Category: Uncategorized

Granit Xhaka’s departure is a hard one to swallow. I had hopes till the end that Arteta could convince him to stay another season, but it was not to be. 296 games for Arsenal in seven seasons; that’s 42 games per season. He missed only a few games during his Arsenal career and played in 37 of our PL games last season.

We could count on Granit. He always wore the shirt with pride, and under Arteta he learned to manage his temper and became his talisman on the pitch. All managers loved Granit but many fans could not see what the Swiss master brought to our game. It all came sort of good at the end and I am glad this was the case, but we really needed him to stay put for at least another season.

The left flank was Xhaka’s. Yes he was pushed higher up during last season’s campaign and did very well with goals and assists (14 in total in the PL), but he did so much more for the team. In this attacking position he managed an incredible pass accuracy of 87% and made other players better. Big Gab knew Granit would cover him and the left flank, so did the Zinch or Tierney. Saka could count on him with his raking diagonal passes finding him in space time and again. Martinelli became a much more composed player too.

Granit offered a left foot with passing precision and all benefited from this. Most importantly, Xhaka played with his head up and anticipated passes and follow up passes constantly. He read the game so well and gave structure to our entire left flank. His slight lack of speed was made up for by his intelligence and positioning; he seldom got caught out. He was the most important player for Arteta (‘s tactics) on the pitch, and only a giant like Declan Rice can (eventually) replace him.

I don’t know why Granit left. We can only speculate. Having had a week’s holiday in Switzerland, I can understand why he is gradually moving back to his home. Leverkusen, a Rhine city, is a stepping stone on his way back. The values there are similar to the Swiss values: there is respect for people and privacy is respected. Granit is a family man and as a family they will feel much more at home in Germany.

I wish him well and will make sure to watch him play in the Bundesliga next season.

With Rice we have an excellent replacement albeit a slightly different player. I think Declan is an improvement long-term but he will miss Granit’s gentle leadership and guidance in the team. Luckily, Arteta has come out saying Partey is going to stay as this is vital for the continuity of our progress in the team. Rice needs settling in.

I would imagine that Declan will sit deepish behind two attacking midfielders – the most exciting variant of total football. That systems does suit Granit less, even though he made a success of his more advanced position last season. I think the likes of ESR, Havertz and Trossard will thrive playing next to the Ode and do even better than Granit’s 14 goals/assists. But they are all not good at defending and lack Granit’s overall mastery of the game. This worries me.

No doubt Declan and Partey will often play together, especially in the harder games. Together they will make us forget Xhaka gradually, but it’s in those games where we just play one of them that we will look more vulnerable of the counter or after losing possession in midfield. Big Gab will be more exposed. The Zinch defensive qualities will be exposed more too. Declan (or Thomas) will simply have too much space to cover during those moments).

I’d imagine that Arteta’s answer will be to push the full backs up to support Declan or Partey in those sort of games…. and play even more attacking football. Timber’s signing is therefore a very exciting one. Push up and up and suffocate the opponent, giving them no time and space to pass the ball around. Total Football ala Guardiola. Cruijff at the home of football. Ashburton Grove the New Amsterdam. Wenger will purr and his bullishness that we will win the title may become true. I am hopeful, and excited, this will be the case.

Every great team is build on solid, gradually developed foundations. I find it a shame that Granit will not be able to pick the juicy fruits of his great toil – physically and mentally – over the last seven years. But I for one will not forget what he did for us and what he stood for. A Footballer in Full.

Farewell, Granit, and thank you for all you did for us.

By TotalArsenal.

How important is it to have absolute top players in most positions?

If you started to read this post only because you are intrigued by this question, I can save you some time. I don’t know. Moreover, I’m not sure that this post will bring us closer to the answer. However, the following season hopefully will.

I will try to analyze the current squad by positions, to see how far our strongest XI is behind the absolute elite. And I’m not talking about the top teams here, but the very best players in each position. For the sake of simplification, I will call the 1-3 players elite, the 4-10 world class, and the 11-25 as top players.

A final disclaimer: this is not a fact-sharing post. You’ll read merely my opinion on our first choice players in comparison with their peers, but that’s inevitably subjective. I’ll do my best to refrain from being partial or prejudicial, and even if I’m biased, it is probably in favor of the player. Nevertheless it’s perfectly right if you have a different evaluation, and don’t hesitate to challenge my assessments. (Update after reading the post: I was probably more often hard on players than generous. Be kind in the comments.)

