No idea what an Arsenal First XI’s average mph is, but I’m guessing pretty slow.
Assuming Ems Emery goes for four defenders, then the midfield will come from Torreira, Xhaka, Ramsey, Maitland Niles sort of thing. Depending on whether he goes for two or three of them, then we’re looking at a front three or four from Mesut, Mhiki, Auba and Laca.
Here’s my concern: Auba gets injured and we’re seriously lacking in pace.
Here’s my problem: Where do we find more pace and where do we squeeze it in?
Here’s my answer: we do have Danny in the wings and we also have the likes of Eddie, so if our transfer business is, as most suspect, done and dusted then the answer lies within. If, on the other hand it is not over, then where would we fit in a speedster, and where would the cash come from as I suspect some accounts balancing would be required?
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Cheers, Micky.
Maitland-Niles is as quick as a whippet and Laca has some pace too, though the attributes of Walcott i.e. out and out pace with very little ball control, will be sorely missed this season.
Thanks Chas
Funny you should mention M-N as I was thinking of him in terms of which player most likely to break through from squad member to First XI starter by the end of the campaign, and M-N would be my bet.
poor Mezut
“I am German when we win, but I am an immigrant when we lose,” Ozil said. He says he received hate mail and threats and was being blamed for Germany’s disappointing World Cup.
you forgot about Hector. Again.
Allegedly: “Arsenal scouts bemused
Football scouts across Europe are said to have been left ‘bemused’ by three Gunners deals this summer.
Unai Emery has been afforded the freedom to sign a new-look defence in his first transfer window in north London.
Stephan Lichtsteiner, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Bernd Leno have arrived.
And the Mail claim scouts across the continent are surprised by the trio.
It is claimed there are question marks surrounding all three players.”
Shows how not only the Daily Mail (obviously) but “football scouts” all tend to talk bollox.
Iwobi probably on the wings for any injury
Hope he does us a favour and sell danny boy
I think the issue is not necessarily speed but I feel like we do not have any players who is going to hug the touchline – all of our attacking players want to drift centrally again rather than stay wide. We had Walcott and Ox but both are gone. There has been an improvement since Auba has joined since he goes where there is space, which means a lot of diagonal runs from the center or some runs on the side. However, we need one new player that is actually a specialist winger that can play on both wings and if you are a winger, you must have pace, dribbling and crossing skills…
City has Sane, Sterling
Utd has Sanchez, Martial, Lingard
Chelsea has Hazard, WIllian, Pedro
Liverpool has Mane, Salah, Ox
We have….
RC78
We have Dick Emery!
Well I’ve never seen Sane, Sterling, Sanchez, Martial, Lingford, Hazard, Willian, Pedro, Mane or Salah hug a touchline.
All of them drift centrally.
Micky
Your majestic post has had over 1,000 views.
I presume the title made everyone think that the players were going to be buzzing around like insects in Singapore on sulphate.
1,000 views? Don’t care, Chas 🙂
RC
My beef with traditional wingers is that they like to zoom past defenders then hoof it into the middle, whereas you can have your speedsters coming from deeper or just occasionally going wider.
Really warming up to the idea of M-N on one side of Torreira, with I suppose Ramsey on the other
Right now any Arsenal 11 sounds good to me – I can’t wait for the season to start, I feel it is going to be very competitive. My expectations of Arsenal are very moderate as I feel this is a transition season for Unai.
Frankly players can come and go but it’s Unai that interests me the most as I want to see how/if he can make his mark on the club.
Three PL teams are yet to buy any new players.
Tottenham, Everton and Burnley.
RC78, liverpool dont have Ox, he is out until next season
Chas I tend to disagree – these players widen the game for their team, they may come to the center again but if you look at Willian or Sane, these guys they stay on their wing and offer width to their team
I d take Mertens or Carrasco in the team – they would add pace and width to the team. Great for our bench rather than starters
Leno – Bellerin, Mustafi, Sokratis, Koli – Ramsey, Torreira, Xhaka – Miky, Ozil – Auba
Fancy Ralphie letting himself get all out of shape like that!
Name these ex players
(and, no, Viv Anderson isn’t the right answer for either, Micky)
baby elephant 🙂 🙂 🙂 unadulterated fun
Peter Marinello and Willie Young 😉
We are still trying to get Nzonzi and Mexer
I want to see us off-load some players, we cant have 45 players
Mertens plays as a striker for napoli on plays on wing for country
Is arsenal training session a joke now
Chas
Well they both bear more than an uncanny resemblance to Viv Anderson as far as I’m concerned
Guess you’re trying to out smart me with the double bluff routine
Good luck with that 🙂
It looks like it, Freddie.
Mustafi looks like he’s been pissing himself laughing all morning
Rambo has been taking it easy over the summer – slacker
Did you hear about the two blokes who nicked a calendar
They both got six months
I like lacazette and aubameung bromannce
Cheers Micky
Speed isn’t that important, though the last time I took some I walked from Leicester Square to Bounds Green in under five minutes. On the way stopping at Finsbury Park for a kebab and explaining to the bloke serving how speaker John Bercow is the type who makes love with his socks on.
