Rumors are that Barcelona want to add to their attacking threat and are keeping a close eye on Auba and supposedly Laca too…
Now, our forward options at the moment are:
FW: Pepe, Saka, Nelsson / Auba, Martinelli, Willian
CF: Laca, Balogun, Nketiah
Ideally and by the end of the transfer window, we would be left with 6 options rather than 9. Players that could be allowed to leave on loan are Nelsson and Nketiah and players that could be sold are Willian, Nketiah (yes him again) and probably one between Laca and Auba…
Auba was named captain and handed a hefty contract about a year ago but has not done so well since…Shall we then allow him to leave and join Barcelona? If so, what would be a good transfer value? Is it too risky to let him go, knowing that prior to the previous season he has been our leading scorer for a few seasons in a row…
Some say that we should let him go, some say that we should keep him…I am on the fence to be honest as he may just rediscover his form and be our leading scorer again…
In all honesty, if we were to let one forward go to raise some capital between Auba and Laca and based on last season only, I d say keep Laca and let Auba go but if you look at their records over the last 3 seasons, Auba is the definite keeper! What to do…
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Meanwhile, if AFC was interested in investing in a talented midfielder that has all it takes to be the new Essien (without a joke this time), they should look closely not at Cavaminga but at Tchouameni…The guy is going to be amazing…He plays for Monaco and could be tempted by AFC just because it d be guaranteed playing time. He s much better than Sambi and is actually good at driving the ball forward too. A very complete midfielder.
If we sell Auba to Barcelona, let us not bring in Neto or Coutinho. They are good players but shouldn’t we get better players?
I personally don’t care about Auba, but Arteta should leave. Now!
And I’m sure he will have to. He’s leaving Arsenal in a much worse mess than he took over. Of course, he is no football manager, he just wanna be one. In other words, he’s a big child overwhelmed by his dreams. Make an end of that grotesque dreams. Now!
RC,
The forwards you mention are good in their own right, considering some are ageing and some are very young, but as with Willock, sometimes players do not play well consistently and with a club in Arsenal’s situation, there is no time to try and bring them along, so I suggest the following is more realistic; ….
FW: Pepe, Saka,
Nelsson/ Auba [Marginal] Martinelli,WillianCF: Laca [Marginal] Balogun,
NketiahRumours have it that Auba/Laca/Nelson and Nketiah all want to leave, for various reasons, so treating 3 as leavers, and 2 as probable leavers the front line is not too good.
So replacements will be needed – so hopefully Edu & Co are working on it in the dying days of the window, but I am not holding my breath.
I’d let him go if the offer is there. I’d also happily take Neto to fill that GK2 position. Of course there are better GK’s out there, but getting someone to come in and sit on the bench is difficult. The options are usually a slightly lesser quality GK (Neto), a younger promising GK who you expect to become number 1 but costs money (Ramsdale), or an ageing free transfer. We also have much bigger needs elsewhere in the side so filling that gap with Neto would make sense to me. It also wouldn’t stop us replacing Leno with somebody else down the line. As for Coutinho, I would rather avoid that transfer if possible. There is nothing to suggest he’s suddenly going to be the player that left Liverpool, and a younger Odegaard makes far more sense to me. If Barca have somebody else that’s useful to us then get the deal done. Auba is 32 and we are paying him a lot of money for not a great deal of output right now. There is a chance he finds his form but he isn’t putting in the same effort he was when he won us the FA Cup single-handed, and I do wonder if him and Laca hold a bit too much power in the dressing room. Even if he has a great season and scores 30 goals, does anybody really think that’s going to get us anywhere near the top 4? I don’t, and then he would be 33 next season happy to run his contract down and we get nothing for him.
We are so far off the top teams right now that I don’t see any sense in building around Laca and Auba. They are too old for us now and I think Arteta’s project was always going to be without those 2. If the opportunities come up to get something for them then I’d take it.
What happened to the Ruben Neves deal!? Was that a case of changing our minds and keeping Xhaka? That’s a deal I would’ve liked to have seen her completed with Xhaka going to Roma. Maybe they felt it wasn’t worth the extra £20m it would’ve cost to swap Xhaka for Neves. Similar players and I guess that money is needed elsewhere. Who knows?
