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The movement and intricate passing of our attackers have simply been mesmerising during pre-season. We have scored all sorts of goals with assists from a variety of players.

With Odegaard and Xhaka we have two of the finest left feet in the PL. Odegaard’s pass to Saka that led to the penalty was inch perfect and played with so much feeling. The same can be said about Xhaka’s throughball for our sixth(!) goal v sorry Sevilla. With such fine left feet beautiful things will happen.

Saka is still only 20 but he plays like he is in his prime. Only Fabregas was able to shine to such level at that sort of age as far as I can remember. Bukayo has scored a number of goals during pre-season and this bodes well in terms of not becoming too dependent on super GJ who has been the absolute star of the show until now.

Martinelli has stepped it up too with some high quality assists and unselfish play. It must be a dream for him to play with Jesus.

It looks like Partey is now more in a deep, protective role and Xhaka in a more advanced one when we are attacking. This may suit Partey best and maybe keep him away from injuries a bit more.

It also looks like our full backs will be a bit more conservative this season, still pushing forward occasionally but not all the time. White on the right and Zinchenko on the left seem to give us a lot of defensive solidity and the pairing of Saliba and Big Gab is also looking promising.

But pre-season is just a practice period and no points are won. Crystal Palace will be a very tough nut to crack. The Friday night PL opener is one of the hardest outside top six games to play and Vieira will as always be keen to get one over Arteta. The buses will be parked and the counter traps will be set. We will need all our defensive discipline, movement and creativity to crack the Eagles’ defensive nests and take all three points to the Home of Football.

It will be a big test for the maturity of our young team. I have a feeling they are ready for it. Bring it on!

Ooh to, Ooh to Be, Ooh to Be a Gooner!!! 🤩 🤩 🤩

By TotalArsenal

Martin Odegaard is our new captain and this is a great choice by Mikel. The well travelled young Viking seems to have found his home, and it is a true honour for him to be named Captain of The Arsenal.

The Vikings did terrible things on their travels over the centuries but once they found their home they did eventually settle, mix with the local population and even convert to Christianity. These days the Norwegians are a relatively easy going, wealthy and civilised people, but I think Odegaard represents something of the old and new ‘Viking’ characteristics.

MO8 is a fighter and he never stops; there is something of the old Norse Berserker in him. Martin is not nasty but tenacious. His hair may be perfectly maintained but their is grit in those teeth and nobody messes with him, as if they know better. There is also something of my childhood hero Wiki the Viking in him: Martin is a smart and creative player that focuses on solutions rather than brute force.

There is an old head on young Martin’s shoulders. In fact, an anagram of Odegaard is Aged Road. This old soul is born to be a leader and I reckon he will do a great job.

Martin has wise heads Partey and Xhaka behind him and he knows they will help to control the most important part of the pitch. He will be wise enough to take their counsel on team matters.

At the back we have a number of leaders and potential captains and they will need little controlling. They will sort themselves out.

At the front our new signing Jesus will lead by example and take the youngsters under his wings.

Odegaard’s main focus is to guard the shape and team discipline, to regulate the tempo and creatively choreographe the show.

Arteta will give him all sorts of infield instructions and it takes intelligence to execute these during frantic and demanding matches.

Martin will also need to be a diplomat with the referees: tactful and forceful at the same time. He isn’t a Brit which is likely to go against him a bit, but he will use his charm and quiet authority to get past this.

I think we will come to love him as a captain. Another anagram of Odegaard is A Dear God. May he possess a but of Thor and Odin, Iðunn and Freyr. We are well due a good, solid, Arsenal-Values-Embodying leader on the pitch, and I think Mikel has made a great choice.

By TotalArsenal

Now, I try and avoid gossip on the blog as much as possible, but this one is simply too juicy to ignore. Voetbal International is a renowned Dutch football magazine and they have been writing on a number of occasions about the likelihood of Cody Gakpo of PSV joining the mighty Red and White of North London. Only a few days ago they wrote about Arsenal offering the young Dutchman the best possible development opportunities of those clubs that are interested in him.