I prefer slow elaborate and well thought build up. During my fencing days I once dueled against a much quicker opponent “Paranoid Lazarus” so at the pronouncement of on guard whispered his wife enjoyed my sword play and found my helmet most attractive. This put him off so whilst Lazarus pondered, I was able to lay a fatal blow.
Speeds good, especially for getting to a destination before you have left but it’s not essential for success
Lol
Transplant
I remember Alan B’stard’s wife commenting post nookie how it had lasted all of one minute, and he replying “one minute eh, last time it was three….I AM getting better”
And it’s not about you joggers who go ’round and ’round and ’round and ’round and ’round
Usmanov to sell his shares to kroenke. We are fecked.
not sure who is more amuzing – Transplant or the seal, both nuts
Eddie
If Usmanov is selling up, I’d imagine he’d go for the highest bidder, Kroenke or otherwise, and probably the otherwise option if he had a choice
Not sure it makes any difference though
maybe not, but having big Uzbek breathing down his neck must have been good for competitive elements of kroenke’s psyche. Once he is the only owner he can relax and that’s not good for us
There won’t be higher bidders. Who would want to get to bed with Stan?
Still can’t agree Eddie as I doubt Stan lost any sleep over a powerless minority shareholder
As for the value of shares, no idea at all. Simple question being the upside
Half and Half in Singapore!
Hi chums …. I’ve just been catching up on the comments.
Good post Micky. I think Unai will go for pace when he recruits for up front.
Midfielders will tell you that the ball can travel faster than any man can run, but pace out wide is a must if you want to get behind their fullbacks.
Anyone got any thoughts on the rumours of the day?
1. Gazidis to AC Milan (denied by the club and Unai)
2. Usmanov selling his shares to Kroenke (seems unlikely)
3. Josh Kroenke taking over from Gazidis when he leaves (hope not)
Thanks Micky. Speed, yes we need it as does any top side.
Aside form the older style slow target forwards like Ollie and Andy Carroll I tend to look at forward players as being either quick or really quick.
Away from Arsenal, looking at world cup players, I would say the likes of Lukaku, Griezmann, Cavani, Jesus were in the quick category. Mbape however was in the really quick category.
Lacazette, Miki, Iwobi and Welbeck tend to fit the quick category for me, while the likes of Aubemayeng is in the really quick category. We have plenty of quick players but only 1 senior player who is really quick, but most teams don’t even have that as they are hard to come by, so we are lucky in many respects.
I have a feeling that Nelson, AMN and Nketieh may be pushing on the really quick category and would like to see them introduced more. If they come into the reckoning more it may be that we are more blessed than most with, not just pace, but really quick pace.
AMN may yet become more a wing forward type player, and with Nelson looking like this is his best role as well and Eddie as a striker we may be just dandy. Laca actually looks more suited to having quicker support players near him and looks better in a front 2 than with 3 techy CM’s behind him. Aube can play both so will be our go to forward and I anticipate him fighting for the golden boot this year.
I noticed RC also mentioned width. I tend to agree with Chas that, to varying degrees, none of Sane, Sterling, Martial, Lingard, Hazard, Willian, Pedro, Mane, Salah and Ox are any more natural touchline hugging players than Welbeck, AMN, Nelson, Miki. Sane does it a bit more than some but the likes of Lingard and Pedro are quite often central.
I think that width in other teams comes more from the managers instruction and tactical set up and it is not about just buying a traditional wide player. One of my feelings over the last few seasons was that our width was not very dynamic and tended to only come from statically high positioned FB’s with others all compressing centrally, even though we had players out there who could give width.
I have quite liked the Aube and Laca with Miki drifting behind trio when we have utilised it, as all 3 look to work space in wider areas but will all attack centrally when one of the others has gone wide as a supplier. In reality if you look at it we have many options involving combinations of players who can give us pace and width at times and it is just down to Dick to get that balance right that we have been missing in recent seasons.
I am quietly optimistic that we will surprise many this season, and have already taken bets with friends that we will surpass 85 points (I get the money at 85 and over, they get it at under 80 points with a draw on the in between points tally).
Sure he missing those when season starts
Although Fred I can’t remember the last time I saw us practice shooting as much in pre-season. maybe the old chant of “will someone please Shhhhoooooottttttttt” will become a thing of the past.
I don’t remember seeing any footage of pre-season training before.
Fredster
I assumed your Caribbean roots would give you a more upbeat view of the world in general and specifically more upbeat about The Arsenal.
I’m disappointed that, in fact, the opposite seems to be true.
Lol
No I just find they making it to be a gimmick now
It’s the hard sell, Freddie, you’re bang on there.
New manager – people want reassuring that things are going to change.
Finally watching Emery first interview, wasn’t so bad
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