Before we jump into the task, think with me a bit. When did Arsenal have someone from the absolute top 3 players in any position in their ranks? Did we ever? Obviously Thierry Henry was one, and in this blog I suspect we can grant this award to our non-flying Dutchman as well. But was Pires or Ljungberg a top 3 winger? I don’t think so. There were players like Ronaldinho, Figo or the young CR7 there. Maybe Vieira was top 3 at his peak, but Fabregas had strong competition from Scholes, Schweinsteiger, Gerrard, Xavi, Lampard and others. Furthermore, I don’t think RvP was top 3 either (Rooney, Drogba, Müller, Eto’o), nor was Aubameyang (Benzema, Lewandowski, Kane, Morata, Firmino, old CR7). I believe the first and only time Arsenal had a top 3 player in the team since Henry was Alexis Sanchez (and it didn’t turn out too well, either).

So I’m not saying it is a must to have a few elite players in the team in order to win silverware (see Leicester) or Champions League (see Marseilles, Porto, Inter). It’s not a disadvantage though, but even top teams don’t (can’t) have top3 players in all positions. Maybe a couple, and the rest of the starting XI can consist of ‘only’ world class players and some others from the top.

Yes, I picked this topic up, because I’m convinced that next season we will have an elite player in our squad. (Again, it is not suitable to compare teammates from different positions, but a certain player with the best athletes from his own position.) To save you the suspense: he is going to be Declan Rice.

But fortunately – spoiler alert – we are so well equipped with world class players all over the squad that I believe we have plenty of chances to collect 90 points in the PL and reach the semi-final in the CL and domestic cups. At the very least.

Let’s start from striker towards goalkeeper. Gabriel Jesus is one of the tricky customers. I’m not entirely sure whether he is a world class (4-10) forward, or only top (11-25), he qualifies for both assertions.  Next season will help us decide. Jesus is not elite (Haaland, Mbappé, Osimhen, Kane), but he doesn’t have to be. If he can play like he did at the beginning of the recent season, we are properly covered with the first choice striker, especially as Haaland and Mbappé are making around 1M/week. I don’t know nor care if they deserve it, this is not the direction we should move in my opinion.

Right wing. And the first controversial position. I will not be popular, but despite many of you may think that Bukayo Saka is the best RW in the world, I think he is not elite just yet. However, I expect him to become one in the next couple of years. Salah, Rodrygo, Messi, Mahrez are still ahead of him. Not more valuable, just better as of now. But 3 of them are above 30, so Saka will compete with Gnabry, Raphina, Diaby, Dembele and Rodrygo in the future to see who joins the elite.

At the left wing, it is easier. We all know that Martinelli is not yet elite (Vinicius Jr, Phoden, Rashford, Kvaratskhelia), but there is no doubt that he is already world class. However this group is balanced and a truly strong one with Leao, Grealish, Neymar, Diaz, Coman, Gakpo, Sterling, Son, Mudryk and Jota fighting for the 7 places in the category. (It’s possible that Trossard has his stake in the 11-25 positions, but the jury is still out.)

Attacking midfield. I hope I don’t get lynched, but at the moment I see Odegaard similar to Saka. He is a criminally good player still on the rise, but unfortunately not yet at the level of de Bruyne, Fernandes or Musiala, but already at the level of Maddison, Wirtz and Silva. You may accuse me of high expectations, but expect Martin to level up, and I plan to buy my second Arsenal jersey with his name on the back to provide company to my only Bergkamp shirt. Kai Havertz detto: he is also world class, no doubt about that. We’ll see how he can reinvent himself as an AM and/or B2B midfielder.

I already spoiled the defensive midfield: Declan Rice is the best player there along with Rodri. Tchouaméni, Fernandez, Kimmich and Caicedo are mighty fine players too, but simply below Declan. Thomas Partey was a top DM, but never close to the elite, and probably his world class days are also over.

