Our slow and lethargic football

[RacingPhoton]

I reckon we flog off a few of the dross. Then start building from here. 100m should get us Upa and Partey. That amount can be supplemented by sales of Xhaka, mustafi, Laca etc
W

Isn't Partey a DM?

 

[Sammy1887]

 

[RunTheTrap]

This is what I believe in the medium to long term what Arteta wants.
Team A:

On the bench you would have like for like replacements like: Mari, Luiz, Kolasinac, Soares, Nelson, Nketiah, Willock, Guendouzi, Xhaka and a winger.

LCB- Fast, over 6ft tall, good passer, long passer, not dumb, a leader and comfortable to pull off the wide left when Tierney pushes up. Someone who can play a high line with Saliba so our pressing is better. Preferably French for communication purposes.

RB/RM- Excellent crosser of the ball, good passer and engine. Basically a right back that is good enough to play in midfield, he won't necessarily push up the field but will be basically be an old-school right mid in the 442 days. Think David Beckham or what Trent is for Liverpool. Obviously, AMN would have been that guy but I don't think he'll be here for much longer, its a shame tbh.

ESR/RCM- I used ESR but I don't know his ceiling right now. He has to be someone who can be the link man with Pepe. Unfortunately, I don't see Arteta using an overlapping right back. Instead it will be this guy job to provide underlapping and overlapping runs for Pepe to create space for him to cut inside and pop off a shot. I think ESR could do this, he had his education as a winger through the academy so I expect him to be adept to providing selfless runs. He is really creative and provides a powerful shot on him. This person should also be comfortable dropping deep and driving forward with the ball. Basically KdB.

Mobile Target Man- Tall, great in the air, can drop deep and create, hold-up play, a technician and goal scorer. Basically think Lewandowski. Finding the next Lewandowski, is like a virgin trying to find a g-spot. Good luck with that. I think having a target man would be a good 'wall passer' someone that can provide one touch football in and around the box. Someone you can ping the ball up to the pitch to when struggling from a press. Drogba would be ideal, probably easier to find him than Lewandowski.

That's the unknowns done. We already know what Arteta wants from the others. Saka is to provide width and play LM when needed to. Whips in crosses like KdB for the target man and for Martinelli to drift inside. He will combine mostly with Tierney. At all times, there will be a wide left option for the switch and to provide width.

Martinelli-the Auba replacement but technically better than Auba was and a better work rate.

Partey-Xhaka's upgrade and not with the many howlers and mistakes. He has athleticism so he can cover ground better and he is defensively discliplined. Tracks runners and good in the air.

Team B:
Martinez
Soares-Luiz/New CB-Mari-Kolasinac
Willock-Xhaka-Guendouzi/New CM
Nelson-Nketiah-New LW

Kinda operates as the above but with a few differences. No more slow and lethargic football.

 

[Oxeki]

Isn't Partey a DM?

More like a B2B

 

[lomekian]

This is why I’m scratching my head at some of the selections. AMN and Willock would add something different to that midfield. Willock has a similar ability to Ramsey where he can make late runs into the box. Playing him higher up the pitch doesn’t allow him to show that.

Its why ultimately we will move to a 3 man midfield. Its one reason why Saka is being trialed in more central positions. Willock is too poor defensively for a 2 man central midfield, but with more freedom and coming from deeper he can be a ball carrying weapon. Difficulty is, he's not quite ready yet.

 

[lomekian]

More than that, what Willock should be bringing is the ability to carry the ball forward. I think he passes better from deeper positions aswell, his passing as a #6 has always been more impressive to me whenever I've seen him play there. He's also a very good duel-winner and presses very well - I do think that sometimes his positioning when we have the ball could be better but I think that's mitigated when he's somewhat behind the ball. The timing of his runs are better when the ball's ahead.

With AMN, it's somewhat similar, but I think he passes the ball quicker. He's faster and can add a bit more energy when he's at his most focused. More than that, his composure in possession can be good for slowing the game down when we're in a position of dominance or when we need to halt the momentum of the opponent.