I believe that football clubs keep certain outlets informed on the proviso that they do not quote them directly. That way they keep good relations going and with that positive exposure of the club by the magazine. VI have been writing about Gakpo likely going to Arsenal with a level of certainty that makes me think that they know what they are talking about.

Gakpo is a Left Winger/CF with a lethal right foot, comparable to Arjen Robben’s left foot precision and power. See also video link below.

His left foot is not bad either, but his ability to score belters from the left and from outside the box with his, right howitzer would be very welcome at Arsenal. I don’t think heading of the ball is his speciality which makes me believe he is better suited as a Left (reversed) Winger than a CF. This would mean competition for Martinelli who’s right footed shooting power and accuracy remains a work in progress.

We know that Gab Jesus also likes to play from the left wing position but I have no doubt that both will be flexible enough to work things out between them during games.

Cody Gakpo is a very ambitious and hard working player and he would strengthen the team significantly. Yet I believe he would need time to settle and get used to the tempo and lack of space of the PL. The good news is that Arsenal are a developing team with a plan, and Gakpo will get time to ease himself in. One of the biggest Dutch talents in recent years, he would be just the Dutchman at Arsenal many of us have been wanting. An attacking line of Saka, Jesus and Gakpo would scare any team.

I think PSV will not let him go until they have qualified for the group stage of the CL, reading between the lines of the VI articles, so a bit of patience is still required. But I think there is a decent to strong chance he will be a Gunner soon.

By TotalArsenal

Rest In Peace Terry Neill 🕊️🕊️🕊️

Ainsley Maitland-Niles, is it the name of a city law firm, an MP of a leafy suburb or a writer of sophisticated crime novels?

No of course not, AMN is an almost 25 years old midfielder playing for the most fabulous club in the world. We all know him, we all believe in him and in a bizarre way we all love him, but when is Ainsley breaking through?

It feels like he is now well and truly in the last chance saloon. There’s an ideal spot for him: back up, or even better, competition for Thomas Partey.

His spell at Roma was uneventful and with well over 100 PL games under his belt now (albeit many as a sub) he should be having much more impact.

His strength seems also his weakness. Ainsley is calm on the outside which gives him maturity, but he also comes across as not bothered. It feels like AMN switches on and off during a game, something he cannot afford, especially not with duracell bunny Arteta on the sidelines.

Yet Ainsley has a good first touch, is a good passer and offers natural physicality to the game. He also reads the game well, is fast and has good stamina. So it is time to push through now, to make a claim for the right midfield spot, to show us all that the genie is finally out of the bottle! He should be our second beast in midfield… Should be..

Come on Ainsley, THIS IS YOUR MOMENT!!!

By TotalArsenal

Arsenal 4-0 Chelsea

Eight oobservations from a convincing win:

1. Arteta seems to want to stick with 4-2-3-1 this season. However, Granit is pushed up to often play alongside the Ode instead of Partey. Xhaka’s speed of thinking and accurate passing seems to really help him to be effective just outside the opposition’s box.
2. The movement of Saka, Martinelli, Gab Jesus and the Ode is a joy to watch. They totally bamboozled the sorry Chavs and two great goals in the first half were the direct consequence of this. Saka was just such a threat even when he wasn’t at his very best after being kicked on a number of occasions early on in the game. Martinelli was full of tricks and played a beautiful pass for the Ode’s goal. Jesus scored a Dennis goal. We are unpredictable in attack and that’s the best guarantee for goals this season.
3. Zinchenko looked at home straight away, and with a clean sheet for his first game he can be very happy with his debut.
4. Saliba is Class and we are lucky to have him back. The combo of Saliba and Gabriel looks assured. Now Arteta has options and playing White wide is one of them. I thought Ben had a good game defensively and his attacking play is of course a work in progress.
5. One of my questions is whether White and Saliba can play centre defence if and when Big Gab is unavailable. If so our defence is sorted this season with good cover everywhere.
6. Midfield is sorted too and I doubt whether we will get anybody else this summer. Let’s give Elneny and AMN the back up for Partey positions rather than spend tons on Tielemans. Furthermore, the Zench and Sambi can compete with Xhaka. The Ode, ESR and Vieira are good for the ‘nr10’ position.
7. We are still a bit too light in attack. One or two injuries to the likes of Saka and Jesus and we will be in trouble. Martinelli still struggles with getting goals and Eddie is also a work in progress. If we can get one more quality 10-15 PL goals a season attacker, Arsenal will be going places. After the Chavs game who would not want to play for the Arsenal?! Time for a Dutchman in attack at Arsenal, and there is one at Barcelona who would fit the bill. 😉
8. But the most exciting point of all is that we are on a journey to Artetaland and he has a travel plan. Hopefully more and more Gooners will realise this now. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

