One thing about Calafiori... be prepared.. he does open things up and he's fun to watch, but he does lose the ball trying fancy footwork sometimes, and those are turnovers in very dangerous areas. I think he had 3 mistakes leading to goals last season. I wonder if they'll ask him to be a little more judicious about certain spots on the pitch.
Last season we bought Timber to be a line breaker, ball carrier and didn't get the benefit.
Calafiori is probably liked for that same quality. Breaking down some tough mid blocks by dragging opponents out of place instead of always trying to pass though them. Large parts of the season without Parteys passing and Timbers carrying did definitely hurt us.
We are the new Stoke city, all managers will figure out we are blunt at open play(like Emery did). They will avoid conceding corners and defend better against them. We will draw many games next season
Fab Romano on twitter and he even has a photo of 3 of them in their private plane.
"Riccardo Calafiori, on his way to London with his agents — all set for medical tests with Arsenal! Here Calafiori with Chairman & founder of WSA Agency Alessandro Lucci and CEO Alessio Ceccarelli."
Yes but goals scored from open play should be easier to score than set pieces while Arteta collecting people to head in from corners but not score in open play.
Last season was actually a league high for many teams in terms of goals scored. The league itself recorded more goals last season that ever before. The gulf between the smaller teams and the bigger ones have never been this wide and I can count on Arsenal to stuff 5/6 past the likes of Ipswich.
It's when we meet the stronger teams that we need to worry. We beat Liverpool by luck, weren't convincing in away wins vs United and Spurs. Couldn't beat villa and that's off the top of my head.
If Art thinks that physicality and dead balls will win us the league, it's ok. Let's watch and see. Little details like that could actually make a difference. I hope it works in our favor
"It's when we meet the stronger teams that we need to worry. We beat Liverpool by luck, weren't convincing in away wins vs United and Spurs. Couldn't beat villa and that's off the top of my head."
Okay. Luck and not convincing. Hmmm.
On the flip side, the "stronger teams" do not have to worry when they face us, eh? SMH.
Arteta is taking us back to the G Graham era, we trying to keep clean sheets and nick a goal from somewhere, anywhere. We going to start singing 'one nil to arsenal' again like we did when I first started paying attention to Arsenal.
Haverts best position is the RAM. The spaces that Odegaard occupy. Only there can he get optimal performances. He will be okay at 9 but nothing ground breaking.
For those who see the creative aspect as being critical then Ruiz shades it whereas for defensive aspects it is more Merino. Their raw output (goals and assists) last season broadly similar although Merino had more game time.
Personally I’d like to see both signed as our midfield needs some bolstering and more rotational possibilities. Ruiz to be the left 8 and Merino to rotate with both Ruiz and Rice at DM or 6 as we now say
Might not be possible though if we can’t shift Partey.
One edge I hope to see this season is a settled and confident Kai. We lost 1/2 the season last time while we waited for him to grow in confidence and for us to use in the right way (both factors being interlinked of course). If he hits the road running this time then we have moved on massively as an effective team. If Jesus has also upped his game a notch from his additional training then the attack should take care of itself.
This is the no new signings up front reality I am gearing up for. If there are any then they are most likely on the wings.
According to SSN the Calafiori signing is all but done.
He should have had his medical completed today so all we have to wait for is the official Arsenal.com announcement which should not be too far away if he is expected to be flown off to the USA.
Fulham sound like they are very keen to have ESR. Mooted fee is £27m + £8m in add-ons. A decent fee for a player that has a lot of potential if he remains fit.
Reiss Nelson has some suitors apparently. If we can sell him, that will always be welcome considering how little he has played for us.
The less good news is that Marseille are undervaluing Eddie and are not meeting what we want for him. Not clear whether Marseille will go back in for him. Let's hope we can still sell him.
Eddie would score there leaving our false 9 system, I'm a weaker league. Look at lacazette .. 1 goal for us in this system... 20+ in French team.
But Eddie would put away goals at lots of mid table premier league teams where he could spend a little more time in the box. He's not lazy, just not a semi- midfielder like Havertz and Jesus.
Calafiori as a left 8 (as has been suggested by a few here) is such a non starter that it's not even worth entertaining. He's a young talent. Never played that position before. Hasn't even tasted top level football for more than 1 season. To believe that a coach that wants to win like Arteta would do that is just crazy.
