What needs to change?

[Tir Na Nog]

They probably thought that the Özil-Miki-Auba-Laca attack would thrive for a few years, and with Bellerin + Xhaka established in the team you only need a few players to complete the first XI with 3 windows to do it in.

The thing is, I remember the Liverpool game we drew 1-1 at the Emirates.

We had Lacazette-Auba-Özil-Mkhi as our attack, Torreira-Xhaka as our midfield. Bellerin and Kolasinac as our attacking full-backs. Leno in goals. It seemed to be working pretty well in that game, like our attack look potent, Xhaka-Torreira were holding their own against a 3 man Liverpool midfield, Bellerin and Kolasinac were contributing offensively as well. Back then most would have assumed that would've been the basis of our team for the next few years and that we'd only have to add maybe a couple of players in midfield/attack along with some quality CB's. For ac combination of reasons that all went array. Emery seemed to prefer 3-4-3 or eventually 3-4-1-2 to the 4-2-3-1 we played in that game, dropped Özil, Mkhitaryan was hugely out of form, Torreira was dreadful second half of the season, Bellerin got injured, we had to adapt to make ourselves better defensively and as a result our attack hugely suffered.

It was always a huge gamble to be relying on an attack consisting of players mostly in their late 20's or entering their 30's especially as we were exiting the Wenger era entering a transitional phase under a new manager where our focus was purely getting back in the CL. It was kinda of a now or never approach, either the attack hits the ground running and fires us into CL and we can then focus on building with younger players or we end up having the issues we did have and we're left with what we have now.

 

[Makingtrax]

We've been undergoing a steady but massive decline in the past decade. We've gotten progressively worse in the past few years. What are the things that needs to change in order for us to get back to the top?

For me I think our recruitment needs to be revamped

Stan the man, octogenarian board, chronic injury history, statDNA, Gazidis . . . any number of problems. Wenger buffered us from the reality of a money grabbing, high ticket selling, poorly invested club that kept money in the bank for reasons beyond understanding. Now he's gone chickens are coming home to roost.

 

[A_G]

Not sure how our board thought that was gonna work, unless they don't actually watch football, that might be it tbf

Auba and Laca are two very good strikers, but the only way to fit them in is to play a 3 at the back formation, which limits your offense really...none of the four can dribble to a high level, which is something every top team needs...and we should have been trying to get Xhaka out of the team, not establish him in it even further!

Such an unbalanced attack really.

On the few occasions under Wenger where Laca played up front and Auba out wide, it worked quite well tbf.

 

[MutableEarth]

I think things are already changing personally - but given the gravity of the change needed, it's going to be a while before we see actual results.

In terms of the short term changes we need to make, the first one immediately is an overhaul of the midfield. It's the easiest problem to fix, relatively speaking of course. Beyond that, a change in midfield should also lead to an overall change in the profile of the squad. Edu and Arteta need to build a squad with not just a clear philosophy, but a squad capable of carrying out said philosophy.

As ever, I feel that the academy is a very important piece of the jigsaw, and we need to integrate the graduates into the set-up rather than padding out our squad with low ceiling journeymen just because they have "experience".

Lastly, we need to make sure that our head coach has support. Edu needs to have a clear recruitment strategy, using both the scouting and the data analysis team - use StatDNA well and have a data analyst that liaises with Cagigao and the rest of the scouts to put together a synthetic approach to identifying players. Then Raul can do whatever bullshit that he does with agents to get the deals over the line! . I would argue that maybe another extra addition to Arteta's coaching staff would be optimal, and also to make sure Per Mertesacker (and Steve Bould) has an input into which players are ready to make step ups to the first team and be more proactive about loaning players. There just needs to be more cohesion and clear goals.

 

[Oxeki]

 

[nick gould]

Arsenal need to start producing their own defenders. Think Tony Adams, John Terry at Chelsea, Puyol at Barcelona. Let them be the fabric of the team. They will defend with all their heart and demand that everyone else do so. How hard is it to spot at potentially good central who is 14 of 15 and bring them to the club. Then teach them the passing bit. Look at the gap in the academy. Not a single promising central defender.

 

[The_Playmaker]

Too much needs to change. We have this fear of selling. It is really strange. We just buy players to become comfortable first steamers and then we are just scared to move them on. There is no ruthlessness. If Auba doesn't sign. Sell him. Sell players who aren't good enough and who underperform. Sell players who don't fit thr system. Just sell. Why can everyone do it but us?

