Arsenal banter 69005

 

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21 Jun 2018 06:55:53
Assuming the four transfers will complete: Leno, Lichtsteiner, Sokratis and Torreira, we still appear to possibly require the following:
A further CB, if Mustafi departs, unless Emery retains and utilises Chambers, Mavropanos and Holding. Koscileny may be available in January 2019.
A further DM, unless Emery uses Xhaka, Elneny and Maitland-Niles, as well as Torreira.
Attacking midfield lacks in depth, if Wilshere and Ramsey depart. We will have Ozil, Mkhitaryan and Iwobi. We could play strikers such as Welbeck (if he stays) and Aubameyang wide in the attacking midfield trio.
We really need to sort out where we stand with Ramsey and Welbeck, perhaps this explains rumours regarding Banega.
Emery has done a considerable amount to sort out such a weak and unbalanced sqaud. It will be interesting to see how so many new players knit together, whilst using new tactics and training methods. From a fan's perspective iexciting times ahead.

Agree5 Disagree0

21 Jun 2018 07:18:35
I have to say I’m a little perplexed with so much concern over transfers and who may or may not come in or leave.

We, in Torreira, appear to be buying a defensive mid, maybe we’ll pick up another CB I don’t know.

I can’t see Ramsey leaving and I’m sure he would be the kind of player Emery likes.

The big huge massive enormous difference is Wenger has gone, that in itself has to be an extra 10 points a season!

Were about to head into something new with different ideas, different mindsets, some actual tactics and players that had gone backwards have every chance of doing the opposite going forward.

We have some fabulous players going forward and I’m sure it’s not the most hideous task to get this team defending as a unit.

Something Wenger simply didn’t even attempt to do, let alone buy a defensive midfielder. I didn’t think I’d say it but I’m so glad he’s gone.

21 Jun 2018 07:50:19
Hi Stoner, Wenger will always be an enigma to me; on the one hand the first half of his reign was immense. On the other hand the second half wasn't great and was only saved by 3 FA Cup wins.
The first eleven is looking promising with the signings to date, if we include Sokratis and Torreira as done deals.
Leno
Bellerin Mustafi (I would replace) Sokratis Monreal
Torreira Xhaka
Ramsey (if he stays) Ozil Aubameyang
Lacazette

Cech
Lichtsteiner Mavropanos Holding Kolasinac
Maitland-Niles Elneny
Mkhitaryan Iwobi Nelson
Welbeck

The problem's are that we may lose Ramsey and Welbeck as they only have a year left on their deals. In addition I would like to see Mustafi depart and a quality replacement brought in. We need a couple more midfield options, which is odd as under Wenger we usually had too many attacking midfield players! However, we have moved on quite a few: Coquelin, Wilshere (going) , Cazorla (gone) , Ramsey (may go) , etc. I would like to see us sign Nzonzi, Golovin and Soyuncu. I would also like to see Iwobi and Chambers moved on.

21 Jun 2018 08:50:20
Is it only me, or do we need an other winger or inside forward, if we play 4-2-3-1. I don't rate either Iwobi or Welbeck top noth in that role. A lot of the players that keep appearing in the so called reports tend to be more central.

It will be interesting to see what formation Emery plan to use as a preferd formation. I think 4-3-3 looks most likely now.

Leno
Bellerin Mustafi Sokratis Monreal
Ramsey Torreira Xhaka
Ozil Lacazette Aubameyang

Cech
Lichtsteiner Mavropanos Holding Kolasinac
Maitland-Niles Elneny Nelson
Mkhitaryan Welbeck Iwobi.

21 Jun 2018 09:30:17
Mustafi and Xhaka are not premier league ready, they may become so under Dick but as we stand you can't have a cmf player who can't tackle without giving away free kicks and picking up cards and you can't have a CB who switches off and looks for others to cover him as often as Mustafi does.
I'm pretty sure Dick doesn't have a magic wand and neither player is a spring chicken so it will take time to retrain both and that retraining shouldn't be on the job training where at the teams expense again this season.
Xhaka record on tackling was poor before we signed him so he either has to learn the art or play in the Mesut role where not being able to tackle isn't an issue so much, but a central midfield player who can't tackle is ridiculous, it's like having a striker who can't shoot or a winger who can't run with the ball. If our starting 11 against City includes Mustafi and Xhaka in central midfield we simply aren't giving ourselves the best chance of success.
Personally I never think there is room for passengers in any premier league game but against City more than anyone you need 11 players who fit the job description they are expected to carry out.

