So now we are back to doom and gloom again, a bit like the last 9 months of Emery’s tenure…the deep rooted issues that are crippling our club are resurfacing and to make things worse, some of our important players are either getting injured or are considering leaving (Auba most notably…).

Arteta came in, gave the team a shape, lifted the morale and the improved the team’s connection with the fanbase but has he taken on the impossible job? Are the issues too big to be solved? Will he be given time to succeed by the club and the fans? Will the players still have faith in the club and in him?

 I think, ultimately, it will come down to:

1. Keeping Saka

2. Showing intent on the transfermarket by spending big on the right players.

3. Axing some players

4. Building around our best talents (Saka, Martinelly, Pepe, Tierney?)

Everyone knows our gaps:- 1 RB, 1 CB (at least), 1 DM, 1 CM are badly needed- If we could get another forward and ST (espectially if Laca goes), it would not be superfluous.

Is the job too big or impossible for Arteta? Maybe…maybe not. My fear is that he needs time and financial backing. You can’t build a competitive team for the EPL title with just 3 talented players, you need a squad of 18 excellent or very good players because the EPL is too competitive and other teams have at least that many great players (Liverpool, City, Chelsea, Utd most notably)…

So will there be financial backing? If so – it needs to be clear as of NOW. Look at Chelsea, they have already recruited Werner and Ziyech and are not far away from getting Chilwell and Havertz. They will of course sell some players too but they are investing in players that are coming of age and have proven both in their league and even at European level for Werner and Ziyech.

At the beginning of the season, Chelsea was predicted to struggle but they made some investments on key positions and have also promoted the youth. Their owner is showing intent by buying these players, which will (1) give hope to the confirmed players at the club, (2) convince big players to come and I would not be surprised if Koulibaly or Ruben Dias or Sriniar end up there in the end because they want a solid CB…

So the difference between Lampard and Arteta’s coaching career could just be that one is backed up by his owner and the other isn’t? Arteta is a good coach and I think he certainly has more in him than Lampard but next year at the start of the season, Lampard could line up:

Kepa – James, Koulibaly, Azpi, Chilwell – Kante, Jorginho – Havertz – Ziyech, Werner, PulisicBench: or

Caballero – Palmieri, Rudiger, Tomori, Alonso – Barkley, Kovacic, Mount – Hudson-Odoi, Giroud, Abraham
and we could end up with:

Martinez – Bellerin, Mustafi, Saliba, Tierney – Douzi, Xhaka – Ozil – Pepe, Nketiah, Martinelli or

Macey – Soares, Sokratis, Holding, Kola – ESR, Torreira, Willock – Nelson, Jules, Balogun

It would really be men vs boys…Top 4 team versus top 10 team…

So there is only one way to help Arteta and the team and it is to invest and to invest SMART and BIG to fix the gaps and retain Saka (I think we need to forget Auba, he needs to move on to a bigger team at this stage of his career. Let him go to Juve, Inter, Barcelona, Real Madrid…).

We need to build the team around Pepe, Martinelli, Saka. They need to be put in the best disposition to win games for us but that means that the players behind them are solid enough defensively and can also create…
Some free agents that are worth a look: – Verthongen, Willian, Fraser, Cavani, Ibra-> I don’t care if they played for rival teams.

Some players that want to leave their teams or their teams want them out:- Onana, Cancelo, Semedo, Koulibaly, Upamecano, Gaya, Grimaldo, Telles, Brozovic, Vecino, Paredes, Ruiz, Partey, Zubeldia, Milinkovic-Savic…

I’d rather start the season with: Martinez – Cancelo, Saliba, Verthongen, Tierney – Willian, Xhaka, Partey – Pepe, Martinelli, Saka rather than the team previously mentioned.

I love AFC but I also want them to shine again and if the owner does not back Arteta, I also fear that he will leave because he needs to also look after himself.

RC78

It was odd to suddenly discover, that as an Arsenal supporter, I had an agenda during lockdown. With the various permutations of when, if and how the season would resume, it was pointed out to me by a good Arsenal friend that if the season were to be scrapped all clubs would start next season from their respective places that they finished at the end of last season — but — and here’s the kicker: with City being banned from the CL the club next in line would take that last precious CL spot – and guess who came 5th……………….Yep.

I toyed with this for a good while and then when my clutch at that last straw finally slipped I accepted football’s return with some excitement and have been trying to tell myself since Wednesday that it is better to have football back, even with the feeling of dejection that a loss brings, than have no football at all. I was starting to get somewhere with this sense of determination in an effort to force as much positivity into my life as I could. And then, just having watched Brighton take all three points with the last kick of the game all positivity vanished to the point where I am seriously starting to lose the will to live.

It’s good that Arteta is there; at least we are not all starting to run towards a cliff edge screaming change the manager. I couldn’t help but feel for him when his facial expression gave away his sense of almost disbelief as he grappled with the reality of yet another key player out for the remainder of the season. Was there anything good to say about the game, mah.

