Arsenal 2023/24

It's a long road... but at least we can now see where we're going.

If we didn't get anyone else through the door this window I'd be keen to try this:

                      Leno

          Holding Luiz Xhaka

Bellerin Ceballos Elneny Tierney

           Willian Laca Auba

Last night we showed down the left what a lack of left footers does when it comes to out balls - just look at AMN's cross that took Robinson's intervention to get it to Laca. The rest of our balls down that side were often over hit and out. Midfield would be a bit more mobile and might pass a little quicker, and we can really leverage Tierney's pace too. Xhaka could still advance into midfield like Tierney does, but less of the overlaps which may keep Auba wider. 

Not too bothered about the possession stats. They were always going to have more of the ball but don't think they created all that much with it. Not many of their shots were golden opportunities and we should have been level before they scored the late 3rd. We're accustomed these days to going to the big teams's grounds and getting thumped 5-1 or 4-0 etc so it's encouraging we're giving them since kind of game now. Disappointing the elbow to face from Mane wasn't a red card and that Alexander-Arnold was allowed to go in studs up and stamp on someone again as he did in the last meeting. 

A bump in the road. Liverpool are the best side right now, we can't expect to beat them every time lol

Still, telling that we were a missed chance away from really putting the heat on them. We never gave up despite being second best for a a long time. Laca will be rueing that missed chance, he did everything else right on the day, performance ruined by that one moment. 

Huge game next in the PL, we must win against Sheffield to be on track for our goal - top 4. We have Man City after that which is the only other team in the league I don't expect us to necessarily be able to beat on our own merits. We can't afford dropped points 3 games in a row, Sheffield will be crucial. 

Gotta rest everybody for the League Cup game against Liverpool, put out the 2nd team entirely. 

I'm not averse to Xhaka in that LCB role Brumbys, to allow Tierney to go to LB, Xhaka has done well there for us before, but I wonder about his pace against very quick forwards. I think we will most definitely make a signing or two in midfield before the window shuts. 

Also see Kolasinac might be gone, Bayer Leverkusen close to a deal, 10m fee being touted. We need to get some players out the door urgently.

Kolasinac, Sokratis, Mateo are my must leaves. Mustafi & Chambers moving on in January once they've re-habilitated would be fine.

Torreria staying wouldn't be the worst.

Mesut is Mesut.

Emile SR, Nelson, Willock - reckon one of them is a loan deal too.

Also; here's an U23's match where Saliba played. I'd put him at fault for both goals too - now getting a better sense of why Arteta's playing down expectations. Not saying he won't make it, but he's definitely not at the form he has previously hit in France: https://player.arsenal.com/video/u-23s-brighton-hove-albion-highlights-0

Some really interesting analysis here; appreciated seeing the argument laid out objectively using data So who really is England’s biggest club? https://theathletic.com/2087683/

Also; just signed up for this https://www.fane.co.uk/our-shows/a-live-stream-with-arsne-wenger/about-the-show#book

ice cold from 12 yards

AMN looks like our coolest penalty taker by some distance.

The new Lauren?

Saka and AMN both selected for England as defenders, interesting.

Man City in the next round of the League Cup, FFS.

It's crazy to think we've got the international window this weekend while club football carries on!

Also interesting is that Saliba is about to join Rennes on loan. Arteta quoted as saying he needed last season for his transition year to senior football but it hasn't happened for him between Covid & injuries. Based on what I observed in that U23's game I'd agree. It's another CB out the door but not one we'd have picked at the beginning of the window!

Oh and Torreira to Madrid appears to be done, but on loan. Also reporting no connection to the Partey deal. Putting 2 & 2 together I wonder if we're opting to invest in Aouar over Partey given age etc.

Reports now that Aouar is off... I don't understand the apparent fixation on Aouar and Partey. Sure; either/both would be fantastic additions - but it's not like they're the only two players in Europe who could improve our midfield... there are plenty of other options, some of which won't be nearly as exxy.

I'd love either one but I wouldn't be surprised (or upset) if we saw someone like Mwepu, and maybe another more experienced EPL mid (I'll pass on Juninho though thanks)..

I think the appeal is that they're both bloody decent players playing regularly at a higher level than our squad has been - so look like solid upgrades on current options and show a lot of ambition.

Lyon's president is a bit of cod so I'm not surprised it's "off" - he'll just keep moaning until he gets his cash.

I do agree that other cheaper options can come in and do a job, but that's how we get players like Torreira & Elneny in, not how we push on to be more competitive.

I'm not talking about players who can "do a job" necessarily (that's how I see Juninho). I'm talking about guys who are 22-25 and are/can develop further - MA has shown what he can do with average players... what he needs is an extra couple of players with different profiles/strengths to what we have now, particularly in midfield where we're lacking creativity, energy, and some assertion.

That was a must win this morn. Bit nervy at the end but we looked defensively solid until that point.

How good is Gabriel looking??? Think Arteta might have made a mistake in not starting him against Liverpool last week. 

Good goal for Pepe to get this morning. I liked the interplay in the first goal. 

Bellerin had a good game, 2 assists?

https://www.joe.co.uk/sport/gunnersaurus-arsenal-covid-251822?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=onsite_share thats fudgeed. they've let a staunch life long fan doing a part time job go to cut costs, yet shell out a fudge ton on 85 overdone centre backs. absolute shark from the club. 

Well, the reality is we should only be paying him on a contract basis and we don't need him at the moment. It's not that poor, makes total sense.

When we can have fans back, bring him back. While we don't there's no work on. We're not a fudgeing charity.

Charles Watts reporting we're back in for Partey. Could be an interesting end to the window - excited to be in the UK for it!