21 Jun 2018 10:06:31
G62 - It will be interesting to see Emery's influence on current players, as the training intensifies, tactics change, defensive coaching improves and we play a pressing game.
In respect of Xhaka, I prefer him played in a more advanced role, between the DM's and the forwards. He has a great range of passing and a tremendous shot on him. He looks better when he is permitted to be more aggressive and can tackle, but clearly isn't at his best played as a DM.
I was a fan of Mustafi before he arrived and for a period he looked decent, until he seemed to lose all confidence. Under Wenger in the second half of his reign, central defenders had little protection as he ceased playing 'proper' DM's. If Mustafi had played with Vieira and Petit or Gilberto in front of him he would have found defending considerably easier. In addition we tended to defend too high up the pitch at times, leaving space in behind the defence and our zonal marking system was awful. Adams admitted that the defence used to sort itself out and ignore Wenger!
Of all the changes that may happen at the club under Emery, sorting out the defensive side of the game out is the most interesting for me.
Another question is what are we going to do with Ozil and Mkhitaryan? We seem to have two overpaid players, even by today's standards, for the same position. Ozil is the better of the two players, but Mkhitaryan is more consistent and I can't see a way of fitting both players into the starting line up. If we could sell Ozil, I would do so, but with absurd wages in excess of £300,000 pw, I cannot see anyone taking him off our hands. rant over!

21 Jun 2018 10:29:51
I can't see us signing too many more older players just because of the squad registration rule.

Once you count the departures and arrivals already confirmed (and assuming Lucas, Campbell, Jenkinson and Akpom will not be registered) we have room for 3 non-homegrown players born after Jan 1st '97. It seems pretty likely that Sokratis and Torreira will be two of those.

That leaves us with one spot for Soyuncu, Seri, Golovin, Martins, N'Zonzi, Banega, Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, the 'next next next next' Vieira, Mbappe, Oblak or Yaya Toure for a £1-a-week.

With Jack leaving, his squad space is available but only if we sign a homegrown player, or register Macey/ Iliev/ Martinez as third choice keeper and move Ospina on - that could make room for one more.

After that we would have to sell before we buy, but by this point most of the dead wood is gone. The core of our squad is pretty strong, and we can't really afford to chop it to bits. Even the idea of moving Mustafi on for Soyuncu concerns me - for all Mustafi's faults, I'm not confident starting a season with one experienced CB who has never played in the prem and our next most experienced, fit centre back being Chambers. I like Chambers a lot but he's still only 23.

It also means that moving on players like Welbeck, Iwobi, Chambers or Holding would deplete our squad as they can only be replaced with homegrown players, which a significantly smaller (and more expensive) pool.

Expectation management is important, but more than consistently dreaming to turn over between 1/ 3 and 1/ 2 of the playing staff every window, I'm kind of hoping Emery just gets the players we have (including Xhaka, Mustafi and Bellerin) playing consistent, good, game-winning football that they certainly have the potential to.

21 Jun 2018 10:48:05
When Xhaka first arrived at Arsenal Ed007 described him as a thug and his tackling has proved to be crude and it does make him look like a thug, not an apresive midfield player but simple incapable of tackling cleanly and winning the ball without taking the man RG.
As for playing him in a more advanced role where? You can't have both Mesut and Xhaka playing the same way that's to much luxury and not enough graft.
Mustafi reminds of Mertesacker in the sense he never ever takes responsibility for himself and his mistakes, he's always looking for a an official to blame or worse still a team mate rather than put his hand up and accept his mistakes and learn from them., this is a huge problem.
RG they are not yet what you want them to be and 2 poor seasons show that mate, maybe they will improve under Dick, let's all hope so but I doubt it will be in time for City or the early part of next season.
As for Xhaka passing? Mate any 26 year old footballer with time should be able to hit a 40 yard pass to a team mate in loads of space that isn't a rare commodity and as for shooting from range? How many goals has he scored in his career if you take his time under Arsene out of the equation?
I'd have thought to be premier league player you'd need more to you than be capable of the odd great goal and the odd excellent pass.
Arsene bought him to be our Alonso as he did Artetta and neither were upto to it but Arsene wanted them to be because he was desperate for an Alonso type player at Arsenal.
It's back to the training ground for both Xhaka and Mustafi if they want to be the real deal because neither is up to it at present for one reason or another and only working on thier weaknesses will improve them.

21 Jun 2018 10:56:52
Worth noteing that Torreira has played most of his football this last season at the base of a diamon in midfield. Could we possibly see a 4-1-2-1-2 line up in some games next season? This would allow us to start both Lacazette and Auba whilst playing Ozil in the number 10 role.