By TotalArsenal

Arsenal conceded 48 goals in the PL last season. The Chavs managed to concede only 33 goals and that is just seven more than both Pool and Citeh conceded. The season before we conceded just 39 goals so it is fair to say Arsenal have got a job to do defensively this season. In the last ten games Arsenal conceded 16 goals and we had just one clean sheet, and that is simply not good enough going forward.

Arteta chose for a new defensive set-up and of course all the players are still very young. Ramsdale, Tomiyasu and White were added to the defence and it will take time for them all to gel. We are a team in transition but there is no reason to believe Arsenal cannot make a step improvement.

Young players that are kept together are capable of making big improvements every season. I expect all the players to improve about 20-25% this season, and so this could mean that just by sheer player progress/added experience we will see an ‘automatic’ improvement: so 48 goals minus 20% = 39 ‘goals against’ by the end of the season. And then there is the addition of Zinchenko which may help us to shore up the left side significantly this season. Tavares, a raw talent if there ever was one, clearly was not ready to replace Tierney regularly and he left us exposed. Zinchenko and Tierney are a much safer bet for defensive security going forward. This should lead to a further reduction in goals conceded, say 3-4 goals less.

Our right back situation also suffered from absences by Tomiyasu, although Soares did quite a good job standing in for him imo. With Saliba back in the squad we now have the luxury of playing White at right back sometimes too, and that should give us an even better RB cover situation going forward. A back line of:

1. RB: Tomi, White, Soares
2. RCB: White, Saliba, Holding
3. LCB: Gabriel, Mari, Xhaka
4. LB: Tierney, Zinchenko

should help us make a step improvement in ‘goals conceded’. I think if Arsenal finish in the mid-30s they will have done a good job this season.

However, there is one niggle of doubt and that is the LCB position. Gabriel could get injured and he is certainly a risk for being send off. The back up, Mari, is okay but nothing more than that. Xhaka could do a job there, and maybe Arteta could do a Van Gaal-like ‘Frank Rijkaard’ on Xhaka and turn him into a very good LCB. Still, an injury to Big Gab leaves us exposed and ideally A&E will get us a nice, quality back-up for him before the TW shuts.

Greedy as I am I would also like another quality CF, but I do feel that the priority may be to get a left-footed quality LCB first….

What do you think: How can Arsenal significantly reduce the Goals Against total this season and do we need to get back up for Big Gab?

By TotalArsenal.

When both Granit Xhaka and Tierney are fit we have a very strong left side, but with the former turning 30 in a few months time and the latter so injury prone, we really could do with a quality left-footed player who can play in both positions without any problem. So who could this be?

Yes our imminent new signing, Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Zinchenko, seems to be the right player for Arsenal and he would add a lot of strength and options to the team. He is the typical kind of player who can be in that all important 12-18 player group and put pressure on the first-11 team constantly. Soares, Elneny, Leno/Turner, Holding, ESR are also such players. A team that will play around 50 games a season simply needs such a ‘first-reserves’ team. I doubt that Zinchenko will join us on that basis but with Tierney and Xhaka needing regular rest/replacements due to injury, I would imagine Arteta is able to offer him plenty of first team exposure. Furthermore, Oleksandr – there are all the letters of the alphabet which are also in ‘Arsenal’ in that first name, and who can say that?! – is not one of those demanding types but will work hard to claim his place. And although I am a huge fan of both Kieran and Granit, they can both be displaced if Oleksandr takes on the challenge to become a first-11 player. Anyway, there will plenty of games in the the cup competions too so everyone will get enough games under their belt.