I think what is increasingly clear is that no one knows which direction Edu-Arteta would like to take us:
– what is our game plan A? Are we going to be possession-based, counter-pressing based or counter-attacking…?
– In which formation are we most likely going to work? A 4-3-3? 4231? 342?
– Are we building a squad that can achieve Top 4 now or are we building one that will be able to compete for Top 4 in 2-3 years?
I wish there would be some type of communication…
– Liverpool and Chelsea are very much counter-pressing teams
– City is possession football
– Tottenham, Leicester are going to be more counter-attacking focused
– Arsenal is?
I am just failing to understand the direction and after 18 months of tenure, I thought Edu-Arteta would have been able to give us clarity on that and their squad management would have reflected the direction chosen…Now, it seems that it is all up in the air…To be honest, Arteta’s first 6 months were much better with a trophy win, tactical awareness (playing 3 at the back), players improvement (AMN comes to mind) than his last 12 months…
He won 2 trophies and since then, not much to shout about except non-qualification for European football
Now I don’t mind a stagnation period but I need to understand the plan somehow…
I would let Auba, Laca, Willian leave. We don’t have much luck with the ageing players including Xhaka and Bellerin I really hope the leave us asap..
Lets build on the young core.
Thanks RC. I dont know the answer to your question but I think it’s important to keep one of Auba or Laca. Both have their pros and cons though.
Auba has been the more consistent goal getter for many years but Laca seems to link better with the players around him. It may be that we are moving to a system where the goals are shared more around a few attacking players than predominantly 1 player so the greater link player with slightly less goals may be the best option.
I think we will get Odegaard. Just had a heads up that the Norwegian papers are referring to it as a done deal.
I still think we should move to a 4-1-4-1 type system for many games and if we could play the likes of Martinelli, ESR, Odegaard, Pepe, Saka as a combination of that 4 behind the striker we should have a potent threat.
All of those players have the potential to become more prolific goal scorers and I would rather have 90 goals from 6 players than 60 from 2 prolific scorers.
Personally I would still test Palace with a cash plus Eddie deal for Zaha (with a buy back option on Eddie) and also offer Nelson on loan. I think this could suit both parties and Zaha gives us another (but crucially experienced) option on the attacking left and up top. It could also free Martinelli to play as striker at times.
Also if you were looking at Zaha, Martinelli, Lacazette and Balogun you could switch the system at times if you so wanted to play 2 up top together working off each other.
Team for Sunday with Odegaard for me would be :
——————————- Leno
Chambers — Holding —- Mari —- Tierney
—————————— White
Saka —— Odegaard —— ESR —– Martinelli
————————– Lacazette
That 4-1-4-1 is solid but has ability going forwards as well. White will provide more protection than any other option we have. Lacazette works hard, is a goal threat but also should link well with the 4 behind him.
Those 4 can all control ball possession and get us on the front foot but are all adept at coming deeper to defend and / or receive the ball to being it forwards. They all have a goal threat as well.
PEA ain’t going to Barcelona. They have no money, nada. They can’t afford the wages of the players they have, let alone new ones.
Nketiah should have been sold a long time ago. Bielsa didn’t like what he saw. We had offers last season. Now he has an injury.
A quick reminder to posters…Ozil has left the club…Move on
If we move towards a 41221 (4141) set-up, Arteta is actually wanting to replicate the Man City system but without having the right players at his disposal…
Why are we buying Odegaard? What is he bringing to the able that ESR is not able to? Are we buying a 40 Mln back-up player?
Given our team’s strengths and weaknesses, I would say that our best options are to play with 3 at the back at the moment or to stick to the 4231 system, unless something drastic happens during the transfer window.
For Sunday, we must play with 3 at the back. No choice.
Leno – White, XHAKA, Mari – AMN, El Neny, Lockonga, Tierney – ESR – Pepe, (Laca?Auba?Balogun?Martinelli)
I m suggesting playing Xhaka as a sweeper because Holding, Gabriel are not playing
and because Chambers may not be as good a defender as White but who knows…
Posting incase any want to see second half highlights
Can I remind those people advocating the removal of 10 or more players from our staff, they need to be replaced.