I look at our midfield and I see big holes. If Merino is the addition we get, then maybe we have to really try not to sell Partey and then really really hope he doesn't get injured. Merino is just so underwhelming and not starting quality (not his fault).
Partey is still in our best 11. I don't see how we play well without him if only who we buy is Merino. I don't know if people realise that with Partey out, we would have Rice play 6 and Merino start at 8 (Jorginho simply shouldn't be considered as first team material anymore). For me that's Aston Villa levels midfield. Grafters and nobody to help Ode with creativity. Another player that could drop down and help there would be Haverts, who's atrocious as a L8 and would also mean a worse no9 in Jesus will then be played at 9 OR Vieira who frankly shouldn't even be at the club.
I get that people (including Pedro) think our squad is set and we just need back ups but the truth is that we realy still need a starting quality 6/8 and a starting quality 9 and maybe even a starting quality 11.
We may be in for a very rude awakening this season if we don't plan well.
A lot of stats there Rich. I'm not arguing with all of that bro but we still finished 2nd and have a need to improve to finish 1st. I'm just saying he's in our best 11 if who we sign is only Merino meaning we haven't improved. I know we won a lot without him but there was also a noticeable improvement in our play when he came back on board.
Jogi is also a year older, and frankly shouldn't be counted upon at this stage of his career and our development for any serious prolonged set of matches.
This leaves us with Rice and Merino. That was my point.
If we sign someone like Bruno G or the likes or Eze (a personal favorite of mine) I'd be more confident.
First sign that Partey will have that new contract great season is that he looks thinner ... not sure if the black kit slenderising though. At the end of the season he appeared lumbering and slow, as happened on a few injury returns.
If there's no substantial offers, we may as well ride him for his final season.
The signings sound like it will tighten up the defense even further, maybe Mikel envisions the team just not allowing the opposition out of their third for most of the game. If so, you do not need explosive, powerful and super athletic players to win the ball in the midfield and start counter attacks.
However, we still need some skill players like ESR to break open deep blocks and or start the counter attacks by turning and moving the ball up the pitch and athletes on the wings not named Saka to get the ball forward with pace and urgency.
Gundo at $h*tTy was a locksmith. These guys are not that!
New post
One thing about Calafiori... be prepared.. he does open things up and he's fun to watch, but he does lose the ball trying fancy footwork sometimes, and those are turnovers in very dangerous areas. I think he had 3 mistakes leading to goals last season. I wonder if they'll ask him to be a little more judicious about certain spots on the pitch.
Last season we bought Timber to be a line breaker, ball carrier and didn't get the benefit.
Calafiori is probably liked for that same quality. Breaking down some tough mid blocks by dragging opponents out of place instead of always trying to pass though them. Large parts of the season without Parteys passing and Timbers carrying did definitely hurt us.
We could have done better in PL and CL.
We are the new Stoke city, all managers will figure out we are blunt at open play(like Emery did). They will avoid conceding corners and defend better against them. We will draw many games next season
How do you avoid conceding corners? You do talk a lot of nonsense!
We created loads of chances in the first half against Villa, we just weren’t clinical enough on the day.
You are confirming my point, thank you
We had the highest overall win percentage, won the most league games, and scored the most league goals in our history last season.
Fab Romano on twitter and he even has a photo of 3 of them in their private plane.
"Riccardo Calafiori, on his way to London with his agents — all set for medical tests with Arsenal! Here Calafiori with Chairman & founder of WSA Agency Alessandro Lucci and CEO Alessio Ceccarelli."
Mikel Merino, Real sociedad were 10th in open play goals, 4th in setpiece goals 3 less goals than the team with most.
Don’t worry Sid… Goals into the opposition net are all counted in the exact same way.
Yes but goals scored from open play should be easier to score than set pieces while Arteta collecting people to head in from corners but not score in open play.
We scored more league goals last season than in our entire history….
Beating the previous seasons record tally.
I kind of trust Arteta to judge what we need, more than I trust Sid.
Based on our midfield options, it’s clear we need to add more physicality.
Take Rice out, and we have to drop Havertz back, or we get overrun.
Merino is an experienced option at a reasonable price, who has physical attributes we lack.
Signing the very elite players is difficult and expensive, they rarely come onto the market.
