So we have been discussing our up and coming players lately with Tierney, Saka and ESR taking the spotlight. ESR was even compared to Pires…

From the firing French contingency under Wenger at AFC, we hear a lot (and rightly so) about Vieira, Henry, Pires and even Anelka but there is not much mention of Sylvain Wiltord.

With 49 goals in 175 appearances and being a two-times EPL and FA Cup winner, Wiltord was unquestionably part of a fantastic group of players. He wasn’t the fastest, he wasn’t the strongest but he gave his all. He mostly played as a right winger and was used mostly like an “impact bench player” but does the fanbase underrate him?

As a French man, my fondest memory of him is of course his equalizer at the end of regular time in the Euro 2000 final against Italy. As an Arsenal fan, I cannot forget his goal againt Utd which gaves us the title in 2000-2001 and his goal the gollowing year vs Utd in the FA Cup final.

So what is your take on SW?

By all accounts and means, one of our starting central midfielder will be Partey. We hope that unlike Pepe and Willian, he will not disappoint and that he will hit the ground running like Gabriel or Tierney. He is super highly rated by Edu and Arteta and they bought him to be an angular part of our central midfield.

Arteta seems to have opted for a 4231 (42121, if you would like) set up. This means he will have a double pivot playing in front of the defense with one player more defensive minded (a la Gilberto Silva) and one player that will be given more responsibilities to move the ball forward (a la Cazorla/Ramsey/Parlour?).

Partey is considered to be a versatile and complete midfielder but how will Arteta use him?

If used as a more defensive-minded midfielder, who should play next to him (Ceba? Xhaka? Willok? AMN?) ?

If used as a more “central midfielder/box to box midfielder”, who should play next to him (El Neny, Xhaka, AMN, Chambers?) ?

Based on recent results and set-up, it seems that the back 5 has been settled for now and that our attacking midfielders (including on the wings) and CF have also kind of been identified too…

Leno – Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney – Partey, ? – ESR – Saka, Auba (or Martinelli) – Laca

So how would you use Partey and who would you like to pair-up with him in midfield?

In the past few days, we have been discussing our Conundrum at full-back. Some very interesting discussions indeed. It seems that unlike last years, there is a bit more confidence in our Center-Back options.

The general feeling is that Gabriel has been a good acquisition and that Mari has done the job well when called upon. There are still some (justifiably?) doubts about David Luiz and the majority of us think that Arteta has done well to take Sokratis out of the squad, send Saliba on loan and reduce the playing time of a player like Mustafi. We have also realized that, if we are really in need, Tierney could play at LCB although it would be a waste given his top performances at LB and Chambers has deputized decently at RCB at times.

That leaves us with Holding. Yesterday was a very gloomy day for some of us as we saw Man Utd go top of the EPL after their win over Burnley but there was also a potentially good news with the extension of Holding’s contract.

Holding’s career at AFC has been very inconsistent to say the least. Initially, Holding had done excellent and then he got injured and when he came back, he really struggled. Then his injuries continue to plague his career with us but since April-May last year, he seems to have hit good form and his performances have been more consistent. He has been solid at the back for the most part lately but when we were struggling, he also struggled especially in one-on-one situations. His main weaknesses, namely speed and at times also positioning, do get exposed and when they do, we are in deep trouble. He has not been helped by sub-par performances by Bellerin and Soares. However, one must say that overall in the last 6 months, he has been more of a “good performer”. So is his extension a good news? What are your views on Holding holding the fort for us? Is he a squad player or an automatic starter?

COYG!

Based on our discussions on the last post, I thought I would bring the Right-Back discussion on this post.

In a nutshell, here were the different opinions:

1. Some of us believed that if we were to improve our squad at Right-Back through player acquisition, we should look to sell Bellerin and buy a certain starter and we should keep Soares as a back-up.
2. Some of us believed that if we were to improve our squad at Right-Back through player acquisition, we should keep Bellerin and buy a player that would actually and truly challenge Bellerin for the starting spot, meaning that Soares should be sold.

Now, this discussion clearly omitted Chambers and AMN so to add more complexity to the issue, what do we do with Chambers and AMN? Are they to be used as squad players or shall we entertain offers for them?

I think that AMN should be given more playing time for sure but that Arteta needs to basically be clear with him about his positioning. I d like to see him in the midfield but I also recall his great performances as a LWB. I think we have to be fair to him and his development.

