proper striker to our system would change our system.

Well, you saw in one game what quality adds to the way we play.

Lacazette was too slow to link play and attack the box.

Auba was too old to change his game.

Eddie showed the way with limited games.

Gabi Jesus has shown where the next level is.

He attacks the front post, he links play, he runs at players, he has a beautiful weight of pass, and he has an incredible work ethic.

We’re not just adding raw football to our forward line, we’re adding a really clever player that has been schooled at the University of Pep G.

There’s still work to do on the squad.

Keiran Tierney needs proper cover. Martinez would be great but we have to be prepared for him choosing Manchester United.

We haven’t addressed our midfield challenges. Mo Elneny is a very good player but we need more quality in midfield. Tielemans, Savic, whoever… we need more experience and players with different tools. I love Sambi Lokonga, but I’m just not sure you can put a season on his shoulders if Thomas Partey gets another long-term injury.

Then we need to look for goals in that frontline. There will be a natural uplift. Jesus will inspire people to take more chances. Experience should add calmness in front of goal. But we need a rocketeer adding to the tally. We need 70+ goals. If it’s not Raphinha, who is it?

The good news is that we’re out the woods regards to a starting 11, bar Thomas Partey who wasn’t in Germany. We have enough depth for the opening month. Going to Palace with two fullbacks and a striker will be good for us. I’d still like to see a full squad by game day one. Last year was so damn messy.

I’m also fascinated to see which young players stay and which go. Charlie Patino looked much more in control of his body when he played yesterday. He’s bulked up, he wasn’t shoved around, and he looked more assured and ambitious with his passing. Does he need a loan? Possibly.

I wonder who is staying on for Europa and who is going out on loan?

Right, short post today. See you in the comments.

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Dan

So good to have an actual striker

andy1886

Yup

andy1886

It is

andy1886

Ha

Useroz

Slow day?

Johng

Jesus looked good yesterday, looking forward to seeing him in competitive matches, think we may have a high teens league goals player on our hands again,possibly even break the magical 20plus

Muppetman

Early days to go all in on the first pre season friendly. Seem to remember you mocking Man U for having a fantastic pre season and then saying it doesn’t matter.

Madhu

Here we go as we get into new season we will wotriut Partey for the foreseeable.future. we are where we are at the end of the season. For all the vitriol that Elneny gets from our fans looks like he may well be the only option to play there St the start of the season. What’s the point of having an elite player like Partey when he is not available to play due to various reasons. We won’t get anyone by the time we start our season so it’s going to Elneny or Xhaka at the base of the midfield.… Read more »

Ceemahn

We need 2 midfielders, a DM and a CM.

We need a LB cover or a competitor for KT.
We also need a right Winger but not a necessity.

The others are surely a necessity !!

Or else ….!?!?!?!

Bruisedbanana

Martinelli, Nketiah, Gabby J, and Saka with MO and Fabio pulling the trigger behind…there’s a lot of goals there. Promising. Just need to get Tielamans and a solid left back and we’re looking good.

Kalle

We are well stock upfront with guys who could potentially get us goals or create good chances, but we’re still short of a top quality CM (two if the situation with best midfielder is true) to displace Xhaka in the starting 11 for us to have a very good chance of having a really exciting team that could way better than the one last season.

JimmyPageGOAT

Jesus was amazing When he came on,,,his movement was elite,,presses like a demon too,,,Marquinhos looked really strong ,,that guy is big for a 19yo,,,we should tell Vieira to hit the gym with this guy

Rich

70 goals would be a big disappointment next season. We need to assemble a squad capable of 90-100 league goals Since we’re still relatively young, aiming for the lower end of that should be a reasonable target/expectation I’d expect to see a 50% uplift in the goals scored column next season if we spend another £200 million. To only get 70, + 9 from last season, would be extremely disappointing, and a poor return on investment. Let’s see where we land in terms of incomings + outgoings, but we’ve already spent £85 million, if we spend another £100 or so,… Read more »

Adams

Gabriel will improve almost everybody in the squad. Expecting more signings though

Johng

Midfield is a concern but I do think big Mo wouldn’t let us down as the defensive one of a mid three with ball progressive players either side. Saying that really hope we do see Partey and rumours are not true

Adams

Xhaka is not bad the way some people take him to be. Maybe when he leaves we will appreciate what he brings to our team.