Zinchenko has a great ability to remain calm in tight spaces and find the right solution; he can also dribble through the lines and in the modern game these two qualities are simply crucial. He is left footed and we need more of those in our team, and he is a fighter too with an eye for a final pass, so what is not to like?! At a reportedly £30m investment I reckon he will help significantly in moving us to the next stage.

The last two seasons Zinchenko averaged 30 club games, with about half of them in the League. This tells us that Guardiola used him mostly as a squad player who he regarded as a safe pair of hands. Oleksandr will want more now and Arteta must have promised him this. Of course, Mikel knows him well and their will be mutual belief that the Basque can get the very best out of the Ukranian now that he is reaching the best five years of his career. At times it may have looked like Arteta is not good at managing egos/people but I guess this can put to bed forever now. There is no doubt a steeliness about Arteta and those who mess with him will end up leaving the club, but those who are willing to work hard and buy into his vision will get all the support by him. That is the only way to establish a culture change and when the likes of Eddie, the Ode, Jesus etc decide to commit to the club we all know that he is capable of building excellent working relationships and offer a bright future for them and the club.

Zinchenko is of course not yet a Gunner so we have to remain patient. The signs are good though and if the club can add another CF before the closing of the TW we can truly say Arteta has a team to push for third place and a maybe a cup too. OOH TO BE!

By TotalArsenal.

Kev wrote at the end of the last post:

“Yes Total, maybe Tielemans will drag on up till deadline day and then his value will nosedive with a year left, maybe two more signings, left back cover and another striker/forward/goal scorer?”

Leicester are holding out and will hope for a bidding war for their contract rebel. But Kev is probably right by assuming Arsenal will wait for the right moment to put in their final offer. Leicester’s game will soon be up.

In the meantime we will look elsewhere, including considering holding on to want away Torreira. We can wait and should not pay over the odds. We do need back up and competition for Partey and Xhaka. Elneny, the Egyptian safe hands, is a great squad player to have but we need more depth in that department, that’s for sure.

We certainly need back up for Mr biscuit hips, KT. Tavares is a very raw diamond and he needs polishing up on a loan somewhere. There is a bit of Eboue about him so exposure to a lot of PL games or championship games is key. We need a left footer who can share the load with Tierney. Someone who can hit the ground running. Ideally this is also somebody who can cover for Granit in midfield. Ajax’s Martinez would be ideal but he may be tempted to join Ten Hag at Old Toilet. AZ’s Wijndal, who still is not a certainty for a transfer to Ajax, would also be great. I am sure the club will get what they need this summer.

Arsenal will need one more CF, but we discussed this in our last post. Say we want 80 goals in PL this season.

Saka: 14

ESR: 12

Eddie: 10

GJ: 17

Martinelli: 4

Defence: 4

Odegaard: 4

Vieira: 4

Granit/Partey: 4

Other:??

This would leave us potentially short for about seven goals, and a bad injury to Eddie, GJ etc would put our season in jeopardy. So another attacker is key. It doesn’t have to be the finished product, although we could do with extra experience. I have no doubt that Arteta and Edu, will find the right guy.

What do you think will happen next re player purchases?

By TotalArsenal

The game is evolving fast and even the successful teams keep tweaking and sometimes even shifting their football paradigms. During the first 15 years of this century we saw plenty of strategic change when Arsene was in charge. It sort of worked but the likes of Klopp and Guardiola just made the better choices and Arsenal were gradually left behind.

Under the wings of ferociously driven Arteta Arsenal are moving forwards and upwards again, and I for one like our BoD for choosing strategically/ plan for the long term. And even if Arteta cannot really make it work – and I have every confidence in him that he will succeed – his successor will have a strong platform and player group to work from and with. The future is bright with red and white.

