• Out of the League Cup, out of the FA Cup…
• Still in the hunt for the EPL and still qualified for the CL

But more worryingly, we are struggling to win games for the last 5 weeks and we are also not able to put a shift to “at least, not lose”. We are not even playing poorly but we are not decisive in our own box and especially not in the opposition box. Goals are not coming via our defenders (White, Zinchenko, Sailba, Gabriel), our midfielders (Ode, Jorginho, Havertz) and not even our forwards…

Also, I feel like our back 4 is definitely not as strong as people think it is. Always feels that Zinchenko can be caught, Gabs can be bullied and that White-Saliba can get confused…Raya is not so decisive and Ramsdale is losing confidence and he may want toleave in Jan now that we are out of national Cups…

Everyone is pointing at G. Jesus but Saka and Martinelli not really performing and Trossard not being as decisive as before. Nketiah and ESR are not given much playing time. Havertz is still looking for his scoring boots while Odegaard continues to create good chances but is not scoring himself…

So the point is that we need someone who can put the ball inside the net. Toney will stay with his club for now, Solanke is having a resurgence but no guarantees that he will leave Bornemouth so…who is left? Not many players…I am thinking we should try (a) Jonas Wind (Wolfsburg) or (b) Arnautovic (Inter). I think both players could be swayed into joining us. Jonas has a great goal ratio and is really improving since last season, he will have the energy to also play for us while Arnautovic provides a great anchor point up front “a la Giroud” although he is not young anymore so he is more of an impact player to bring to unlock games during the games themselves but he is tall, strong and can hold the ball well and has a good goal ratio as well and can take good freekicks too.

I would not be against brining in a CB and a DM too. Kiwior has been way below par wherever he has been playing and we cannot only rely on him and then we have a good DM/CM group but with El Neny at the ACN and Partey yet to fully recover, we need another player…For the DM/CM, I think Koopmeiners would be a very good addition but also, and of course, D. Luiz and Paulinha are also to be considered even if Arteta likes Zubimendi a lot. For the CB and since it is a squad position, I would not mind Tarkowski or Branthwaite.

Raya – White, Saliba, Gabs, Zinc – Rice, Havertz – Ode – Saka, WIND, Marti

Rams – Tomy (once back), Kiwior (boo), Tarko, Cedric (boo) – Partey, KOOP – ESR – Jesus, Eddie, Trossard

Anyways, feeling grim about our chances to even remain in top 4 at this point…

Few players that may ask to leave: Ramsdale, ESR, Nelson and maybe even Eddie

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 9th, 2024 at 5:09 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.