Romano says it’s done, it must be here we go!

also meant to be until 2025, let’s go MA

so we should pay players in the off season then? cool cool cool. 

bahahaha

This turned up last Friday. Pretty quick postage all things considered. It has quickly become one of my all time favourite Arsenal shirts. Love the darker red.

Jack has been released by West Ham. I wonder where he will end up now. China? ISL? 

See where you're coming from but it's really not that black and white. We're sacrificing these types of things so we can put as much money into the first team as possible, regardless of what errors have been made in the past.

If we start signing players but not paying them in the off season then none of them will want to come here. But when it comes to the mascot we have options.

Could be worse, could be Spurs taking COVID loan packages from the government whilst signing players for millions, there's definitely something very off about that.

It's time to P A R T E Y!!! 

Thanks for this Brumbys, I've signed up as well!

Super excited about this, did not realise his book was nearly out!

Oh yea, yay Partey! 

Didn't expect that in the end but it was very much needed in our squad. 

What do people make of Ceballos and Elneny getting picked to start against Sheffield? I was surprised. Do you think Xhaka was dropped or was it a question of balancing the side for the League Cup game against Liverpool (where Xhaka was actually captain)?

Don't know much about Partey as I try not to get too invested in transfer links to avoid ending up disappointed, and I don't follow La Liga. Sounds exciting so hope he turns out to be as good as everyone says. Pleased to be able to build the midfield around someone long term rather than another loan.

I like the darker red too. I went with long sleeves and the normal font, but also got Aubameyang.

Alrighty, so that's the window shut. Today saw Guendouzi and Torreira go out on loan, and Partey come in.

What does this mean for Ozil and Sokratis? Those two in particular appear to be in limbo. Plus all these extra CBs when they come back from injury...

So if we assume we're sticking with this 3-4-3, this is our current squad:

1.

                 Leno

      Luiz-Gabriel-Tierney

 Bellerin-Partey-Xhaka-Saka

Willian-Lacazette-Aubameyang

2.

               Runarsson

    Holding-Sokratis-Kolasinac

Soares-Ceballos-Elneny-AMN

       Pepe-Nketiah-Nelson

Plus: Macey, Saliba, Willock, Smith-Rowe

Injured: Mustafi, Mari, Chambers, Martinelli

Did Saliba end up going back to France? 

Nothing confirmed, think he'll go somewhere in England still as that's the only available option now, while I imagine Kolasinac, Mustafi, Ozil, Sokratis will have to choose between a loan move in England or holding out until January for an escape (which isn't too far away).

We're paying the price for signing up players at the end of their career on big wages - we need to get much better at managing their exits.

I don't think we'll see it as clean as this.

Partey will bring mobility & strength to the midfield, which I think well bring us back to a 4-3-3 which changes the dynamic. I've tweaked your teams to show how I think we'll alternate between the 3-4-3 and the 4-4-3 - if you're not in those starting line ups you'll just have to fight for game time - which is achievable under Arteta...

Also, I think Pepe works better in the 3-4-3 than Willian, while Willian would probably be more comfortable in a 4-3-3.

Per this article; we have 19 names for 17 places for non-homegrown players in our EPL confirmed team.

• Bernd Leno
• Alex Runarsson
• Cedric Soares
• Gabriel
• David Luiz
• Sead Kolasinac
• Pablo Mari
• Shkodran Mustafi
• Sokratis
• Kieran Tierney
• Dani Ceballos
• Granit Xhaka
• Mohamed Elneny
• Thomas Partey
• Nicolas Pepe
• Mesut Ozil
• Willian
• Alexandre Lacazette
• Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Who do you drop?

Mustafi must be a candidate, given he's still injured. Given Sokratis is keen to leave we could ditch him and cancel his contract, enabling him to sign elsewhere as a free agent.

Other candidates must be Kolasinac & Ozil. The former still could play the odd game, the latter is clearly not in Arteta's plans and perhaps the insult my convince him to cancel his contract and move on.

100% Sokratis and Ozil. Mustafi is a better ball player than Sokratis, which Arteta prefers. He also had a starting spot under Arteta prior to his injury, whilst Sokratis has pretty much been completely in the dark since Arteta arrived. 

In this 3-4-3 Kolasinac is currently the direct back-up to Tierney, who is injury-prone, so is actually quite important, at least until Mari and others come back from injury.

Ozil, enough said, the guy just isn't going to play for us again as far as I can tell. Guessing we'll be putting him on gardening leave for the season then saying goodbye once and for all. 

Speaking of which, saw the news overnight with him saying he'll pay Gunnersaurus' salary. It would be nice for that guy to get paid, but lets be honest, that is a very minor aspect of Ozil's motivation in doing this. It's deliberately divisive. And at a time when for the first time in years the fans, players and club leadership appear to all be pulling in the same direction. We are all pretty united at the moment, it's hard to take Ozil's games seriously any longer, they've become a legacy of a bad period which everyone has pulled out of, except him.

Arteta has clearly laid out to him what he needs to do behind the scenes to be part of this team, and he's obviously not doing it, whatever it is. If AMN and Xhaka and others can take Arteta's instructions on board and turn things around, then Ozil should be able to. To be playing these passive aggressive games, playing the supporters off against the club, I'm over it. His legacy at Arsenal is completely ruined. I wish we would just pay out the remainder his contract and cancel it right now.

If we could do this but he was banned for playing for the year then it would be ideal. I hate the idea of him collecting our pay cheque and another one just to get rid of him, an egregious waste of funds.

Need another AFC transfer window roundup podcast?... one with Kiwi accents too (among others)... of course you do!!!

https://open.spotify.com/show/6thc48h2InQTzYxTdvfb...