Kalle

So far, the 3 CMs we are being link with are all upgrades on GX. Paqueta, Tielemans and Savic are all better than our left 8 Granit Xhaka. Maybe Bennacer is the guy we’re looking at to take TP’s place? Whatever our plans are, I pray and hope this is the year we get to fix our most neglected position; CM.

Naija+soccer

Rich

Really wish we got Raphinha and Tielemans or similar in the bag already. So we can start smoking that pipe already.We are Arsenal after all, we ve started a transfer window brightly before, only to end up with disappointment.

This Arteta comment kinda confirms my fear “There are more things that we would like to do if we can, but obviously the market will dictate what we can do. So far, we are happy with what we’ve done,”. Now tell me you haven’t seen these comments before from a certain iconic manager of ours.

Muppetman

Pedro I’ll enjoy it when we beat Palace first game of the season. As I said earlier you’ve always bemoaned pre season results but you now a days you try to fit everything into the Arteta narrative. Read your blog for more years than I can remember but jeez you are fast to lash out these days….

Naija+soccer

Also in the off chance we don’t buy a CM, just play Lokonga in the left 8. He looks good there. Kinda like Yaya toure like Vincent Kompany said. So that’s Lokonga left, Odegaard right, Partey behind.

Please no Xhaka. Hes the difference between us coming 8th instead of 6th or 5th instead of 3rd/4th.

James wood

New goal keeper looked really in need of coming up to speed.

Rich

Naija+soccer

Arteta is learning, it’s always better to under promise and over-perform, than over promise, and underperform.

I’d be really surprised if we didn’t get at least an inverted left back.

The links to Martinez, Raphinha, Tielemans, suggest that KSE are going to back us again.

Just hope we don’t end up massively compromising on quality, because we fail to secure our top targets.

Need to get the door revolving in the departure lounge as well.

englandsbest

I like the Uruguayan – he’s a heart and soul player – so it’s good news that Arteta has decided to keep him. Most will say it’s because nobody will pay a decent sum to buy the player. My belief is that Arteta realises he is a worthwhile addition to the squad. Won’t stop him bringing in at least one more midfielder.

Zacharse

Not trying to add fuel to the fire here but some random outlet, presumably african, is reporting that Partey was arrested, that it was “confirmed” by the metropolitan police and that his wife was one of the accusers. take that for what it’s worth which isn’t a whole lot in my book.Though i will say that if his wife is one of his accusers then that would certainly explain the level of silence…

https://iharare.com/thomas-partey-arrested-for-rape/

Zacharse

not sure it’s his wife actually, the ‘article’ is not very clear

Zacharse

wow and torreira’s going to stay. what a week

Bob N16

Not sure the Harare Times is entirely reliable!

Freddie Ljungberg

Adams

Yeah, we should really appreciate that we get 1/3 of the points that we get when Partey plays when he’s not available. That’s how good the rest of our CM is.

/
Hope the Bennacer stories isn’t true.

A Bennacer Ode Vieira/ESR midfield would get absolutely bulldozed in way too many games in the PL, just too lightweight.

Adams

Freddie, you are trying to tell me xhaka was the only one responsible for the team losing point.

Mysticleaves

I was going to write that at this time it’s imperative we keep and actually play Torreira and then I see people already saying it in the comments. Very wise decision by Arteta. Torreira is very very useful and will actually displace a lot of midfielders in this current team. Only player better is Partey really.

Tets was able to convince Xhaka, AMN, Holding, Bellerin, Eddie to stay. I think he really needs to do that with Torr. Reassure him. He needs a friend and maybe just a lil love and then watch him blossom. Fine little player.