Perhaps something like:
Leno
Bellerin, Mustafi, Sokratis, Monreal/ Kolasinac
Torreira
Ramsey, Xhaka
Ozil
Auba, Lacazette.

21 Jun 2018 11:35:12
G62 - Xhaka's passing is far superior to many players. Under Wenger he was clearly restricted from shooting from distance which is his speciality and something Wenger frowned upon. He describes himself as a 'fake no.10'. A number 10 that plays further back. Particularly away from home, he could play in a midfield three alongside say, Ramsey and Mkhitaryan, which would provide extra defensive cover. He hasn't a great scoring record as he tends to have been played more defensively and if played ahead of the DM's, he provides opportunities for others with his passing and chances from his shooting that can be deflected by defenders or keepers.
Interestingly he was one of the first players to have his contract extended by Emery and I believe may be one of the important 5 players mentioned. We can beg to differ, but let's see how he plays under Emery. I am not as convinced by Mustafi and I think he may well be replaced this summer. Although, I must say that players can play very differently under different managers and different systems.
Yesterday was a great example, as Iran, not a great team by international standards, were superbly coached and they almost held out against one of the top teams in the world, unluckily conceding a solitary goal. If the same players played an open game, team such as Spain would have run riot. So let's see how these players get on under Emery before we judge them. Look at Palace and Everton last season before and after managerial changes. Chelsea under Mourinho finished half way down the table, the season after with Conte, with basically the same squad they won the league.

21 Jun 2018 12:09:34
RG if your trade mark is yoyr shooting ability then surely it's got to result in lots of goals because if not what use is it?
His passing hasn't been brilliantly accurate and his conceeding possession so often shows.
False 10 for Xhaka free role for Mesut utilise Ramsey a attacking skills plus find room for a Lacasette Pea partnership, where will it end and at what cost at the other end?
We can't rely on Leno to do for us what De Gear does for United every week.

Yes I totally agree you don't need the best players to be one of the best teams but if you ain't got the best players you certainly need to be full of graft all over the pitch and be very difficult to score past.
Vardy and Mahrez got the headlines for Leicester that season but it was all 11 players grafting and a very resilient defence that made them champions.
IF you ain't got the best players you need to work harder to make up the difference and I non grafter is a luxury but 2 or 3 is crazy.

21 Jun 2018 12:31:04
G62 - We clearly think very differently! Emery likes Xhaka as he has extended his contract, let's wait and see how he does next season. In respect of Mustafi, reports are emerging that Emery isn't keen on him and quite frankly it wouldn't upset me if he is moved on. From what little I have seen of Soyuncu he impresses me. We reportedly made an offer for David Luiz and he is a player I also like and with quality youngsters Mavropanos and Holding coming through, we could play an experienced pairing of Sokratis and Luiz, who could interchange with the young centre backs. I am not a fan of Chambers and I would move him on, particularly if Fulham would pay in excess of £15m for him. One slight problem mentioned is the foreign player quota, which we must be wary of and hence we need to keep at least 6 to 8 overage home grown players in the squad. This makes the decision by Emery not to reassure Wilshere of playing time quite baffling. Unless Emery is aware of fitness problems that make giving Wilshere a deal risky.

21 Jun 2018 13:01:42
I totally agree on we see things very differently and that Emery rates Xhaka RG mate which leaves the only answer being either Xhaka or Emery will prove me wrong next season.
Emery I rate as a very big asset to Arsenal and that a feeling I hope will be strengthened more and more over next season.
I rate Xhaka as the most over rated Arsenal player for a very long time and a far greater hindrance than asset, this obviously a feeling I hope to feel less and less as next season goes on.
If Dick is right about Xhaka then obviously I'm wrong but if Dick is wrong about Xhaka then ummm maybe I'm wrong about Dick.
Come on Xhaka shut me and Steve up and make everyone happy, including me and Steve ;-)

21 Jun 2018 14:20:06
Ask any supporter other than arsenal, what they think of xhaka and i have never heard one praise him at all. Get them rose specs off about xhaka and realise he is a liability. Just ask opposition fans, the hate him and they laugh.

21 Jun 2018 14:34:27
It amazes me that people who criticise my thoughts on Chambers, who I don't particularly rate, are so anti-Xhaka and fail to see that Xhaka was compromised by Wenger's use of him as a DM and the general poor defensive tactics and coaching during his two year period at the club.
Interestingly both Wenger and now Emery clearly rate Xhaka highly and a look at Wikipedia shows what a successful career he has had, depsite only being 25 years of age. He has captained teams and won trophies. Wenger simply wasn't the ideal manager for him. As I have stated, watch how he plays over the whole of next season under Emery.