Leno: I find it hard to contain my anger at what happened, he was clearly pushed. How can I explain it: if I nudged you on purpose and you fell in front of a moving car, shrugging my shoulders and saying sorry would not cut it, the Brighton player should have been sent off at the very least. 9

Hector: lots of running, I am struggling to find the enthusiasm to do this. Pick a number?

Mustafi: ok

Holding: enjoyed watching him. Luiz set the bar so low the pressure was off. 7

Kolasinac: I was quite pleased with Said; I thought he did a reasonable job. 6

Guendouzi: also did a reasonable job, covered the defence well enough, moved the play forward. 6

Ceballos: do you still want Arsenal to sign him – really?

Pepe: I was mentally slagging this player off in my head about how ineffectual he is, running into blind alleys is a waste of time to say the least and then he scored and shut me right up. 7

Lacazette: lots of running and portrayed a sense of determination, who knows? 5

Aubamayang: slightly better than at City but it’s all about the goals, all about the goals Pierre. 6

And now I come to the only reason I have not jumped.

When all seems lost, when things seems they cannot get worse, when you have kicked the cat and said something that you regret to your wife, think of this one happy ray of hope.

Bukayo Saka………….thank you for being an Arsenal player, please stay.

LB

Afternoon people, many apologies for not be able to publish something earlier.

This afternoon – in fact, very soon – we’ll be kicking off against Brighton, down on the south coast. All football is away to me now as the stadium is out of bounds so it’s very weird.

This is the team if you haven’t seen it:-

Leno

Bellerin  Mustafi  Holding  Kolasinac

Guendouzi

Ceballos Saka

Pepe Lacazette Aubameyang

Subs Martinez Medley Tierney Maitland-Niles Willock Ozil Nelson Martinelli Nketiah

I’m hoping we can keep 11 on the pitch and both CB’s for the whole 90 minutes. Looking forward to seeing how Holding does, I thought he was going to be a mainstay of our defence …… still time.

Ozil has travelled, he must like the seaside air 🙂

Martinelli should see some game time today and I thought Eddie started brightly the other night so I expect he’ll get some minutes.

I was disappointed with Auba and Laca against City but mainly they didn’t really get to see much of the ball so hopefully we can be a bit more creative today. Ceballos worked hard the other night ……… that front five look a mouth watering prospect. Let it be so.

Enjoy the game.

peachesgooner

Simple question: if all our players are available, which of them would you put in the starting line-up for an important game?

I know it’s a stretch of the imagination to think of all our lads miraculously leaving the sickbay… Kolasinac with his shoulder un-knackered; Calum Chamber’s cruciate suddenly whole again following a secret late night visit from Glen Hoddle’s old faith healer; Kieran Tierney raring to go… but let’s run with it anyway.

If I had been carrying out this exercise even six weeks ago my team would have looked different to the one I’m about to propose.

For a start, there would have been no place for Ozil (whose Arsenal career seemed to be drifting into insignificance) or Pepe (he was, if we’re totally honest, proving to be a little bit disappointing) or Ceballos (who was turning into the new Denis Suarez) or, heaven help us, Mustafi (no explanation needed).

So it’s something of a surprise to me that this is the team I would select to do battle if all were available:

Leno

Bellerin – Mustafi – Luiz – Tierney

Torreira – Ceballos

Ozil

Pepe – Aubameyang – Saka

Subs: Martinez, Chambers, Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Willock, Martinelli, Lacazette.

Let me briefly explain my thinking. For a start, Mari and Soares were not even up for consideration because I’ve yet to see them play for Arsenal.

The selection of Luiz and Mustafi is based on how they have performed in the last four or five games. They seem to be forming a partnership in which each’s style of play complements the other’s.

Tierney has had a stop-start career at Arsenal so far but has shown enough to make me think the LB slot is his for years to come.

Dropping Xhaka to the bench is what I would do, but I really doubt Mikel Arteta would do the same if he had everyone fit to play. Like Unai Emery and Arsene Wenger he seems to see the Swiss as an essential fulcrum to our play.

Neverthless, I’m replacing him with Torreira and putting Dani Ceballos with him to provide the link-up play to our German midfield magician. In this scenario both Ceballos and Ozil are the beneficiaries of their recent rehabilitation.

I like Lacazette but his form has been too inconsistent this season, so it’s plank-warming for him and a run down the middle for Aubameyang.

With Saka and Pepe (who, at least to this viewer, is getting better with every outing) Auba will get lots of service, and all three have goals in them.

If I have a concern about my line-up it would be the lack of anyone up top to hold up the ball. It’s not really Aubameyang’s game. However, I see a combination of Ceballos and Ozil having a lot of control in central areas of the pitch and I don’t expect us to be playing too many long balls for Auba to contest for (apart from balls over the top for him to run in on goal).

That’s it.

Feel free to share your own line-ups in the comments.

RockyLives

• This Post was written before the Olympiacos defeat and the Portsmouth victory. I was tempted to re-write it afterwards, but decided not to let one bad performance influence my overall thinking… even though I’m looking at the right back in my line-up and thinking… hmmmm…. not so sure now.