Freddie Ljungberg

Adams He’s a mainstay in a midfield that got 30% of the points whenever Partey was missing so yeah, would say he’s a pretty big part of it. Partey carried that midfield last season, basically on his own, he was by far our most important player, just because of the guld in quality when he wasn’t there and the importance of his position. We need 2 starter quality CMs even if he is available just to not see that drop again. Although if we get someone like Savic I’d be a bit more comfortable with him playing next to Sambi… Read more »

Mysticleaves

On the rape case. All these footballers getting accusations in England is just somehow….they all had playing careers in other countries with women in them before coming to the EPL. Did they suddenly became potential rapists in the UK? So the question is either “What is it about the country that turns people to potential rapists” or “what is it about the UK girls that make them think everyone is potentially about to rape them?”

Vintage Gun

What people are forgetting regarding Torreira is the little fact that he ended up having to see a therapist during his final season here. He hates England and couldn’t settle as the culture was too far removed from his comfort zone.

I remember when he signed for us and his father said that he was worried about his sons capacity to cope over in England . And so it turned out.

I like Torreira, he’s a good player technically and tactically. I just don’t think he’s physically or mentally built for this league

Bertie Mee

The account from Harare was posted in the last post .. It has disappeared as a link now .
I think we should all just wait and stop idle speculation. It’s a very sensitive matter

Habesha Gooner

Arteta surely won’t turn a blind eye to our CM deficiencies, can he? We needed better CMs even before this Partey news started. Now I think we need two. Xhaka should have been sold to anyone that can get us a fee. And I would sell him now too. I like Elneny, I wouldn’t mind him as a 4th/5th choice for guarantees. If it were up to me this is what I would have done. Sell, Xhaka, Torreira DM Partey, new DM (Bissouma would have been a perfect alternative), Elneny CM Tielemans, Sambi, Viera ( if we wanted to go… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

Torreira has enough quality to be a backup to Partey. But he doesn’t want to play in England. It is more of a culture and surrounding problem than a quality problem. So I think we should sell. No point in keeping a miserable player. Better tonsell him and bring in two CMs.

Habesha Gooner

Leno apparently is close to join Fulham for £10 mil fee. He wants to stay in London apparently. Fulham are getting a good deal on this. He is great when his goal is peppered with shots. He might be the difference in them staying up.

LeMassiveCoq

Please do not let us go into the season with only Sambi L, Xhara and Mo.

Rumours suggesting we are keeping Lucas T… gosh

I will be seriously disappointed if we don’t sign at least one beast of a CDM. Seems like we might need two though…depending on the Partey situ

Matt B

Habesha: Good posts these last weeks, tho Xhaka ain’t as bad as you think, plus he signed a contract last season. I think he’s staying. We need him — hopefully, he’ll be back-up

Un

Partey carried that midfield last season, basically on his own, he was by far our most important player, just because of the guld in quality when he wasn’t there and the importance of his position.

Freddie
Not vs United chelsea and West Ham he wasn’t
I hope partey plays the full season but I don’t necessarily agree that our midfield is uselss without him

Adams

There is a reason all our managers and even mourinho rate xhaka highly, i also rate him because of his fighting mentality.

Naija+soccer

The Team Torreira joined three years ago and the team we have now are night and day different. Perhaps he will gel more with this new group than the Ozils, Kolasinacs. I like the little fella

Adams

Spot on un. Xhaka played very well vs chelsea and used his experience in that game.

Naija+soccer

Get that new CM to go with Torreira as back up midfielder and we are looking deep and raring to go.

Un

Adams
He was even better vs Man U

Vintage Gun

The only reason we “need” Xhaka is because we haven’t improved on him. He an honest hard working player who is tactically brilliant and also a secure passer But to suggest he’s a key component of our team? I’d have to disagree

I understand he might have to stay, (Party case) but if so then it should be as a backup.

Un

Vintage
We fell to bits without him
Yes I want savic but xakha is dependable and much much better in a strict tactical framework than under emery or wenger with an open midfield

Freddie Ljungberg

“Not vs United chelsea and West Ham he wasn’t”

I’ve said this before, it’s fine in one off games when things go our way, if it’s over any stretch of time it’s doomed to fail. That’s why we can’t just get one new CM in if Partey won’t be available. We can’t be one injury away from dropping 70% of our points.

Hopefully it gets sorted in the next couple of weeks so the new players can get some time to adapt to the team, don’t want to start like last season.