We don’t really have central midfielders since Xhaka’s departure – who was probably never a world class player, but with his leadership, presence and off-pitch support he was one of the most valuable and most underappreciated individuals at the club – but we probably don’t need one. Against the few strong opponent, we can play in 4-2-3-1 with 2 DMs (I don’t find either Partey or Jorginho a liability paired with Rice) plus a single AM, and against regular or lesser teams we can play 4-1-4-1 with the insane attacking 4 of Martinelli-Havertz-Odegard-Saka right behind the striker. Would you be interested, I think the elite CMs all play in Spain: Pedri, Bellingam, de Jong and Valverde (Gavi).

The good news is that we have 2 world class center backs. According to TransferMarkt Gabriel Magalhães is only top (#14), but I think he is underestimated. I would love to say that Saliba is expected to become elite, but unfortunately, all the top defenders are 22-26 years old, so it will be a tough task to overtake Dias, Gvardiol, de Ligt or Militao. I have faith in William nevertheless. We don’t know yet where Timber will play, but based on his market price he is a top CB and a world class RB.

Regarding both Ben White and Oleksander Zinchenko I have the unpopular opinion that while at the first half of the season they seemed to be world class defenders, by the end of the season they were ‘only top players’ to me. Both of them are strong passers and expert at carrying the ball, so obviously suitable for Arteta’s style of football, but neither of them are good enough when it comes to crossing, and their defensive contributions – in terms of tackles and interceptions – are average at best. Neither of them are liabilities per se, but almost every major club have full backs of similar quality (James, Hakimi, TAA, Trippier, Cancelo, Porro, Frimpong, Pavard, Grimaldo, Davies, Mendes, Balde, Hernandez, Shaw, Robertson, Chilwell, Estupinan, Cucurella). Before being labelled as too harsh, I believe we are way ahead of City in full backs (their only left back, Gomez, isn’t even a top 25 guy, and on the right flank – with the expected departure of Cancelo and Walker – they won’t have quality players either, while we have a world class and 3 top players already). They will either invest heavily in these positions or will play with their non-starting CBs like Aké and Stones at the flanks.

Personally I would prefer to use Timber as starting RB and White as the defensive utility sub. And at left back we either have to turn up the competition among Zinchenko, Tomiyasu and Tierney (whom I hope will stay, but after several glimpses of brilliance he didn’t turn out to become the best LB in the PL, falsifying my predictions), or buy reinforcements there, as this is the only (?) position where I claim we don’t have even world class players at the moment. Thank god we didn’t sign Castagne, though.

I’m afraid I have to sign off on a controversial note. Many of you are surely familiar with CIES Football Observatory’s report on Ramsdale being the most valuable goalkeeper on the planet. Well, even though this was not obviously a sponsored content from Aaron’s agent, I have to respectfully disagree. There are not many shot-stoppers clearly better than Arsenal’s #1, but there are plenty who are not obviously worse either. I have nothing against Ramsdale, he is enthusiastic, he likes to play out from the back and he is capable of brilliant moments, but he does have the tendency to produce high profile errors signature to the club’s goalkeepers in the last decade. Is Aaron among the 10 best GKs of the world? Hell, based on last season I’m not sure if he is amongst the PL’s top 10. So, for me he is ‘only’ a top player, with plenty of potential to realize – starting with next season.

To summarize I think with the imminent arrival of Declan Rice we will have a enormously capable starting lineup (at 4-1-4-1) with a single elite marquee, 4-5 almost elite world class players, the same amount of ‘regular’ world class players without the pressuring expectation to become the very elite, and a handful of dependable, top guys, who can break into the world class category any time. Plus almost 10 success-hungry youngsters (academy unfortunately excluded) breathing down their necks, even though we will inevitably say goodby to at least a few of them. Looking at the €754M starting XI – that by itself is worth more than all other clubs bar 8 (TransferMarkt) – I am looking forward to the upcoming season with confidence.

I planned to share my further conclusions, but this post is really long and tiresome already. Let’s discuss your view on our players in the comments, and we can draw conclusions in a follow-up post next week.

Ah how wonderful it is to be a Gooner these days. There was already a smell of new paint and freshly brewed coffee over the bastion of the beautiful game, but now the shiny new balls are arriving, and the new football feast is about to begin.

According to Voetbal International, Timber is a done deal:

https://www.vi.nl/nieuws/ajax-bereikt-akkoord-met-arsenal-over-transfer-timber

Ok, it’s in Dutch, but take it from me that it’s saying that Ajax and Arsenal have reached agreement over the CB/RFB’s move to Ashburton Grove.

