It has been hard for our midfield maestros to produce the goods last season. Xhaka and Ozil have formidable passing ability but they really had little to play with, especially on the wings. And without effective wing-play even the very best creative midfielders will come to look poor. I know quite a few believe Granit and Mesut are not good enough but imagine a left wing with Tierney and Zaha and a right wing with Bells and Nelson. Our young and upcoming Nigerian star, Iwobi, is also developing fast, and he and Auba and Mkhi can also add something different to our wing-play next season.
All of a sudden we really are a team with wings, and as Emery does not really believe in defending we may as well invest in those positions and become a ‘score one more than we concede’ sort of team, as he solemnly promised us when Gazidis recruited him last summer.
Our team could look like this next season:
Of course it will only work if Emery can also sort out our midfield balance, which means he will either properly partner up Xhaka and Torreira in deeper laying midfield roles, or he has to come up with something different, especially now that Rambo has deserted us. Only Dennis knows whether he is capable of doing so, and we will see what he will come up with during his second season.
For Tierney and Zaha the club have made offers and we will probably have to wait for a long time before the negotiations will be concluded. Will we get them both this summer? You tell me. It was obvious that we need to strengthen our left wing this summer, as we were pretty toothless there for most of the previous season. Kola’s final ball was not bad but his defending was nothing to write home about; and Nacho is not able to reach a high levels of consistently anymore. So we need another option on LB. Is Tierney the man, though? I think so but only time will tell. Zaha is a class player with a Gooner heart and he will offer us that extra width and penetration that was missing so much last season. The Ivory Coast international will bring goals and assists from the left and no doubt form fine partnerships with Ozil, Laca and Auba, etc.
On the right we had a strong wing when Bells was fit and firing on all cylinders. He should be back in a few months time and this will improve the team significantly. We also have Reiss Nelson who did not play that much for Hoffenheim last season, yet still managed to score a goal every 90 minutes in the Bundesliga (seven in total). That is impressive for a man born just 21 days before Millennium Eve and playing in a foreign land. Furthermore, most people have given up on Mkhi but he is still a good player to have available and he will also benefit from the return of Hector next season.
So it looks like Arsenal are going to invest heavily in our left wing and I reckon that is the right thing to do. What do you think?
CoyGs!
By TotalArsenal!
Bergkampesque 
We need to forget about Zaha and bring in a capable alternative. We will never meet their crazy demands. And there were talks about the Leicester hardman which we need if we want to patch the gaping hole in defense.
Tierney is a good addition for us and we hope to see the Celts give in and let him go.
Ah, TA. Ever the optimist but I’d rather we started “counting the chicks” when we land the players. However, both will be good additions even as I hope Zaha cuts out his selfish play where he takes on one too many, loses the ball and does little by way of tracking back.
Again, I thought the left side was out most used outlet for attacks, so not sure why you felt we “were toothless there” and adding to that side for that reason. It will be nice if we get all of our targets, having announced Martinelli today.
TA, your piece is a reminder that things are about to hot up. I’d say yes to Tierney and Nelson but I have my doubts about Zaha. I have a feeling Palace with Wan-Bisaka’s money wouldn’t sell bellow £55m and I don’t rate Zaha that much.
I still feel it strongly that Ozil and possibly Mkhi are not very much on Emey’s plans. Tierney should be Kola’s replacement and could reduce our need for a left sided winger. Last season 42% of our attack went through the left side, 34% through the right and 24% through the centre. It made us predictable. A new #8/10 can change that dynamics
With Martinelli already signed and Nketiah available I feel we need to sell one of Laca/Auba to fund a new #8/10 (Newman) @ say £60m plus maybe 18yr old Saliba (CD). Our target should be a better balance of the team.
On this point most are averse to selling our best players but we must remind ourselves that Liv built its team by selling their best players Suarez and Coutinho. Same as the Tots who sold Modric and Bale. Balance of the team is the key.
My team when all are fit:-
~~~~~~~~~~Leno~~~~~~~~~~
Bell~~~~Sokr~~Holdn~~~Tierney
~~~Chambers~~~Xhaka~~~~~~
Nelson~~~~Newman~~~~~Iwobi
~~~~~~~~~~Laca~~~~~~~~~~
84, Arsenal drive a hard bargain and, as the player wants to come to us, this is the right strategy (Barcelona have done this with us many a time).
Eris, because AMN is not yet a Bellerin, we needed to use the left side a lot (and that is where we played Auba out of necessity a lot, where he did not look that effective most of the time). We may have had plenty of attacks from the left but it was not very effective imo. So I am not surprised that we are looking to strengthen the whole of the left this summer. My preference is Memphis Depay but Zaha would also be a good addition; the club may well be using Zaha’s negotiations to land another target. All will be revealed at some point.
PE, for me it is about end product, both in terms of goals and assists (and also key passes). Kola is hit and miss and is pretty poor at defending, Iwobi is getting there and Auba is much better suited in alone up top or in a 4-4-2 formation. We need real quality there… the level of Marc Overmars if you ask me.
That is a fresh line up you produced there, PE, but one I would fear who get us to fight to stay in the PL. There is no doubt that Mesut will be playing at Arsenal next season, and Mkhi will only move on if we can find a buyer…. which is unlikely.
I’m not a fan of sokratis or Axkha as they’re both poor defending at getting back when out of position give away possession too often !!
Get a Gary Cahil on a free to Marshall and educate Our complete defensive set up as we have good versatility in our youth ? Holding Mavropanos Bielik etc etc then we can replace Axkha with a mifielder who is a stopper and passes the ball simple to the play makers .
New Post 🙂 New Post 🙂