James wood

Certainly thought our goalie was weeks away from fitness.

kjelli

G.Jesus is by the look of it, a humble human being and a likeable person, the way M. Arteta greeted
him at Colney speaks volume about their connection..

Zacharse

Bertie MeeJuly 9, 2022 20:32:25
The account from Harare was posted in the last post .. It has disappeared as a link now .
I think we should all just wait and stop idle speculation. It’s a very sensitive matter

Like i said when i linked it, there’s not much if any credibility there. only reason i did was because
a) it showed up in an aggregator
b) it mentioned new info for the first time which fits to some degree w whats happened

not quite idle speculation is it?

Naija+soccer

Vintage

You think Torreira can’t handle the physicality of this league ?

Tom

My word, Gabriel Jesus seems like a proper decent chap!

Pedro, he does.
Very generous with his time taking selfies with young fans right after the final whistle, and he looked like enjoying the moment as well and not just something you do out of necessity when cameras are on you.

rollen

That what you get when you buy proper WC class talent.
We should apply this in every position including CEO and manager.

Tom

“Leno apparently is close to join Fulham for £10 mil fee. ”

This no doubt would be the highlight of our transfer window as far as sales are concerned.
A bit depressing.

Vintage Gun

Un

If you want Savic then maybe Xhaka will go as Serbians and Albanians mix like hot oil and water.
Xhaka just had his best season for us, but he’s 29 with under 2 years left on his deal, We can and should move on now. it’s been over 5 years of him now.

@Naija

Yeah i do. He was always getting knocked onto the ground and stuff. I like him because he always gives his all and is a good player. I just question his physically and mentally to adapt.

Un

Vintage

Yeah well ozil and Mkhitaryan got on….

Tom

“On the rape case. All these footballers getting accusations in England is just somehow….they all had playing careers in other countries with women in them before coming to the EPL. Did they suddenly became potential rapists in the UK? So the question is either “What is it about the country that turns people to potential rapists” or “what is it about the UK girls that make them think everyone is potentially about to rape them?”” Mysticleaves, Britain and US two wokiest and most money driven countries around might have something to do with the fact Ronaldo had his rape case… Read more »

raptora

Saw that Conte left some players behind for their tour – Winks, Reguillon, Lo Celso, Ndombele. He told them to find new solutions.

I quite liked Reguillon and thought of him as one of their best players. I’m not even sure why is he being told to find a new club but I’d like to think he’d be a quite good option for our Tierney worries. No idea why Conte wouldn’t want him. It’s a mistake on his part, he’s quite good.

raptora

The correct way is with one L – Reguilon…

Tom

Raptora, I disagree on Reguillon.
Lo Celso did well at Villareal under Emery but I don’t rate neither of the four mentioned.
I’m still mystified Winks got England call ups.

Matt

Torreira doesn’t want to be here. He hates England. He needs to go.

If we end up relying on him next season it won’t end well. Probably the most weak minded and meek South American to have played in the league.

Habesha Gooner

Matt B
Xhaka’s importance is overstated. He is a high volume passer. But he could easily be replaced by a more incisive player. Tielemans for example doesn’t pass the ball as much as Xhaka and his pass completion percentage isn’t as high as Xhaka.

But his key passes, XA, and anything to do with penetration is way higher than Xhaka. Xhaka looks important because we have a green Sambi and Elneny as his competition. Sign an alternative to Partey and a CM like Tielemans, and Xhaka will be a forgotten man itching to leave with in 3 months.

Tom

Matt, we do need bodies for Europa

Tom

HG, TP’s penetration rate is apparently even higher.
Too soon?
I’ll get my coat now.

Matt

Tom

What’s the point of a body who’s head is not in the game? The guy isn’t just unhappy with the club, he is unhappy in England and is desperate not to be here. You don’t want to be relying on that in any games.

Tom

Matt, you can be unhappy in general sense but still professional enough to do the job you get payed to do.
We already have him and no one seems to want him so why not use him against the Dundalks of Europe and hope its a sunny day on game day.