This kind of low level investment, hopefully leaves room for us to still move if such a player becomes available.
Last season was actually a league high for many teams in terms of goals scored. The league itself recorded more goals last season that ever before. The gulf between the smaller teams and the bigger ones have never been this wide and I can count on Arsenal to stuff 5/6 past the likes of Ipswich.
It's when we meet the stronger teams that we need to worry. We beat Liverpool by luck, weren't convincing in away wins vs United and Spurs. Couldn't beat villa and that's off the top of my head.
If Art thinks that physicality and dead balls will win us the league, it's ok. Let's watch and see. Little details like that could actually make a difference. I hope it works in our favor
"It's when we meet the stronger teams that we need to worry. We beat Liverpool by luck, weren't convincing in away wins vs United and Spurs. Couldn't beat villa and that's off the top of my head."
Okay. Luck and not convincing. Hmmm.
On the flip side, the "stronger teams" do not have to worry when they face us, eh? SMH.
We need more technique, we have enough physicality
Arteta is taking us back to the G Graham era, we trying to keep clean sheets and nick a goal from somewhere, anywhere. We going to start singing 'one nil to arsenal' again like we did when I first started paying attention to Arsenal.
GG won the League title. Let's see if The Art can. Five years in...
The manager played Kai at AM for half the season then decided to play him as a CF the next half thats Not good for his confidence
A decent player should be able to adapt but in any event I’m looking at next season not the last one.
You cannot play Giroud, Harry Kane, Higuain etc at AM then expect them to adapt.
Why not?
Haverts best position is the RAM. The spaces that Odegaard occupy. Only there can he get optimal performances. He will be okay at 9 but nothing ground breaking.
CF for Germany at the Euros
For anyone interested there is a stats comparison between Ruiz and Merino.
https://www.footballfancast.com/forget-merino-arsenal-enter-talks-for-alternative-ruiz-artist/
For those who see the creative aspect as being critical then Ruiz shades it whereas for defensive aspects it is more Merino. Their raw output (goals and assists) last season broadly similar although Merino had more game time.
Personally I’d like to see both signed as our midfield needs some bolstering and more rotational possibilities. Ruiz to be the left 8 and Merino to rotate with both Ruiz and Rice at DM or 6 as we now say
Might not be possible though if we can’t shift Partey.
One edge I hope to see this season is a settled and confident Kai. We lost 1/2 the season last time while we waited for him to grow in confidence and for us to use in the right way (both factors being interlinked of course). If he hits the road running this time then we have moved on massively as an effective team. If Jesus has also upped his game a notch from his additional training then the attack should take care of itself.
This is the no new signings up front reality I am gearing up for. If there are any then they are most likely on the wings.
According to SSN the Calafiori signing is all but done.
He should have had his medical completed today so all we have to wait for is the official Arsenal.com announcement which should not be too far away if he is expected to be flown off to the USA.
Fulham sound like they are very keen to have ESR. Mooted fee is £27m + £8m in add-ons. A decent fee for a player that has a lot of potential if he remains fit.
Reiss Nelson has some suitors apparently. If we can sell him, that will always be welcome considering how little he has played for us.
The less good news is that Marseille are undervaluing Eddie and are not meeting what we want for him. Not clear whether Marseille will go back in for him. Let's hope we can still sell him.
Eddie would score there leaving our false 9 system, I'm a weaker league. Look at lacazette .. 1 goal for us in this system... 20+ in French team.
But Eddie would put away goals at lots of mid table premier league teams where he could spend a little more time in the box. He's not lazy, just not a semi- midfielder like Havertz and Jesus.
They signed Greenwood for 27m so I'm assuming they really don't have much need for Eddie cue the lowball offers. Hopefully they stomp up the fee
3421 like Man c, back 3 Calafiori/Big Gab, Saliba white.
Midfield Martinelli, Rice/Merino, Partey, Timber
Forwards Ode and Saka
CF Havertz
Man c back 3 Gvadiol/Ake, Diais, Walker
Midfield Doku, Akanji, Akanji, Foden
Forwards Silva, alvarez
CF Haaland
(Is City required to pay Akanji's clone?)
Calafiori as a left 8 (as has been suggested by a few here) is such a non starter that it's not even worth entertaining. He's a young talent. Never played that position before. Hasn't even tasted top level football for more than 1 season. To believe that a coach that wants to win like Arteta would do that is just crazy.