We all love Holding but Rob just isn’t the Saliba back up we need. Tequila has agreed a new deal with Arsenal according to some (for me) reliable sources, so that is further good news. On our right we will have White, Tomiyasu, Saliba and Timber and that is an awesome quartet for those two positions.

It looks like Granit is leaving and that is a shame, a real shame. I will write a separate post about it once it has been officially announced.

Rice seems almost certain now and the announcement is imminent. Now this will be as big a signing as Soll Campbell twenty years ago. Hopefully, Declan will stay at the top of his game much longer, though!

With Rice we will get the consistant dynamo in midfield we have been missing for a long time. Granit is a different type of player and Partey is just too injury-prone. Combine Granit and Thomas in one and you will get Declan Rice. Now, it looks like Partey is also for sale and another central midfielder may be bought. This would not surprise me, but I hope we can keep Partey for some of the big games this season.

Of course there is also the mouth-watering prospect of playing with the magical triangle 🔽 of Rice deep and Havertz and Ode in attacking midfield – all feeding the likes of Saka, Martinelli, Jesus, Eddie/Balogun, Reiss, Trossard. It will be a veritable feast of movement and creativity that will bamboozle the best of defences in the PL and the CL. I would imagine the full backs – Timber, White, Tomi, Zinch and Tierney (although he will probably move on) – will push up and support Rice in midfield when we play our attacking football in the opponent’s half. I cannot wait to see it performed in front of us.

Nelson signing a new deal should keep the Arteta Youth Killer comments at bay for a while. You will have to be very, very good to make it into the first team of Arsenal. Arteta wants you there but it is a privilege earned through a combo of talent, flipping hard work and ability to learn and adjust.

So I am really glad Reiss signed a new deal with Arsenal and vice versa.

We will have to lighten the squad now, and I am sure this is all part of Edu’s great plan. Hopefully, the Kroenkes will ensure Edu is happy to stay at Arsenal for a long time. This certainly is vital for this very exciting strategy to get Arsenal to the summit of the beautiful game.

By TotalArsenal

The season is over and what a season it was. I look forward to rewatching the games over the summer and just admire again the way Mikel set up the teams and strategies to totally dominate a game for at least 45 minutes. This sort of dominance is something we have not had since the good Wenger years, and we need to build on it.

We need to build on it because Arteta’s team did sometimes struggle to keep up the intensity for 90 minutes, and we lost, unnecessarily, quite a few points as a result of this. Seeing out games needs stamina but also experience, and it is fair to say that we came short on the pitch, and maybe also a bit off the pitch. The former and latter are understandable: the team is young and so is the manager. On top of that, we were missing exactly this sort of strength of depth in the team.

Look at Man City: no De Bruine? They have two experienced creative midfielders to replace him; and this goes for most of the positions at the blue oil company. It all remains to be seen whether we can really compete with them, but it looks like Edu and Mikel are doing absolutely everything to keep us in the top four and maybe, just maybe, pip Pep’s men to the biggest silverware in the coming seasons.

We need winners in midfield. Men who care, have tons of talent and a Vieira-esque personality. Natural born winners. But, as Kev pointed out recently, they also need to have bones of steel and muscle made of graphene. I so hope we keep Granit for another year and add Rice to the team. I also hope we keep Partey but we certainly need the sort out back up midfielder on the right who can fill this position with ease.

I think Rice remains a strong possibility and this would of course been a huge coup by Mikel. But what about the rumour that Havertz will be joining us? Could he play in the hole behind GJ9, or in a two behind the CF? I have seen his shoulders drop too many times at Chelsea to get really excited, but if Arteta believes in him then so would I. Goals from players behind the three attackers are absolutely necessary, and a player of Havertz quality will certainly be able to make us stronger from there.

It is all good news coming from the club, and let’s see who Arteta and Edu can get over the line in the end.

Now, to have a bit of discussion on the blog, here are eight questions for you:

1. Jesus or Eddie up-front, or do we need to get a beast of a CF instead?
2. Balogun: sell, loan or play at Arsenal this season?
3. What to do with Holdingho?
4. Kieran Tierney desperately keep or should we let him go?
5. Which three players have surprised you most this season?
6. What three things could Arsenal/Arteta improve on next season?
7. After Rice has been signed, who would you really want to come and strengthen our squad (realistically available)?
8. What has been your favourite Arsenal song last season?