Vintage Gun

Un

True. But remember the last WC when Xhaka did that “Double Eagle” celebration against Serbia? Went down great with the Serbs that one.

The Serb at my old workplace called him “fuck bitch” for about 3 months after. But overall i’d expect professionalism to win the day if they were to play together.

TH14

Fuck me, just realized the season starts in less than a month and right now we are looking at the El Neny Xhaka midfield of sadness yet again. A CM needs to come in immediately. Worry about left backs and wingers later. There is no excuse to start the season with the gruesome twosome in midfield.

Habesha Gooner

Tom I think it is a bit too soon. Funny though. Anyway, sterling to Chelsea is done. They won’t be getting Raphinha after all this has gone through though. And I am glad he isn’t going there. He would have been a game changer for them more than sterling for me. Barca look like they are going to cough up the money eventually though. They have reached at €60 mil now. Just a bit off addons and they will match Chelsea’s bid. Chelsea are going for Ake again too. He is a bit of a downgrade from Rudiger but he… Read more »

Mysticleaves

Tom

It’s actually needs to be looked into. If I were the lawyers of the accused people I’d be making sure to detail my client’s clean dealings in their previous countries and at the same time questioning the country’s interpretations to these kinds of laws…

Mysticleaves

Habesha

Please in what world is Raphinha a better game changer than Sterling???

Berg10kamp

I would think that the africa news would be first with the news due to close relations to players roots. But anyways. We need a midfielder in, won’t be a disaster if we don’t get 2. As long as we score goals we would a different beast, and jesus gives us that.

WengerEagle

Habesha

That’s a fairly wild statement to make regarding Raphinha being more impactful than Sterling. I think that Sterling is vastly underrated by most of the footballing community really, top player.

raptora

I think Chavs want both Sterling and Raphinha.

Ziyech is supposedly going to Milan and they want to move one of Werner and Pulisic.

In defence Christensen is gone to Barca, Rudiger to Real, Azpilicueta and Alonso are also pushing for Barca and supposedly have given transfer requests. They are after Ake and De Ligt.

Struggling to see who are they gonna sign for their CF position but the rest of the team is shaping up just as strong if all of their wishes happen. Sterling and Raphinha is as good as it gets.

Freddie Ljungberg

Th14

Please don’t sully the good name of the gruesome twosome. Frank and Charlie disapproves.

WengerEagle

Sterling is in a very elite club of players to have scored 100+ PL goals and got 50+ PL assists and all of that by age 27 without being a pen taker or an out and out ST.

Mysticleaves

Wenger eagle

We might be the only 2 people that rate Sterling on here lol. World class winger. His stats and performances over 3-5 seasons back it up very well. Very decisive and ice cold in doing his job. No fuss. He’s matured a whole lot and whoever is getting him is getting gold, on paper at least

Rich

I’d take Raphinha over Sterling in a heartbeat, Really hope Raphinha ends up at Barca, he’d be a game changer for the Chavs. They’ve got a young left sided centre back Levi Colwill, one to keep any eye on, one of the best young talents in the country apparently, Broja who was a favourite for a few on here, might be available, be interesting to see what they do with Conor Gallagher as well, who looks a decent player. We can certainly learn a thing or 2 from the Chavs in how they use the loan market to develop young… Read more »

Dissenter

“ We can certainly learn a thing or 2 from the Chavs in how they use the loan market to develop young talent.‘

Chav-Rich
Stop all these lovey-dovey posts about the Chavs on an Arsenal blog
Are you a Chelsea fan in disguise

Dissenter

Raphina played for Rennes and Leeds
He’s NINE caps with Brazil

How in the world can anyone prefer him to a tested footballer like Sterling
Sterling is only two years older and has 10 years of experience more at a higher level.

Rich
You’re a weirdo with some of your footballing choices, like wanting us to spend £100 million or more on either Joao Felix or Frenkie De Jong.

Rich

Diss

I’m a weirdo?….

Stones + glasshouses spring to mind, yesterday you were slating Odegaard, and crying that we weren’t competing with Southampton to sign some bum from Rangers….