Both players are far better when they have a higher volume of touches. Too often, they play in positions that take them out of the game - additionally they could also be doing more to mitigate that from the positions they're in but that still makes me think they'd be far better served playing deeper in midfield and given a chance in the engine room.

Absolutely spot on. But then, your posts often are, even when I disagree ;-)

 

[lomekian]

This is the problem with our fanbase. We big up our team so much as if we're treble holders or something. Surely if our players were as good as we think we would not have been a midtable club ?? The reality is our players are overrated and not good enough and its honestly not surprising we are where we are

A much bigger problem is entitlement and slagging off the young players we need to support, and judging by the same criteria as experienced top level profressionals.

Is Willock ready now? Not really, but not surprising considering his positional fluctuation. But he has got a lot of high level attributes. I don't expect him to ever be as good as Rambo was, but I hope he's utilised more intelligently.

 

[lomekian]

Cult heroes? Reserve that **** for players the fans like but who never made a major contribution to anything substantial during their time here.

The Hlebs, Flaminis, Eduardos (who I like) and the Arshavins of this world.

How many Arsenal players have scored in a FA cup final?
How many of them scored the winning goal?
How many of them did that twice? The second time being against a hated rival?

If Ramsey isn't an Arsenal legend then I don't know who qualifies.

He is indeed. But he's not Vieira who is probably the best centre-midfielder the club has had in 130+ years

 

[lomekian]

Calm down? Im laughing at what you said. Ramsey can get a goal by timing his runs, Wilock just kind of arrives and hovers around there without doing much. Its pointless to bring the playstyle up and say he can do similar, its like saying Xhaka has a similar playstyle to Xavi because they both pass the ball long, like I mean yeah sort of ... but really?

At the under 23 level Willock was excellent at timing runs. He struggles with that as a number 10, but currently isn't good enough defensively to play as an 8 in a 2 man midfield.

 

[lomekian]

Our Football the first few years at the Emirates was better than anything played at Highbury imo

You're obviously not well. I prescribe a course of the 03/04 season, the 01/02 season the 97/98 season and the 91/92 season. Don't get me wrong, we played some beautiful stuff in the early Emirates years, but the telepathy and physicality and speed and dynamism and intricacy of the the best spells of the teams I mentioned is a level above. The Invincible team used to just make me laugh at times, because all but the best opposition was pretty powerless. There were so many games around that time they'd kill the game off in the first 20 minutes scoring goals that were at lightning speed but still involved most of the team.

 

[lomekian]

Look at those games against Chelsea and Utd when Arteta first arrived. We pressed for 90 minutes and moved the ball around like a pinball. We can do it, so why aren't we? Why have we totally abandoned that style of play?

Partly fitness. Since the restart the games have all lacked intensity. Before that we were on a good run.

Also, we really don't have that many players who can sustain that style and when some are missing the whole thing falls over.

But yes, that has to be the blueprint

 

[lomekian]

I reckon we flog off a few of the dross. Then start building from here. 100m should get us Upa and Partey. That amount can be supplemented by sales of Xhaka, mustafi, Laca etc
W

I suspect that's pretty close to Arteta's vision longer term (with a more rounded striker than Auba), but it's not happenign overnight

 

[lomekian]

Best thread on here since I re-joined btw. Such a nice change from the mental hot-takes and whinging.

The primary key is to finally get back to recruiting players with a clear idea in mind. The last 6 years or so have been 'buying good footballers', without any clear idea of how those footballers will fit together.

Sure Xhaka's no Manu Petit, but he's been terribly exposed by incoherent set ups around him. If you play Xhaka and don't have great athletes around, its a waste of time. Switzerland worked that out, and but Behrami with him to do all of the running around, and have had their best ever period of international success.

Lucas Torreira is not a bad player, but he's not a partner for or a replacement for Xhaka, unless you have him deeper and push Xhaka on, which doesn't really work. You see the same all over the squad. Laca and Auba etc etc.

At least our kids coming through are reasonably complementary style wise, and the crop behind also have a stylistic compatibility.

 

[#254]

Except xhaka is there, change that and this would look better.

You don't want him to shoot any more