By TotalArsenal.

Appreciating our Granit. It’s so obvious that people don’t really take in all the important subtleties of a player’s game, in the case of Xhaka in particular. Especially on television, but I’m sure even people at the stadium miss many aspects.

When I want to make a real evaluation I watch one player intently, then watch the same game again after knowing the outcome. I like to appreciate the little things in defense and BUILD UP that other people ignore.. people are conditioned to watch 10 second clips on the news or their mobile phones, so of course it will only get worse in this day and age. (You would be shocked how many of our great moves were thanks to Ramsdale and Saliba, for example). 

    Fans will notice an assist but even forget that part quickly during the goal celebration. 

Xhaka thrived even more this season because he was unleashed by Arteta, and he had the natural football instincts to adjust, and to do everything- score, cut back from the byline, hit accurate bullet crosses, all the while, having the amazing stamina to get back and defend his own box. Also NEVER at fault for an opponent scoring a header from a corner. Nobody pushes him around in a crowd.

Then there’s the dirty work he did to defend his teammates. All this done with slightly below average pace, by the way. This means the football brain is even more advanced, because his anticipation and positioning has to be even more on point.

Most of all, for years Xhaka made the correct passing decisions from deep and central midfield. Not only the choice, but strong execution with power and touch, the correct angle and lead for the runner to keep us moving forward. His detractors never gave him enough credit. 

All we need to know, other than watching for the small details, is that he was started at every opportunity by every manager he’s ever had. Most coaches recognize more happening on the pitch than all the fans put together.

Wenger, Emery, Arteta. Every German manager, Swiss manager used him as much as possible.

Admired by Mourinho. Wanted now by Tuchel even. 

     Xabi Alonso trying to buy him. He might know a little something about midfielders. 

    Even before he got the armband back this year, it was clear he was the real leader in the squad. We’ll miss him, and so will his teammates.

By JNYC

So here we go. The last game of a long and very successful season.

It is of course a dead rubber but it will offer a great opportunity to thank and honour our players at the home of football. It sounds like this will be Granit’s last game in our red and white and I hope the supporters will give a great farewell. One of the most consistent and best midfielders I have seen at Arsenal, and one that will be missed.

We had some great news with Bukayo committing to the club long-term and those Declan Rice rumours are getting stronger and stronger.

Under Arteta we have moved up significantly this season, finishing second so close to a Man Citeh team that is most probably at its strongest ever at the moment. This PL has so many good teams and on the day any can beat any beat, as we have seen on many occasion.

Anyway, enough from me. Let the footie do the talking and then we can collectively analyse the season and look at how Arsenal and Arteta can make even more progress.

GN5, if you are reading – and I so hope you are – get well soon buddy. We miss you.

By TotalArsenal.

It has been a long season and another demonstration that, especially in football, the journey is often much nicer than the destination. Finishing second this season is of course a great destination; all of us would have settled for it 10 months ago. Yet, I cannot help to be a little deflated and have started to look forward to the next journey already.

The boys and manager have clearly overperformed and have made a giant step forward. It’s a pity that the blue-shimmered Oilers are in the best form ever until now, and were able to keep up with us and then overtake us at the final hurdles; otherwise, we would have still won this league regardless of our late slump.

Arteta is speaking of a pivotal summer and this gets me excited. He knows he needs to add to the squad and especially midfield is in need of reinforcement. If we are critical, we must say that at the key moments we lacked the energy and on-field leadership to push through and still get results. In the first three quarters of the season we certainly didn’t lack this, but at the business end we did.

Come to think of it, all the WC key players faded or lacked form in recent games. Granit and Thomas looked jaded at times and certainly were not able to give their 100% all the time. Saliba got injured. Young Bukayo lacked the spark to maintain his incredible high standards and Ramsdale started to make one or two unnecessary, tired, mistakes. Saliba was well-missed and White also faded a bit. And Jesus just never got back into his early season stride.

Jorginho and Trossard were great mid-season signings but ultimately we were short on focus and energy, leadership and belief to push even further and win the league. It was there to be taken but we let it slip away, and so a journey full of beauty and promise ended on a relative low.