Why must we KEEP Auba, Lacazette, Özil, Xhaka, Mustafi? They can all be sold. All replaced. We were so quick to disperse the invincible, yet we do our best to cling onto everyone else we can.

 

[Oxeki]

Too much needs to change. We have this fear of selling. It is really strange. We just buy players to become comfortable first steamers and then we are just scared to move them on. There is no ruthlessness. If Auba doesn't sign. Sell him. Sell players who aren't good enough and who underperform. Sell players who don't fit thr system. Just sell. Why can everyone do it but us?

Why must we KEEP Auba, Lacazette, Özil, Xhaka, Mustafi? They can all be sold. All replaced. We were so quick to disperse the invincible, yet we do our best to cling onto everyone else we can.

It's quite difficult to move most of the names you mentioned due to their wage demand.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

Glad that most agree we have been terrible in recent transfer windows!

Been trying to point it out with getting a lot of abuse!

 

[14Henry]

Mentality at Arsenal seems weak as piss and that stems back from the years of "top 4 is the goal". While top for was hugely important, it is the catalyst or at least should be for further improvement.

I harp back to Liverpool but Liverpool where around 6th/7th and gradually progressed, started getting champions league and subsequently started signing better players. They used CL to invest and improve the team.

Those players turned out to be good, their position strengthened and they made the next step. Winning things and challenging.

Now people can say we paid stadiums off and x y and z and money was tight. However money wasnt that tight. And also when we did spend we spent foolishly. We made opportunist signings or just not good enough signings. We replaced top players with average players.

Van Persie out Giroud in is a downgrade. Fabregas and Nasri out and replaced poorly. Sanchez out and not replaced.

We got Laca because AM faced a ban and we were the only club in for him after that. We then signed Auba when he became available after kind of falling out with people at Dortmund. Pepe seemed on his way to Napoli and we swooped in at the last minute. We wanted Tierney and took about 3 months getting it over the line over a couple of million here and there.

Our transfer business seems very much reactive. We are also signing mid 20 players playing in lesser leagues, in lesser teams and expecting them to compete with the best. Theres a reason a 24-25 year old is playing mid table easier leagues.

There are exceptions. But look down our signings. All either players seemingly obviously not good enough or let's just settle for it signings. (Sokratis, Mustafi, Xhaka, Miki, Welbeck, Cech) the list goes on like. Players who no other top teams want because they arent good enough.

We are a soft touch and need to harden up. Both on the pitch and off it.

Personally I think we are gonna need Saka, Tierney, Saliba, ESR, and Martinelli to turn out to be top quality. To group together and form a core of the team and with couple of signings around them develop. That's about 3-4 years away. We need a class of 92 scenario.

 

[TheEconomist]

If everyone above arteta was replaced that would be a good start. Then we can look at replacing everyone under Arteta

 

[Monstar-Gunn4r]

I think the management and recruitment has to be changed tbh. Currently we seem to be trying to 'outsmart' the market and buying players that have monetary value and skipping over the no brainers because its too obvious.

Last summer we could have had ziyech for about 25 million, bruno fernandes had a buyout clause of around 35 million and bennacaer for 16. The first 2 are players who had shown some seriously good stuff in Europe and bennacaer in Italy, instead we got pepe for 60-80 million depending on clauses etc. What you may think about pepe is irrelevant our entire midfield lacks ability on the ball and a way to construct attacks which means we dont see the best of him anyway.

Chelsea are a team that looks at where its problem areas are and buys the no-brainers ie. fabregas a few years ago, werner this week etc. They're not trying to make one unknown or semi unkown amazing buy that changes the team like a Ronaldo or Henry, theyre doing both, buying in talent that is relativvely well proven with a lot of potential. I feel if they took our approach they would've bought pulisic only and never ziyech because he plays in the third of the pitch.

I'm hoping the club can recognize talent when its there and not try to make it out to be some sort of voodoo magic that nobody but the non-football people and agents they know can figure out. We need to stop this rubbish as well of we have a player for that position we cant have another - this rears its ehad mostly around Özil - if Özil doesnt deliver then who do we have? We act like a bad gambler and double down on every mistake we make which we need to stop as well.