I never said spend £100 million on either Felix or FDJ, you’ve just plucked those figures out of thin air,

I like both players, top talents with big upsides, but De Jong’s wages rules us out, and I’ve certainly never suggested paying £100 million for either.

In fact I’ve never suggested paying £100 million for any player.

Rich

For the record I like Sterling, stylistically I just prefer Raphinha. There’s signs of regression with Sterling, he might just need a change of scenery, but his output has been on a downward spiral since he peaked in 2019/20 season. Whereas Raphinha looks to me like a player on the way up, he’s produced decent end product numbers in a really poor team over the last 2 seasons, and his pressing numbers are insane Put him in a decent team, and he’ll be an absolute superstar, he’s got unbelievable quality, id have loved him at Arsenal. Giving Sterling a 5yr… Read more »

Mysticleaves

Rich trying so hard to say that Raphinha is better than Sterling.

Rich

Mysticleaves

I’d 100% choose Raphinha over Sterling, I wouldn’t blink.

Particularly for half the wages.

Venga, Dani

Kante links are interesting!

Ramsdale
Tomi-White/Saliba-Gabriel-Tierney
Tielemens-Kante-Odegaard
Saka-Jesus-Martinelli

Looks good!

Johnno

Sterling was a very effective player when arteta was at city. He spent hours with working on his runs and his ball striking. Since he left the lad has fallen off a cliff. I’ve never rated him Personally. Technically very average.

Raphinha has such a huge upside. Sterling – I think we’ve seen it. Also sterling has played the minutes of a 30 year old as he played so much so young.

If Chelsea get sterling and raphinha goes to barca I won’t lose sleep.

Goobergooner

Rich, isn’t this a little ironic, considering we should be winning the cl this season?

“Arteta is learning, it’s always better to under promise and over-perform, than over promise, and underperform.”

Dissenter

Rich
“Stones + glasshouses spring to mind, yesterday you were slating Odegaard, and crying that we weren’t competing with Southampton to sign some bum from Rangers….

Joe Aribo ain’t some “bum from Rangers”
I bet you’ll be writing long poems to say you like him pretty soon

raptora

Joe Aribo is also represented by the same agents as Saka, Sancho, Iwobi, Nketiah, Balogun, Cantwell, Lavia, Ebiowei and more. Impressive work by them as apparently they are targeting young English based players before they even make it. They probably have better scouts than most clubs do.

Dissenter

raptora
That agent represents lots of kids of African descent, mainly Nigerian.
That’s his M.O., probably knows how to talk to the parents.

China1

Kante was fucking amazing in his prime. One of the top 3 in the world for me at what he did. Monster quality But I dunno at his age if he’s still got enough in the tank. I’d certainly not be disappointed if we went for him but I would have some doubts until I see him in action in our setup Always feel like Chelsea never really appreciated him after his first couple of seasons. Signing more CMs and shunting his position around, in and out of the team. For me that was ridiculous as he was better than… Read more »

China1

You don’t have to be a chav to recognize that Chelsea have got quite a lot right with their loans and youth player sales. They generally either come back better or get sold for a really decent price. We should be moving mountains to get that woman Maria who oversaw most of those deals into the club to fix our troubles with selling

China1

Sterling has not fallen off a cliff. He’s still one of the best wingers in the league. If that’s a cliff he’s fallen off it must be a pretty damn high cliff

Dissenter

China1
“You don’t have to be a chav to recognize that Chelsea have got quite a lot right with their loans and youth player sales.”

I know that, it was a cheeky remark to give Rich the treatment he and his mates dish out to Tom.
Rich is fond of using the lame line of attack; “why are you praising xyzy on an Arsenal blog”

UTarse

Joe Aribo is not very good

Zacharse

Lucas Torreira is a big boy (professionally speaking)
surely he will be able to understand that if no one wants to stump 15m euro for him or whatever this window, there will be more windows, 6 month or so later for example
IF HE TRAINS PROPERLY & PLAYS WELL

“If we end up relying on him next season it won’t end well. Probably the most weak minded and meek South American to have played in the league.”

my friend let me introduce you to Andre Santos

Zacharse

China did you ever end up watching the jordan peele films? it was you who got super into key & peele no?

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