The squad is young and is developing along the Russian Dolls model. Every year this group of players will get stronger and better: more used to each other and better versed in Arteta’s tactical objectives and style of play. The newly added players fit this approach very well and the transfer window is not over yet. Incremental growth is a beautiful thing to watch but it requires patience. Luckily, BKers have this in spades and that makes for good blogging.

I wonder what Arteta will do with the CF situation. Auba has now been replaced by Gab Jesus. The latter can be used as a pure CF but it seems he is best when being played on the ‘flank’. Eddie has been signed long term and that is good for him and the team. So now the question is will there be another CF to join the team or will we play much more with a false nr9 this season?

We know that Pool and Citeh have gone for a forceful, more classic CF with a good engine to boot, but will that make them score even more goals next season? It remains to be seen of course. The risk of such a beast of a CF is that other attackers start focusing on just feeding them; whereas a false nr.9 ensures that all attackers feel responsible for bringing home the bacon. We know that with Saka and Jesus we will normally get plenty of goals. Eddie will be chipping in regularly too. We need goals from midfield with all of Granit, Thomas and Martin simply not scoring enough. Young Vieira will hopefully help with this. Martin the Ode will step it up as well and we are all hopeful that Martinelli and Nelson (if indeed he gets a full season at the Home of Football) will also add a good number of goals.

The one player I have not mentioned yet is one of our favourites: ESR. This boy had a goal or assist every 192 minutes last season which is similar to Harry Kane and better than Saka, Maddison, Bowen or Mount, to give you an idea. We have a super talent that needs to play games regularly but it is hard to say where Emile fits into the team, especially now that we signed Vieira and Xhaka gets pushed up more regularly. Of course, ESR is still developing but it seems right now to play him in the first team more often. But where?

Well OX10 (I think) mentioned we should consider him as the ideal ‘false nr.9’, and I like that thought a lot. Emile works hard, has a fab engine and such an eye for a key pass, and he will take a goal opportunity in a flash. An attack of Jesus-ESR-Saka, fed by the likes of Partey, Xhaka, Vieira and of course Ode, is soooo unpredictable with tons of movement that would put fear in any defence. I would like to see it tried out.

It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like a ‘classic’ beast of a CF to still join us, but I think a ‘false-9’ could work a treat for us in certain, perhaps even most of our, games. Emile seems to fit the bill…. What do you think?

By TotalArsenal.

Arsenal are going for movement, unpredictability and total bamboozlement as our attacking strategy. Pool and Citeh, so successful over the years with this strategy, have opted for the classical CF (but with lots of movement too) instead, it seems. I don’t think that this will lead to more goals per season for our biggest rivals, but they do now have the sort of CF who can make the individual difference in the big games, especially in the CL.

We are building towards an awesome team that will get better and better as the players gain maturity and learn to play the Arteta Way. This is so exciting and we are lucky to support a team with such a strong vision and strategy.

Last night I watched again our first half v Citeh. Oh my how well we played; it was a wonderful glimpse of what is to come. Arsenal were all over Pep’s Oilers and just lacked the maturity and experience to finish them off. Only Bukayo, our biggest asset, had the confidence to take his chance. With Jesus we have added a player with tremendous PL experience and who will take one or two of those chances in the pivotal games.

The hope is that the likes of Martinelli, Odegaard and new man Vieira will also soon reach that stage of scoring in the big games. I also believe that Eddie can score in any game. He has the inner confidence that makes him deadly against any defence, and I am happy Arteta was able to keep him.

Our attacking options are fab now:

LW: Vieira, ESR, Martinelli (Saka)

CF: Jesus, Eddie, Balogun (ESR?)

RW: Saka, Nelson, Vieira, Pepe(?)

I know that Vieira can also play in midfield and is competition for Ode and/or Xhaka, but to me he looks capable of playing in any attacking position.

My one remaining big question is: do we need an established, older CF to both provide a plan B and mentor our young attackers to reach their full potential, for one or two seasons? Someone like Giroud, Suarez or Griezman to name a few……

What do you say fine fellow Gooners?

By TotalArsenal