From what I have read, Calafiori looks slotted to be our LB and I suspect he will be a rotational option with Timber.
Can’t say I’ve heard that - got to be rotating in LB/ LCB with Timber and Big Gab
Arteta played Partey at right back last season so I don't think it obvious that our manager will not do something similar with Cala or someone else.
Think he learned from that and won't try it again. Atleast I want to believe so.
I look at our midfield and I see big holes. If Merino is the addition we get, then maybe we have to really try not to sell Partey and then really really hope he doesn't get injured. Merino is just so underwhelming and not starting quality (not his fault).
Partey is still in our best 11. I don't see how we play well without him if only who we buy is Merino. I don't know if people realise that with Partey out, we would have Rice play 6 and Merino start at 8 (Jorginho simply shouldn't be considered as first team material anymore). For me that's Aston Villa levels midfield. Grafters and nobody to help Ode with creativity. Another player that could drop down and help there would be Haverts, who's atrocious as a L8 and would also mean a worse no9 in Jesus will then be played at 9 OR Vieira who frankly shouldn't even be at the club.
I get that people (including Pedro) think our squad is set and we just need back ups but the truth is that we realy still need a starting quality 6/8 and a starting quality 9 and maybe even a starting quality 11.
We may be in for a very rude awakening this season if we don't plan well.
“Partey is still in our best 11. I don't see how we play well without him”
We played 7.5 months of a 9 month season without him last season.
Scoring the most league goals in our history, securing our most ever league wins, and highest overall win percentage.
Set a top flight record scoring 5+ goals in 3 successive league away games.
We scored 2+ goals in 8 consecutive half’s of football, another top flight record.
We had the best defence in the division, and our best goals conceded record for 20 years.
We conceded the least shots in Europe’s top 5 league’s… least shots on target.
Least corners, least opposition touches in our penalty box and defensive third.
I’ve got concerns around injury prone players, particularly the accumulative risk at the back across a 9.5 month season.
I’d also love another top midfielder to replace Partey.
But he doesn’t sound like he’ll be going anywhere, and while there’s very signs of physical decline….
The cynic in me is assuring me he’ll never get injured with his contract up next summer.
Also adding Merino to Rice, would address our issue of a lack of physicality in midfield without Rice.
A lot of stats there Rich. I'm not arguing with all of that bro but we still finished 2nd and have a need to improve to finish 1st. I'm just saying he's in our best 11 if who we sign is only Merino meaning we haven't improved. I know we won a lot without him but there was also a noticeable improvement in our play when he came back on board.
Jogi is also a year older, and frankly shouldn't be counted upon at this stage of his career and our development for any serious prolonged set of matches.
This leaves us with Rice and Merino. That was my point.
If we sign someone like Bruno G or the likes or Eze (a personal favorite of mine) I'd be more confident.
Me + you both would like another top midfielder.
But based on Smith Rowe’s contribution across the last 2.5 seasons…
It wouldn’t be difficult for Merino to offer more.
First sign that Partey will have that new contract great season is that he looks thinner ... not sure if the black kit slenderising though. At the end of the season he appeared lumbering and slow, as happened on a few injury returns.
If there's no substantial offers, we may as well ride him for his final season.
Would be worth it in trophy challenges.
‘Slenderising’ sounds like something you do to prepare meat for cooking!
I missed the match so I can't really comment on how he did. Our biggest issue with him now is staying fit. Hopefully he does.
The signings sound like it will tighten up the defense even further, maybe Mikel envisions the team just not allowing the opposition out of their third for most of the game. If so, you do not need explosive, powerful and super athletic players to win the ball in the midfield and start counter attacks.
However, we still need some skill players like ESR to break open deep blocks and or start the counter attacks by turning and moving the ball up the pitch and athletes on the wings not named Saka to get the ball forward with pace and urgency.
Gundo at $h*tTy was a locksmith. These guys are not that!
Many coaches believe that the counter press is the best playmaker, better than any No10.
Merino + Calafiori both tall, and win a lot of headers + duels.
Big Gabby, Gabby Martinelli, and Havertz join up with the squad in LA.
Excitement levels will be much easier if we sign Fabian Ruiz and Nico Williams. We will then become El Grove