✍️ OFFICIAL Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Out)

[akhil]

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.

Agree completely on the bolded bit, but creative players are the best at it though. What the best creators do is they buy time and space for other players.

It's not about through balls or anything of the sort. It's more about stitching together moves through the middle, I think Bruno Fernandes at Utd is a good example. He was able to put the front 3 in better positions to be a bigger threat and pull defenders all over the place.

We are extremely 1 dimensional right now with evertyhing going out wide. Against teams in the lower half, they'll defend deep and narrow without too much trouble and we'll look clueless again.

 

[Sebastes]

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.

So much this! Elneny did soo much more for us to be able to play out from the back than Xhaka. Makes you think. People think Xhaka is good on the only merit he doesn’t **** up as much as he used to.

As for Ainsley. We have a suspect defense and this guy is has no problem goong up against Mané (of all players) in short sprint and pockets the likes of Salah and Mahrez. He didn’t work out perfectly before in a back four, but that was mostly due to him being arrogant and dropping focus. AMN isn’t the best crosser but play him RB in defense and RCM in attack in a 4-3-3/2-3-5 and he’ll be one of our top performers under Arteta (he arguably already is)

 

[Jack_The_Lad]

Agree completely on the bolded bit, but creative players are the best at it though. What the best creators do is they buy time and space for other players.

It's not about through balls or anything of the sort. It's more about stitching together moves through the middle, I think Bruno Fernandes at Utd is a good example. He was able to put the front 3 in better positions to be a bigger threat and pull defenders all over the place.

We are extremely 1 dimensional right now with evertyhing going out wide. Against teams in the lower half, they'll defend deep and narrow without too much trouble and we'll look clueless again.

However flawed they may have been, Ramsey and Iwobi were really good at this. Unfortunately we haven't replaced them hence the drop off in chances created.

I reckon Willian is Iwobi's replacement/improvement. Haven't seen any of the linked midfielders enough to know about their playstyle but we're definitely getting someone in for this role.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

Like that new thread name! Hope it is true and he stays! Tons of potential if he stays and develops. Like that he has turned his game around after Arteta seemed to have questioned his commitment. The way he handled Mane yesterday was very impressive. I like that he is quick and strong and takes good positions. He seems really hard to beat 1 vs 1. At least Mane couldn't and he is no slouch...

 

[DanDare]

We need to move away from the idea of having a central playmaker playing throughballs. It isn't needed.

Think this is very true. Think a lot of us fall prey to having played good football when we had a through ball genius is Fabregas

There are other ways and that "number 10" probably isnt relevant anymore

 

[Get These Hands]

Think this is very true. Think a lot of us fall prey to having played good football when we had a through ball genius is Fabregas

There are other ways and that "number 10" probably isnt relevant anymore

Yep, been saying this for donkeys. One if the reasons why Özil struggles.

 

[The_Playmaker]

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.

How do Robertson and Trent act like creative players? Are they playing eye of the needle passes through pattern play and getting between the lines? They just get wide and cross the ball. The exact same thing that Tierney does.

The reason it is effective is because they have two monsters at the back so with full backs can push on, they have midfielders who can actually move so they cover the wide spaces and they have inside forwards who get in the box.

How creative are they against a low block and a team that can defend an actual cross? I wouldn't even say Salah is creative.

For me it's not about the number of creative players you have is how and where you get the ball to them. I think Saka, Pepe and Willian will hurt any team if they get the ball in the final third. Our problem is not that we don't have Aouar. It's more that we have two central midfielders who literally do not play the ball forward.

The ball to Auba is always on. Yet only Luiz and Tierney will attempt it. Our midfielders just play safe. They go back, they go sideways. They literally cannot travel with the ball. 5 mins into the game against Liverpool, Xhaka had the opportunity to break, yet tried to by a foul and didn't even get it. In the second half Cedric played a good play inside for Elneny to carry, he took a heavy touch and overran it, then couldn't get back.

The technical quality of our team is all on the outside of the pitch. The central area literally has mid table to bottom table technical ability on the ball. All I hear is Xhaka is playing well. He can't even turn ffs. He can't dribble and he can't carry the ball. He doesn't even spray the ball all over the pitch. How many times does he play a long pass to either flank? It's simply spinning the ball out to the left. That's what he does all game. You don't need 5 creative players to improve on that.

 

[HairSprayGooners]

How do Robertson and Trent act like creative players? Are they playing eye of the needle passes through pattern play and getting between the lines? They just get wide and cross the ball. The exact same thing that Tierney does.

The reason it is effective is because they have two monsters at the back so with full backs can push on, they have midfielders who can actually move so they cover the wide spaces and they have inside forwards who get in the box.

How creative are they against a low block and a team that can defend an actual cross? I wouldn't even say Salah is creative.

For me it's not about the number of creative players you have is how and where you get the ball to them. I think Saka, Pepe and Willian will hurt any team if they get the ball in the final third. Our problem is not that we don't have Aouar. It's more that we have two central midfielders who literally do not play the ball forward.

The ball to Auba is always on. Yet only Luiz and Tierney will attempt it. Our midfielders just play safe. They go back, they go sideways. They literally cannot travel with the ball. 5 mins into the game against Liverpool, Xhaka had the opportunity to break, yet tried to by a foul and didn't even get it. In the second half Cedric played a good play inside for Elneny to carry, he took a heavy touch and overran it, then couldn't get back.

