✍️ OFFICIAL Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Out)

[Ciscoo]

I really want to keep him but we don’t seem much closer to finding him a guaranteed starting place and position. If that’s what he wants for his career, you can’t blame him. But I don’t see how we could offer that right now unless we stick with a back 5.

 

[BenTal]

Imagine we managed to extend his contract. How much would you like to commit for his weekly wage? We should be very careful about it.

The same also holds for Martinez.

 

[krackpot]

I really want to keep him but we don’t seem much closer to finding him a guaranteed starting place and position. If that’s what he wants for his career, you can’t blame him. But I don’t see how we can offer that right now unless we stick with a back 5.

if we can't/don't give one of our best performing players a starting spot, we deserve to be relegated.

 

[DanDare]

Imagine we managed to extend his contract. How much would you like to commit for his weekly wage? We should be very careful about it.

The same also holds for Martinez.

Wouldn't worry about wages for either we can always sell them to City, they always need a home grown player

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

if we can't/don't give one of our best performing players a starting spot, we deserve to be relegated.

We tried Niles in 4 at the back and he was horrible. AMN deserves to stay but i don't think he'll guarantee to start with us unless it's 343

 

[krackpot]

We tried Niles in 4 at the back and he was horrible. AMN deserves to stay but i don't think he'll guarantee to start with us unless it's 343

Agreed. But he has been wonderful in whatever chances we have given him.

If a player is performing well and does not want to leave, then unless we have some really outstanding depth in that area, we should keep him.

Like I could understand if Nketiah was being sold.

 

[DanDare]

We tried Niles in 4 at the back and he was horrible. AMN deserves to stay but i don't think he'll guarantee to start with us unless it's 343

Everyone was horrible then. Think he needs another go. There's really no reason why he would be bad. Has all the tools

 

[The_Playmaker]

Yeah that’s part of the system. Bellerin used to do it earlier in the season, AMN did it when he played RWB as well. Whichever wing back is most comfortable on the ball supports the midfield. That could easily change though. Like I said in another thread if they manage to bring in Partey you could just as easily put Xhaka at LCB and then he moves into midfield when we have the ball.

Arteta originally had Saka at left back in a back 4, pushing him forward and tucking the rb in as a dm, not part of the front 5.

Currently AMN plays as a lcm when we have the ball. He is part of the attacking 5 and breaks into the box. How often did you see Bellerin in the box when he played rwb or rb?

This team is ****. We need two quality midfielders cant rely on Saka.

We have a homegrown talented player who we just tied down to a new deal capable of scoring and assisting and you want to do what with him exactly? Bench him at the expense of paying 50 million for Aouar? I would rather invest in Saka.

The bones of the squad are there. Two positions take us up a level. Cf and Xhakas. Ita not so much about adding creativity with a purely creative player.

Saka, Tierney, Willian, Pepe all in the same line up is plenty of creativity. All it needs is a press resistant deep playmaker.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Everyone was horrible then. Think he needs another go. There's really no reason why he would be bad. Has all the tools

Agree but that's not his fault he isn't a fullback he feel more comfortable as wingback because he got more protection behind him

 

[HairSprayGooners]

Arteta originally had Saka at left back in a back 4, pushing him forward and tucking the rb in as a dm, not part of the front 5.

Currently AMN plays as a lcm when we have the ball. He is part of the attacking 5 and breaks into the box. How often did you see Bellerin in the box when he played rwb or rb?



We have a homegrown talented player who we just tied down to a new deal capable of scoring and assisting and you want to do what with him exactly? Bench him at the expense of paying 50 million for Aouar? I would rather invest in Saka.

The bones of the squad are there. Two positions take us up a level. Cf and Xhakas. Ita not so much about adding creativity with a purely creative player.

Saka, Tierney, Willian, Pepe all in the same line up is plenty of creativity. All it needs is a press resistant deep playmaker.

Xhaka has been excellent so far theres no reason to drop him. I'm not saying dont start Saka I want us to start him. But we have a ridiculous amount of games packed into under a year.

 

[PressResistance]

Is this Accountant Mania or what?

Be a big club, sign your own, get rid of the dross, add quality.
Emirates, Rwanda, TV rights, years of the most expensive tickets, summers like when we only signed Čech, we 've got the money to buy Gabriel and atleast two mids, say Ceballos and Partey. That alone takes us up a level, for switching the formation we need an Aouar/Buendia type of player + Özil redemption.

Ainsley is that type of glue player every team that doesn't spend big needs, he can play decently in half the positions in the team.

 

[Arsenio Venger]

I’m actually happy that AMN is like a new signing

 

[The_Playmaker]

Xhaka has been excellent so far theres no reason to drop him. I'm not saying dont start Saka I want us to start him. But we have a ridiculous amount of games packed into under a year.

I genuinely think there is a good argument for buying a better player in Xhakas position. He has played well for Xhaka. I still see him bypassed, failing to switch play, failing to drive forward and failing to play the ball forward. Not making mistakes and being solid is what you would expect of a back up.

Modern day football has teams trying to press and create transitions. They also sit back in a low block.

People keep thinking we need players between the lines or creative players. We actually have creative players, what we lack is players who play the ball forward, or who can beat a press from a deeper position.

Take Xhaka out and put Thiago in and I can't even explain how much better the team instantly becomes.

Put Aouar in at the expense of Willian or Saka and I genuinely don't think it's that big of an improvement. No where near the impact of having a better central midfielder in deeper areas.