21 Jun 2018 15:11:14
RG, personally i don't care where he plays, i would rather someone else play in his place. Push him further forward people say, we have better players than xhaka, players that can actually take people on and go past them. I just don't rate the guy. Big BUT i will give him the chance for a while to prove me wrong when the season starts, everyone deserves that. I don't mind being proved wrong, if it means arsenal fc gain from it.

21 Jun 2018 15:34:23
Go on the Chelsea Liverpool and Everton pages and put Xhaka into the search bar and you get a more realistic opinion of what most people see Steve or anyone else who's interested.
There is an Everton fan who thinks he's brilliant and if I remember right one Chelsea fan said he wasn't that bad but the rest is not for the eyes of the Xhaka forever club :-)
I've not checked any other pages and certainly not the Spurs page for obvious reasons:-)

21 Jun 2018 15:39:48
RG we can't even agree on how he played the last 2 seasons as some of us think he's been awful while others say he's been good :-)
I'm not sure next season will change the minds of those who have already been impressed by him, he can hardly get worse :-)
He win a few other from those who currently don't rate him but he would have to work very hard at being bad to lose what fans he has mate :-)

21 Jun 2018 16:33:52
The last people I would ask are fans in general and certainly not the fans of other clubs. How many of the fans have played football to a high level, been coached to a high level, have any coaching badges, have a deep understanding of tactics, etc?
During Xhaka's time at the club how many of our players actually performed well? We finished 6th last year and I think 5th the year before, which is in effect bottom of the 6 clubs that stand a serious chance of winning a trophy or/ and finishing in the top four. The team were poorly coached, tactics were poor and the quad unbalance. I just discussed Xhaka with my neighbour, a former captain of Reading when they were in the PL, who said he a quality player, but not a DM. I know you guys won't agree, but Xhaka's record speaks for itself, he has been a very successful player, with over 50 international caps at the age of 25 and before you knock Switzerland, they are ranked 6th in the FIFA rankings and just held Brazil to a draw.

21 Jun 2018 16:34:58
RG, and i'm not picking on you. Please just answer honestly.
Would xhaka play every week (or even in the squad but that's another question) for citeh, utd, chelski, liverpool, toots.
My answer is resounding NO.

21 Jun 2018 16:50:35
Mustafi is a liability to me and too often looks for a offside flag rather than just defending the situation. If it is true we have the greek lad from Dortmund coming in Mustafi needs selling. I would not have minded selling Bellerin either but it appears Emery likes him.

Xakha is not a DM for sure but i think it is worth seeing him futher upfield in a Emery system Torreira and AMN or Eleneny would be my DM choices in a 4-2-3-1 with Xakha as one option pushed up with Ramsey and Ozil behind Pea then you can plenty of options with Miki and Lacazette available also, I think lacazette could also play behind Pea.

21 Jun 2018 16:55:27
Steve, I don't feel picked on, everyone is free to have an opinion. However, I will stand my ground if I disagree, unless someone makes a sensible comment that changes my mind. The problem at Arsenal is that on current form very few players would be regulars at the clubs you mention and to sign players of the calibre that United and City sign, you have to spend heavily. Interestingly Xhaka played 70 of the 76 league games over the last 2 seasons. I doubt any other player played more at the club, which meant Wenger rated him highly, as does Emery who has already given him a longer contract.
If we play a 4-1-4-1 as Emery has mentioned and we have the following team, Xhaka will look so much better:
Leno
Bellerin Sokratis Benatia (reports that we may sign him) Monreal
Torreira
Mkhitaryan Ramsey Xhaka Ozil
Aubameyang

Ozil in a free role, not wide left.

21 Jun 2018 17:24:19
RG are you a polititian. Lol. They don't answer the simple questions, straight, either. Yes or No?

21 Jun 2018 17:29:06
RG Speaking of qualified opinion mate, any news on the club you very successful managed yet? :-) just a clue for you, you need to come up with someone called Robbie who lives in a posh part of London owns his own jet is age 56/ 57 and played non league to a very high standard plus managed very successfully at a high standard too, oh and is mates with Toby and Poch:-)
Good luck finding someone to fit that description mate, if you manage to pull it off I will agree with your next 200 posts out of total respect :-)
Just the club name will do RG I can search the rest myself mate:-) .







 

 

 
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