Can I also remind them that we already have 3 new players, with another, Odegaard, apparently on the plane and that all new payers tend to need a year or 2 to settle in, especially those coming from warmer climates, who might find our cold winters a bit of a shock?
Can anyone quote the case of a club that has replaced so many players in their squad and has done well as a result?
It would interesting to see if this happened and then Arteta gets his P45, what a replacement manager would have to say about this.
In any event, who is going to buy these players. If, according to many of you, they are all so useless, why would anyone buy them?
Jigsaw,
No! No! No! You are clearly a Spuds supporter, so be on your way!
Hi RC. I did think about the back 3 but it is dangerous to play this with key CD’s missing. You can move Xhaka to a back 3 in an emergency in certain games but Chelsea with their tricky fleet footed attackers in and around the box makes Xhaka a disaster waiting to happen in that game. I can’t see him not giving away a penalty.
I don’t think Chelswa are the opposition to shoehorn players into the back 3 so we would have to play a 3-5-2 with Chambers Mari and White as the 3. Assuming Odegaard arrives and that Lacazette is available I’d go for this :
——————————- Leno
——– Chambers —– Mari ——– White
Saka ——————— Lokonga —————– Tierney
————— Odegaard ———— ESR
—————————— Martinelli
—————————— Lacazette
I’d pick the speed and athleticism of Lokonga over the experience of Xhaka to cope with the Chelsea speedster. If Lacazette isn’t available then Balogun plays with Martinelli playing off him. I’m kind of assuming something has gone wrong with Auba (maybe Laca as well ). If he is available he needs to be considered.
I forgot, the other option is to play Pepe just behind another striker. He is a goal threat.
RC, I dont quite get why you say we lack the players for the 4-1-4-1 system like City but then question why we are buying Odegaard because we have ESR in the next sentence?
The 4-1-4-1 requires the 2 central players of the 4 to be that hybrid 8 / 10 player I was mentioning the other day.
City have a few players to cover that role in KDB, Foden, Silva, Gundogan. I think Saka could also play there with Pepe to his right so we need at least 1 other player of that type to be able to entertain it.
ESR, Saka and Odegaard would be a tasty 3. Not at the City players level yet but do we really expect to recruit at the City level from the off? No, we can’t do that but in those 3 we would have 3 exciting players, all with world class potential, to work towards that level the City players are at.
Perhaps even Partey may be an option in that role as he seems to like going forwards, and we have Patino and Azeez to slowly bring through.
I know your not alone in that direct comparison of ESR and Odegaard but I have never understood this because we need another player like that either to operate together or to add strength to the squad in case if injury. I would prefer to see them together in the centre though in that double hybrid 8 / 10 role with wide players either side of them.
Jjgsol, I get about the wholesale changes and adaptation periods. I have said the same thing myself. However it is not as bad as it seems if you look at it more carefully.
Firstly with a fully fit squad Lokonga and the left back we bought are really intended more as back up players at this moment rather than 1st 11. White is EPL adapted and Odegaard has had the last half a season in the EPL anyway so wouldn’t be starting from scratch.
Also I would say that by and large the scandinavian players adapt quicker to the EPL. Most of these nations model their game on the English game so have grown up playing a quicker more physical game.
After Odegaard my final player I would like to see arrive is Zaha. He may not wet the lips as much as a Haaland or Mbappe but he is a very good technical player and already EPL adapted. He will both create and score goals and would fight hard in the Arsenal Jersey and genuinely be delighted to be with us.
I also like that he can play from the attacking left, up top or centrally tucked in behind another striker. The addition of Odegaard and Zaha would make it a decent transfer window and give us a team we can do something with this year even if not quite at the very summit.
I like the idea of playing White as a DM in a 4,1,41 (433) formation. Not least as it’s looking increasingly like we aren’t buying one and are stuck with Xhaka.
Ramadale looks like signing, so the GK position is sorted.
I doubt we will sign anyone else, so that leaves the small matter of outgoings.
Will it be Arteta or a few players??? 😀
We need to keep one of Auba and Lacazeffe, I don’t mind who, I like them both. They both have qualities and strengths that bring something to the team, as well as a goal threat.