The technical quality of our team is all on the outside of the pitch. The central area literally has mid table to bottom table technical ability on the ball. All I hear is Xhaka is playing well. He can't even turn ffs. He can't dribble and he can't carry the ball. He doesn't even spray the ball all over the pitch. How many times does he play a long pass to either flank? It's simply spinning the ball out to the left. That's what he does all game. You don't need 5 creative players to improve on that.

They act like creative players through crosses into the box but they're way more than just that. Trent could play in midfield as a playmaker he is that good. He created 17 big chances for Liverpool last season. Way more than any of our players and hes a right back.

The way they play works, it might just look like crosses into the box to you, but it isnt. Especially when both are bombing forward doing it constantly.

You might not think we need something else, but wait until we are losing to Fulham away next season through a goal conceded on the break. Whilst we struggle to break down a low block due to not having enough creative spark.

 

[Kysus]

Lol. Having players break lines is what football is all about(in ALL positions) and you do that on the ball with
A) Passing
B) Dribbling

And off the ball by
A) Movement and B) Holdup

We have nobody to link attack with defense/deep midfield and therefore create ****all.
Does not matter if it is a 10 or a 8 or whatever, we need someone to receive the ball in between the lines and feed it to our attack. Right now a lot of what we create is just balls over multiple zones(cb/fb/xhaka to auba)

 

[The_Playmaker]

They act like creative players through crosses into the box but they're way more than just that. Trent could play in midfield as a playmaker he is that good. He created 17 big chances for Liverpool last season. Way more than any of our players and hes a right back.

The way they play works, it might just look like crosses into the box to you, but it isnt. Especially when both are bombing forward doing it constantly.

You might not think we need something else, but wait until we are losing to Fulham away next season through a goal conceded on the break. Whilst we struggle to break down a low block due to not having enough creative spark.

That's literally like me saying AMN can play in midfield. It's probably even more far fetched seeing as he has never played there.

I'm not saying we don't need creativity. I'm saying we need it from deeper.

 

[The_Playmaker]

Lol. Having players break lines is what football is all about(in ALL positions) and you do that on the ball with
A) Passing
B) Dribbling

And off the ball by
A) Movement and B) Holdup

We have nobody to link attack with defense/deep midfield and therefore create ****all.
Does not matter if it is a 10 or a 8 or whatever, we need someone to receive the ball in between the lines and feed it to our attack. Right now a lot of what we create is just balls over multiple zones(cb/fb/xhaka to auba)

We have players who can break lines, dribble and get in between the lines, we don't have players who can find them. We have players who turn away from the pass because they would rather play it safe, or are scared to lose it as they may have someone running at them.

 

[Kysus]

Laca is the only one who regularly drops between defense and midfield. But he is the lone striker so is always closely followed in that situation.
We have nobody else dropping in that pocket and that's why our chance creation is nonexistent

 

[HairSprayGooners]

That's literally like me saying AMN can play in midfield. It's probably even more far fetched seeing as he has never played there.

I'm not saying we don't need creativity. I'm saying we need it from deeper.

No it really isn't. Trent and Kimmich are on a different to level to any full back in world football.

We had Ceballos and Xhaka playing it through from midfield last season. They were playing it through to our forwards but we had no final third creativity. 16th best in the league.

I think your analysis of this is poor. We had no defence splitters. Even Saka isn't your typical defence splitting player. Pepe is pretty much the only one we have and he was having a big influence towards the end of the season but we need someone centrally like Aouar.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

How lazy English media are by the way how can you go from asking 25m to sell Niles to reconsider selling him because of friendly cup MOTM performance. I hope that not true because it's s**t planning from the club you go to transfer window have a clear plan not changing it everyday

 

[Tosker]

How lazy English media are by the way how can you go from asking 25m to sell Niles to reconsider selling him because of friendly cup MOTM performance. I hope that not true because it's s**t planning from the club you go to transfer window have a clear plan not changing it everyday

but maybe the plan was to make AMN want to stay at Arsenal, and commit himself on and off the field

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

but maybe the plan was to make AMN want to stay at Arsenal, and commit himself on and off the field

Then you just not say he isn't for sale because orny came out and said he was sure leaving because first team football and just few days ago he said the same.

 

[drippin]

Then you just not say he isn't for sale because orny came out and said he was sure leaving because first team football and just few days ago he said the same.

Maybe the England call-up put +5 million to the price? Maybe Wolves didn't offer enough money to begin with?

Maybe in addition Arteta convinced AMN that he can almost be a CMF, only coming in from the wings. And get many games this season.

 

[The_Playmaker]

How lazy English media are by the way how can you go from asking 25m to sell Niles to reconsider selling him because of friendly cup MOTM performance. I hope that not true because it's s**t planning from the club you go to transfer window have a clear plan not changing it everyday

Have to agree with you fully on this. AMN staying and extending is a massive u turn. Its **** planning. There is no master plan. They have seen him get called up to the national teams. He is the only representative at England international level and we were prepared to sell him to a direct competitor for literally peanuts.

 

[drippin]

Have to agree with you fully on this. AMN staying and extending is a massive u turn. Its **** planning. There is no master plan. They have seen him get called up to the national teams. He is the only representative at England international level and we were prepared to sell him to a direct competitor for literally peanuts.

He was called there two days ago for the first time. These rumours were earlier.

 

[The_Playmaker]

He was called there two days ago for the first time. These rumours were earlier.

There have been rumours about him leaving before the season ended. However he was picked for the important games. Ornstein said we were open to selling him and we rejected the bid in order to get 5 more million from them in order to sell. Arteta plays him against Liverpool, he gets man of the match, an England call up and suddenly Arsenal now want to keep him. It's not part of the 'plan'.