As for Chambers, I am not sure if there is any space left for him in the team. We have Bellerin, Soares, Holding, Gabriel, Luiz, Mari at CB (plus still Mustafi and Saliba will come back and maybe Celik will be a good surprise), Tierney and AMN playing defensively. He could eventually look to play in the midfield but even there, we have Partey/Xhaka/El Neny and eventually AMN too. So is there really room for Chambers at AFC?

Anyways, looking forward to reading your thoughts. Have a good week everyone! COYG!

Arteta: “The club wants to make a deal, the manager wants to make a deal, the player wants to stay and I’m not sure about the agent. We are negotiating with an agent, with a player that wants to stay at the club and we need to find an agreement. I’m telling you that we are doing everything we can to keep him here and hopefully from the other part they are doing the same and in the same interest, which is the player’s interest which is to stay at the football club and be successful with us.”

Well well well…Arteta is insinuating that Balogun’s agent may look to have Balogun join an another club. What a bummer that would be?

So what do you think? Will Edu convince Balogun to stay or will his agent have the last word?

The French press has indicated that AFC is looking closely at Julian Draxler. The 27 years old PSG attacking midfielder has been playing second fiddle to Neymar, Mbappe, Di Maria and Sarabia in the last 2 years. Excelling in his first season, he slowly moved down the pecking order – injuries not helping his cause.

With PSG reportedly making a move for Eriksen, Draxler’s playing time is going to continue plumetting. Clearly a talented player that can easily play as a left or central attacking midfielder, his performances in Paris have been up and down. He will not cost much money (10 mln EUR max) and his salary is evaluated at 7 Million EUR/Year.

I believe he could be extremely good in a “Bergkamp-type” role and and as a 10. He is not a diva-type of player. He comes in with a wealth of international and European experience. A London move could tempt him although his native Germany is also calling for him, especially Leverkusen. There is a question mark on his ability to keep fit though…

So would Draxler come in and replace Ozil in our squad and help us achieve results but also help ESR and Willok grow? Is he worth the 10 Mln transfer fee and 7 Mln EUR/year salary?

Was denken sie uber Draxler? Ja oder Nein?

https://www.whoscored.com/Players/96449/History/Julian-Draxler

Arteta has been very clear about the fact we first need to see some players go before we see some players coming in during the Winter Transfer Window.

Kolasinac headed to Schalke on-loan and we wish him the best. He will basically leave us in the summer.

Saliba has joined Nice on-loan until the end of the year. Edu confirmed that Saliba will pursue his progression there and rejoin us. I am glad he will get some playing time. I would have been happier if he went to another EPL outfit but oh well…

So who should / is going to leave us next?

• Sokratis’ days at AFC seem numbered. France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Scotland and even England are possible destitations.
• Mustafi is reportedly on his way out and I would be ok with him leaving. Barcelona may be interested (odd if you ask me…) and Monaco as well as Koln…
• Chambers seems likely to stay and so does AMN
• There is talk about El Neny going back to Turkey but I do not think Arteta will entertain offers for El Neny
• There are rumours about Edu/Arteta considering to loan out Willock, Nelsson and Nketiah. Not sure how I feel about them leaving.
• Rumours also about Guendouzi being sold to Hertha Berlin as of this winter already?
• Lucas Torreira may be called back from his loan to be sold to an Italian club too…
• Any other players you would like to see out?

I think we all agree with Arteta that we want to see fighters on the pitch and to be honest, while this may have been an issue in the last few years, I feel like we do have some players with fighting spirit and a positive mindset to fight for our club and victories. Name your perceived fighters and perceived victims.

Who would make it in the New Zealand Rugby Squad?

It seems that we are actually going to have to fight very hard for a top 8 finish this season. Who would have thought this would be the case after our Community Shield victory and the signings of Gabriel and Partey?

The point is that we are cruelly lacking…points so far this season. We have not won any games in two months in the EPL and although there has been a bit of misfortune, overall, we have not performed well and we have not managed to be “hard to break down” nor “hard to stop/contain”. I know the players are the ones on the pitch but I also think that the coach has his responsibilities. We just have not been good enough this season (except maybe in the Europa League).

So who should lead Arteta field to steer us back in the top half?

GK: We let Martinez go so we have to rely on Leno as our GK.