The brain tells us Arsenal did so well but the heart and gut are left a little disappointed.

Now it is key to finish the two remaining games in style and then to go out and add to our midfield and a few other positions. Granit will likely go back to mainland Europe and there is good hope that a certain midfielder of West Ham will join us. One or two will probably be added and quite a few will leave. Yet the core of this team is strong, especially in defence and attack. We are young and free and in the Champions League. The journey will hopefully be good again and who knows what further progress Arteta and the boys can achieve. It is all very exciting at the moment, despite the recent setbacks.

Now let’s finish on a high and win the last two games in style. Use a few youngsters in the process and let’s give the boys and manager a great round of applause on the final day at the home of football.

By TotalArsenal.

Here we go again folks. I used to have a lot of respect for the Magpies but this has changed beyond recognising. Another oil dump in the country and it’s only a matter of time before they have become another Man City.

I wonder whether Wenger and the Board would have pushed for the new stadium so hard if they had known about the future arrival of sport-washing Arabs. It has set us back and it’s very hard to get back to where we belong.

Anyway, enough of the winching and let’s just focus on this game as if all is fair and sunny. We’ve got Arteta! 😁

Team

The Ram

Big Ben, Kiwior, Big Gab, Zinch

Jorginho, Granit

The Øde

Buka, GJ9, Marti

Come oon You Rip Roaring Gunners.

By TotalArsenal

The Chavs are coming to THOF and they currently have their third manager in charge for the 22-23 season! They are in a £600m free fall and just cannot shake off the dark curse that has befallen them.

So any sadness about our mini slump should really be kept in perspective. Fat Frank has said Mikel and Arsenal provide inspiration for patience and belief in the long strategy. Success is of course fragile and subjective. There are still plenty of Gooners who have doubt about Arteta, even though he made such gigantic steps forward with this young and talented squad.

We would like, actually need, a win tonight, but we must be wary of this wounded dog from West London. There’s plenty of quality and they know that our defence will always give you a chance at the Emirates.

We can now play without much stress. Man City caught up with us and will most likely win the league for the fourth time in five years. Let them have it. I really don’t care.

I like our Arsenal and I like to focus on, and enjoy, each and every game. I like our growth and togetherness. I like our youthfulness, I like our journey and I love Arteta.

Bring on the Chavs. Let’s play with our hearts on our sleeves once more.

Bukayo to score a brace.

What iis your prediction?

Come on you Rip Roaring Gunners.

By TotalArsenal

(Peter Barany is having a blog sabbatical)

So we lost to the Big Oily Beast and we are licking our wounds. Pep and his bullies were riding high and we were taught a hard lesson. If you don’t believe and play with fear all falls apart.

Somehow we fell back in old behaviours and I think this is due to Arteta’s emissary-master relationship with the hairless one. His inexperience showed and Guardiola out-thought our lego-haired genius. Giving Man City space like we did is courageous at best, but it does require our attackers to believe in themselves and take the game to the City defence. We never did that and we got badly punished for it.

The early goal was a big blow from which we never recovered. There was so much space for the Belgian maestro and Norwegian Berserker that it made them roar with beastly excitement.

What happened after that was pure torture. They were playing with us like killer whales tossing a baby seal between them in the air, squealing with dark pleasure.

We lacked compactness and our heads were on fire but the boys never gave up the fight. Ramsdale was immense and he almost single-handedly took us to the break with just one goal against us. Then VARce joined in with the dark trickery of humiliating this young and super talented team and allowed for a goal that for any warm human eye looked off-side.

You just knew then this was never going to be our night; the bitter-dark final content of the goblet had to be drunk. Guardiola was loving it and it showed how much he had started to worry about his emissary’s progress since Mikel left the Oilers tub. Still he lacked class and that is ultimately what oil money can never buy you: the history and class of our beloved Arsenal.

Arteta and the boys will learn from this. Never respect and fear the beast. That’s what killed us, nothing else. Key is now to get up and fire up the cannon once more. Next up is a team that once looked as beastly fearsome as the Etihad Oilers, and look where they are now. Class Never Dies. Let’s go OGAAT till the end of the season. Let’s believe.

By TotalArsenal