 

[bingobob]

makes me think 343 is going to be the way forward and we will try to punt Kolasanic instead now. Maybe even Bellerin.

 

[akhil]

Arteta originally had Saka at left back in a back 4, pushing him forward and tucking the rb in as a dm, not part of the front 5.

Currently AMN plays as a lcm when we have the ball. He is part of the attacking 5 and breaks into the box. How often did you see Bellerin in the box when he played rwb or rb?



We have a homegrown talented player who we just tied down to a new deal capable of scoring and assisting and you want to do what with him exactly? Bench him at the expense of paying 50 million for Aouar? I would rather invest in Saka.

The bones of the squad are there. Two positions take us up a level. Cf and Xhakas. Ita not so much about adding creativity with a purely creative player.

Saka, Tierney, Willian, Pepe all in the same line up is plenty of creativity. All it needs is a press resistant deep playmaker.

Agree with most of it, except that we don't have a real creative central player in there. Willian has played his whole life out wide and suddenly assuming he starts playing like a AM is a big reach. He's a very good player though.

Saka's not an 8 and even if we try him there, it's probably a long time before he becomes comfortable there. He's not going to start there in the league.

 

[rich 1990]

@rich 1990

That has proved nothing really. I'm hardly the only one to have doubted him. Even ****ing Arteta did. He's only just started to prove me wrong. And he is still not a cm.

The only thing you've done here, Curtis, is add 24 more hours to that pervo's time on my ignore list.

 

[HairSprayGooners]

I genuinely think there is a good argument for buying a better player in Xhakas position. He has played well for Xhaka. I still see him bypassed, failing to switch play, failing to drive forward and failing to play the ball forward. Not making mistakes and being solid is what you would expect of a back up.

Modern day football has teams trying to press and create transitions. They also sit back in a low block.

People keep thinking we need players between the lines or creative players. We actually have creative players, what we lack is players who play the ball forward, or who can beat a press from a deeper position.

Take Xhaka out and put Thiago in and I can't even explain how much better the team instantly becomes.

Put Aouar in at the expense of Willian or Saka and I genuinely don't think it's that big of an improvement. No where near the impact of having a better central midfielder in deeper areas.

Is that not where Ceballos comes in?

Martinez
AMN
Saliba
Gabriel
Tierney
Ceballos
Partey
Saka
Pepe
New more creative striker
Auba

Look at top class teams, where does the creativity come from? At Bayern and Liverpool its mainly the full backs. City its all through the midfield.

Is there enough creativity in that Arsenal team i posted compared to one of the big sides I mentioned? Saka, Pepe and Tierney are your chief creators in that team. It simply isn't enough.

I like AMN but he is no Trent or Kimmich going forward.

 

[akhil]

I genuinely think there is a good argument for buying a better player in Xhakas position. He has played well for Xhaka. I still see him bypassed, failing to switch play, failing to drive forward and failing to play the ball forward. Not making mistakes and being solid is what you would expect of a back up.

Modern day football has teams trying to press and create transitions. They also sit back in a low block.

People keep thinking we need players between the lines or creative players. We actually have creative players, what we lack is players who play the ball forward, or who can beat a press from a deeper position.

Take Xhaka out and put Thiago in and I can't even explain how much better the team instantly becomes.

Put Aouar in at the expense of Willian or Saka and I genuinely don't think it's that big of an improvement. No where near the impact of having a better central midfielder in deeper areas.

You're talking about Liverpool for the most part, they have Firmino who plays between the lines a lot. Bayern to some extent as well and they have Mueller who's as intelligent as they come in terms of finding space and they're both extremely good at pressing.

Every other big team has specialists for creative midfielders. We've got one of the best ones who's basically in pseudo retirement at this point.

 

[The_Playmaker]

Agree with most of it, except that we don't have a real creative central player in there. Willian has played his whole life out wide and suddenly assuming he starts playing like a AM is a big reach. He's a very good player though.

Saka's not an 8 and even if we try him there, it's probably a long time before he becomes comfortable there. He's not going to start there in the league.

Liverpool won the league and the champions league without a specialist creative midfielder. Football is so much more about distances and patterns of play.

Isn't it intriguing that Aubamyang is obviously the biggest threat we have offensively, yet the best teams in England haven't been able to stop him. That isn't because he is as good as Messi. Its literally because players make rehearsed movements that allow him to be in space.

Willian doesn't need to he a specialist number 10. The point is that he is creative and so is Saka and Pepe. They can hurt teams from wide and central positions. We need to move away from the idea of having a central playmaker playing throughballs. It isn't needed.

 

[HairSprayGooners]

Liverpool won the league and the champions league without a specialist creative midfielder. Football is so much more about distances and patterns of play.

Isn't it intriguing that Aubamyang is obviously the biggest threat we have offensively, yet the best teams in England haven't been able to stop him. That isn't because he is as good as Messi. Its literally because players make rehearsed movements that allow him to be in space.

Willian doesn't need to he a specialist number 10. The point is that he is creative and so is Saka and Pepe. They can hurt teams from wide and central positions. We need to move away from the idea of having a central playmaker playing throughballs. It isn't needed.

But Liverpool replace the need for a creative mid due to having Trent and Robbo who act like creative players. Tierney certainly can provide a lot of assists and creating chances. But not sure on AMN or Bellerin on the right.

Liverpool have 5 chief creators in their team. Robbo, Trent, Mane, Salah, Firmino. We need a similar number.