Hopefully in a years time Martinelli or Balogun, or both will be able to step up?
So, Ramsdale is a Gunner!
Despite the best efforts of the media, clueless pundits and Green eyed Goonerd who base their opinions off self promoting twitter twatters Ramsdale is actually an excellent keeper and at 23 could be no1 for 10 years.
Ramsdale
Chambers – Holding – Mari – Tierney
White
Pepe – ESR – Odegaard – Saka
Lacazette
Wishful thinking because we all know Xhaka will start,….
So it’ll probably be
Leno
Bellerin, White, Mari, Tierney
Xhaka, elNeny
Pepe, Odegaard, ESR
Balogun
If the reason Auba didn’t play on Friday night was because he and Arteta fell out and the manager chose to drop him as a punishment, then I’m sorry, but that is shockingly piss poor from Arteta. I’ve defended him, mainly out of the hope he does come good and also as I don’t want Arsenal to have to change managers again! But weakening the team in show players whose in charge, etc is a proper dereliction of duty imo.
Arteta needs to learn to choose his battles and show some fucking humility…. he hasn’t earned the right to act like a Ferguson or a Conte!
Dexter, I genuinely don’t think we need to be buying any more DM’s. I think we have been too focused on that because we think we lose the midfield battle so need to buy yet another robust midfielder because that is the answer to our midfield woes.
What was Partey brought in for? What was Lokonga brought in for? Elneny, Xhaka, Torreira?
I’m going to make a suggestion that our midfield troubles are more about control and the transference of the ball effectively from deeper midfield positions to attacking midfield positions.
This is more about players who can receive the ball in tight spaces, take the ball on the turn and drive and carry the ball as well as passing it.
We are starting to slowly get more midfield players who can do this and is why I am suggesting progressing from the 2 man DM to a 1 DM with 2 hybrid 8 / 10’s operating in front and sometimes alongside him, who can both in equal measures come deep to receive the ball and bring it out, but can also be effective in the final third.
We will have options from ESR, Odegaard and Saka primarily, but it could be interesting to see if Partey can play this role and to look at Patino and Azewz more. For DM we have plenty if options from Partey, Lokonga, Xhaka, Elneny, White, Chambers. Almost too many so no need to buy more DM’s. I just wonder if a ball playing CD like White might be a better fit with the two 8 / 10’s in front.
GoonerB
I take your point and I’d love to see White or Chambers given a go in DM, but I doubt they ever will. Xhaka is too slow, el Neny who I love, mainly as he has been a top professional, is more a squad player. Torreira is no where near the squad, never mind the 1st team and then we have Partey…. who could be a top DM, but seems to have decided he wants to play more offensively.
That just leaves us with Lockonga … a raw rookie.
So, we do need a DM!! 🤣🤣
RA. Thank you for your kind response.
However, please forgive me, as I assume you are much cleverer than I am, but I am finding it difficult in understanding in what way my comment indicated that I was a supporter of our North London friends.
It might help, however, if you were actually to read what I posted, as clearly you did not from the start, as my nom de plume is jjgsol and not jigsaw.
Frankly, if I want to be insulted by posters, there are plenty of other blogs I can go to where posters think it clever to insult people whose views they do not agree with.
By the way, I thought we spent nearly £50m on a defensive midfielder that so many people were raving about, Partey and yet it seems we need to spend more on another one.
Is it now being suggested that he is an attacking midfielder, in which case, why did we buy him and why do we need to buy Odegaard?jg
Jjgsol
Partey is supposedly an all action, all round midfielder. He operates in central midfield. I guess a bit like Vieira? He hasn’t exactly excelled since joining has he? And TBH, I’ve no idea why the club splashed so much money on him. I didn’t at the time and I still don’t. I think we have recruited poorly thanks to owners who know fuck all about football in general and Arsenal in particular. They’ve given jobs to incompetent twats, whove squandered so much money it’s ridiculous. Thank fuck for the home grown players.
As for Odegaard (another player I’m not impressed by) he is an attacking midfielder so plays infront of the central midfielders.