RB: Bellerin did have some good games but mostly, he has been ineffective. AMN needs to improve some more defensively but he has been OK while Soares is at best a sub so AMN for me.

CB: Gabriel has been great until he got his red card. Luiz is still among our Top 3 defenders and although Holding is not as consistent as we wanted, who do we play ahead of him? Saliba/Sok are not qualified, Mari/Chambers are recovering and Mustafi remains a liability…

LB: Tierney has been sensational as a LCB and LB and I think he should be played as LB as his crossing is rather good.

DM/CM: Partey is key, El Neny has played well. Ceballos has been our most dangerous midfielder thanks to his passing. So we do we start? Partey-El Neny for me.

RFW: Saka is really our creative force these days. His runs and timings have been good and he can pbbly cause havoc if played on the right side too. Willian has been abysmal and Pepe not consistent enough. What about Nelson? Hard to say so far.

ST: Martinelli for me. I think he can hold up the ball and not only create for others but also for himself. He is also good at making runs inside the box. Nketiah works hard but not enough end product, same for Laca. As for Balogun, maybe a bit light still although a great prospect.

LFW: It has to be Auba. I think that with Saka on the right and Martinelli in the middle, he will be able to rediscover his shooting boots. With Tierney’s overalaps, he will have the chance to cut inside.

So here it is for me, if we stick to a back 3 system:

Leno – Holding, Luiz, Gabriel – AMN, Partey, El Neny, Tierney – Saka, Martinelli, Auba

Bench: Runnarsson, Saliba, Mari, Bellerin, Xhaka, Willock, Nelson, Willian, ESR, Pepe, Nketiah, Balogun

Offload in January: Soares, Chambers, Mustafi, Sokratis, Kola, Laca

What do you say? Is that starting XI our best when all are fit and available?

230 years ago Fletcher Christian seized control of a ship from Captain Bligh. This has passed into history as ‘The Mutiny on the Bounty’.Watching Arsenal for the past few seasons reminds me of this woeful tale. To me it appears there are a number of players that aren’t giving 100% and more that are pursuing a mutiny for their own ends.

Unai Emery was the fall guy after Arsene Wenger ended his tour of duty. Initially he performed pretty well. We should have got into the Champions League then there was the disaster in Baku against Chelsea. From that point his days were numbered. There were problems on Emery’s ship. He cast aside players then brought them back. This inspired revenge. It was clear players wanted him out. There were stories of players taking the Michael out of Emery’s accent. Childish at best. The end came against Southampton at home, where the players accidentally got a draw, but hardly celebrated. They wanted Emery gone. Freddie came in as a stop gap and again the players could hardly be bothered. He ended up playing a number of the younger players to make clear what he thought of the effort of some of the ‘pros’.

Fast forward to Arteta. It started well with some blips along the way. The FA Cup win was a huge over-achievement, beating Man City & Chelsea on the way to our record 14th trophy. But come the new season and the grumbling started again. Wins turned to draws, draws to losses. The players looked like they were low on confidence, even sabotaging games.

In my opinion there is a Mutiny underway on the Good Ship Arsenal. The only way to stop it is by casting the villains adrift. The culprits:

• Mesut Ozil – The leader of the mutiny. He should have been paid off in the summer. He’s hanging around like a virus infecting the rest of the team. Cast him adrift on Pitcairn Island!
• Granit Xhaka – Only Wenger knows what he saw in Granit. All I can see is a player who isn’t at Premier League level and got sent off on purpose against Burnley to get Christmas off. To the stocks!
• Alex Lacazette – I used to rate this guy. Since his contract negotiations have halted he has been hiding on the pitch. I swear he has missed a few chances on purpose. He has become the Union man that has downed tools for the cause. The guillotine is calling!
• Hector Bellerin – He’s got some nice tattoos, an exciting vegan philosophy, but he can’t defend for toffee. Send for the Spanish Inquisition!
• David Luiz – Plays when he has his ego massaged. When he’s not happy – red card. Banish him to the Amazon jungle!
• Willian – Well he ain’t is he? 4 more years of this cowboy. Private jet to the Sargasso sea! Ably supported by minor crew members Mustafi, Kolasinac & Sokratis. Lock them up on the Rock!
• The only solution to the Mutiny is to dump these muppets from the Good Ship Arsenal. It was never going to be easy for Mik, but these guys are making his job near impossible.
• Yours truly, Pete the Thirst