It is a shame that Arteta is not that interested in the homegrown players.
On the assumption that the rumours about Odegaard and Ramsdale are true, we will have spent some £150m on a central defender we do not need, a reserve goalkeeper, a reserve left-back, a junior midfielder who has hardly played that much at all and a Real Madrid reject who cannot even get into their squad and who hardly set the world alight when he was here last season.
I suspect there are many people splitting their sides with laughter as the powers that be make fools of themselves again.
Apparently our fans already attacking Ramsdale on social media. I honestly think we have the worst fan base in the country. Where’s the positivity these days!? He had a higher save % than Leno last season but who cares! 🙄🤷♂️ People moaning that the transfers are average don’t seem to realise that we are not in Europe and that we can’t just buy anyone we want. Personally, given the situation of the club right now, I think we’ve had a decent window and that Arteta and Edu have done a good job of streamlining what was a terrible group of players they inherited. They’ve managed to move on a lot of the older, highly paid fringe players and have brought in younger, hungry players at a time when we can’t attract bigger names. Of course there have been some questionable decisions (Willian, Runarsson, the Saliba situation), but I like the age/profile of player they’ve signed for the most part (Gabriel/Partey/Odegaard/White/Ramsdale/Lokonga/Tavares) and it’s clear that we’ve had to build a new spine. The transfer market is always a gamble, but I think so far they are doing pretty well.
The proof will be in the pudding though, but slagging players off before they’ve even signed is embarrassing.
Leno 29
Ramsdale 23
Chambers 26
Cedric 29
Tierney 24
Tavares 21
White 23
Holding 25
Gabriel 23
Mari 27
Partey 28
Elneny 29
Xhaka 28
Lokonga 21
AMN 23
ESR 21
Odegaard 22
Saka 19
Pepe 26
Nelson 21
Aubameyang 32
Lacazette 30
Martinelli 20
Balogun 20
Players who may leave:
Runarsson
Bellerin
Kolasinac
Torreira
Willian
Nketiah
(AMN)
(Nelson)
No. He shouldn’t leave. If he leaves there is no replacement for him now
FGG
I’m not surprised Ramsdale is getting slated on social nedia! That’s exactly the kind of sheep like behaviour I expect these days, sadly. Same with White.
I know I’ve been critical of some of the signings, but I like White, Tavares, Lockinga and Ramsdale. I wasn’t impressed at first by the RMsdale rumours and that was mainly based on other people’s reactons.
But when I actually read up about him, it was clear he’s a really good keeper, and the fans of both Bournemouth and Sheff Utd rate him highly. He was player of the season for both clubs in the Prem.
I imagine he will be number 1 sooner rather than later. And if he ain’t, it’ll be because Leno has seriously upped his game!
Loving the positivity Slim.
I’m with Fgg in being reasonably happy with the players we’ve got and it is entirely right to point out that we can only look at a certain profile of player right now with many players off of the menu for us.
Also this is perhaps the most difficult transfer window in existence with the worldwide pandemic causing all sorts of issues with movement of players in and out.
I’d actually be quite happy to keep both Lacazette and Auba. I’m not sure I see them as too old or past their best and they may still be the right solution and compliment to our promising emerging rookie strikers over the next couple of seasons.
If one leaves then we need to recruit but the strikers market isnt6as flush as with other positions, so it will be tough to recruit the right player.
Isn’t as
Vlahovic and Hoppe seem to be the names flying around in terms of signing a CF.
They are 21 and 20 so would fit in with the profile of player we seem to be going for.
I’d be surprised if Auba went at this late stage but I think Laca only has a year left so maybe it’s time to cash in. I guess a lot will depend on if Arteta thinks Martinelli can play CF or not.
I have no problem with signing Ramsdale. I don’t know a great deal about him, but he is rated enough to be in the England side.
The issue I have is with the fee. £30 million for a young keeper is big money. You have to factor in the English premium, but still.
Then the inevitable question pops up around Leno. If it was clear he was unlikely to sign a new contract and there were doubts from the coaches about his keeping style then why sell Martinez?
Pete you said it all…Keeping Leno is still mystery to many of us but that ship has sailed apparently…and there is a new post 🙂