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Saturday night prime time, Arsenal v West Ham for the world to watch. My partner is not keen on that at all but it is the new way, and I may just about get away with it. The Hammers are coming to THOF and we should be wary of the wily Moyes who has been regularly able to profit from being the underdog against the ‘bigger’ teams. We will be favourite for this one but Arteta has stated clearly, and logically, that he is expecting a very hard match.

Having watched the game v Fulham again yesterday, what impressed me the most was the control, systemic approach and calm we had. The Cottagers had set out to press us deep and used two rows of three players in OUR half to do this. The plan was to give little space to both Xhaka and Elneny and to force us into mistakes. But we stayed calm and Xhaka orchestrated us out of the trap time and again, and Elneny proofed once more to be a very tidy safe pair of hands. Our third goal came from such a Fulham high press – a carbon copy from the one v Pool – and teams will become weary to commit so many players forward against us. It’s this systemic approach and the way we took our chances that is giving us real hope for this season.

The Hammers had a bad start losing ‘at home’ to the Barcodes, but they did manage to beat lower league Charlton in the League Cup this week so may have a bit more confidence in the team. I have a feeling that Moyes will go the opposite way of Fulham and invite us into their own half, with the hope to spring a counter on us, although I am not sure who their ‘fast men’ would be. The likes of Noble, Fabianski and Rice will be well up for this of course, it being a London derby, and I hope we treat it as a cup game – one that we must one – from the start.

The line-up is exciting as Luiz is in full training and may be fit to play today. Many key players are fit and there is competition for places. Just don’t go and injure each other during the warm-up, boys! It would be nice to see a couple of eager youngsters getting a chance at some point in this one. The likes of Saka, Nketiah and Nelson need to feel they are part of the ‘core 18’.

The biggest question is whether to stick with the wall of Xhakelneny or go with the potentially more adventurous Xhakeballos. I would start with the former to keep it tight and solid in midfield, but I know many fellow Gooners would prefer to inject the added invention and forward runs by the loanee from the Los Blancos. That would work for me too, but for now I prefer to keep it solid and count on one of our attackers to make the difference whilst earning a blank sheet: let their net ripple and ours stay tight!

My Preferred Line-up:

By TotalArsenal.

Imagine young Emiliano, after a day at the beach of his home town Mar del Plata in North-East Argentinia, encountering a divine visit at the darkest hour of the night. Emi hears the sweetest voice telling him “to work hard at his local football club and good things will come to him”. “What do you mean with good things”, he mumbles still half asleep. “Well you will, one day, become the goalkeeper at the home of football, situated in North London”. “Ah” says Emi, much more awake now, “so I will become a hero for many years and the fans will sing my name again and again. We love you Emi we do, we love you Emi we do?” “Well I did not say that but you will one day make the fans very proud and happy. Sleep deep and well, Emi, adios.”

Imagine then becoming the second choice, ‘cup’ goalkeeper at any club, and especially at Arsenal. You get so close to playing for a great team and first team action week in week out – who hasn’t dreamed of this? – but you just have to wait and wait. Is there a more difficult position in football than being the nr.2 goalkeeper? Sooo close yet so far? With just 70 career league performances it has been a long nine years in the UK (and one season in Getafe, Spain) for Martinez.

Then, finally, came his moment. A bad injury to Leno meant that Emi’s unchallenged German competitor for the nr1 spot had to miss the rest of the season. “This is your moment” he told himself, and boy how he took it! I don’t think I have ever seen a more dominant, spirited and highly effectively nr2 goalkeeper stint ever. Martinez made a huge difference and was as important to our great run in the FA cup as Auba was on the other end. He gave us so much joy with fab stop after fab stop, his courageous striker-confrontations and sheer aerial dominance in the box. I have seldom seen a big, tall man get down so quickly to the ground as Emi did.

As a result, we will always remember Emi fondly and there are no hard feelings at all regarding his departure.

Every nr2 goalkeeper with a bit of pride about them will want to play first team football. Villa are giving him this chance and he just had to grab it. And even if it all goes up the proverbial he will always have these past summer months with us to look back to.

Live that dream Emiliano even if it is no longer at THOF. All the best at Villa and thanks for the great 2020 footie summer.

By TotalArsenal.

Well it has finally been confirmed: Auba has signed and will be donning the red and white shirt for at least three more years. If you have not watched it yet, go to Arsenal.com and click on the Ian Wright and Auba video. It will cheer up even the most miserable git. Great guy, great captain, great striker, great Gunner! Thank you, Auba.

It feels like another pivotal moment in the development of Arsenal football club, just as it did when the club successfully negotiated new contracts for Theo Walcott and, after that, Mesut Ozil. We all know how that worked out in terms of the performances of these players, but yet these were important signings for the stature of the club and its attractiveness to new stars. Auba signing will be a big sign to other top players about what Arsenal stands for, but I am also confident that Auba will make a much bigger impact on the pitch after committing the best years of his career to the mighty Gunners. Let’s hope it is third-time-lucky!

Auba offers an intrinsic and passionate commitment to do well for and with the club, and he is excited to work with our young talents and established stars to get Arsenal back to the top again. There is no doubt that Arteta played a big role in convincing PEA to sign a new contract, and had he not done so it would have been a big setback despite all the progress the Spaniard has made since his arrival. SO well done Mikel and the club for making this happen.

I don’t know about you but I couldn’t sleep last night from the excitement of the Auba signing. But that was not the only reason… I also started thinking about our line-up v the Foxes in the League Cup on Tuesday. I know we have a very important PL game to play before then and I am all for OGAAT – one game at a time – but that is a different competition in the end – and I don’t expect many changes to the line-up.

We will do a preview for our Saturday night encounter v the Hammers in a day or two, but I would like to talk about our squad depth by focusing on the team that could play on the league cup at the home of the 2015-16 champions. This could be the line-up:

As you can see above, there are no ‘new’ youngsters in the line-up. The Foxes away is not an easy game, even though they are also likely to rest a few first team players if not the entire first team. But it is also clear that all the above mentioned players, bar Elneny, need to play a meaningful game. I don’t expect Xhaka to play and see Elneny as his most likely and fitting replacement, so my guess is that the Egyptian water-carrier will be rested v the Hammers and Ceballos will get a start then. I also expect AMN to play Saturday night but if not then he will play on Tuesday in one of three positions, and seeing him play in the ‘Xhaka-role’ (unlikely) would be very interesting.

Macey needs to be tested, Kola and Big Sok need to be in the shopping window and our first team CBs need to be rested, Saliba needs another game, ESR and Nelson will be dying for an opportunity to show their progress, and Saka, Eddie, Pepe and Soares are basically first team players or very close to it, so they need to play to gain match fitness. It would be good to see a few youngsters strut their stuff in the second half but only if needed. We may still even see Ozil or Guendo on the pitch..who know?!

This is a great opportunity for all the above players to do the shirt proud. Unfortunately, it will not be televised but no doubt Arsenal.com will do live radio commentary. I cannot wait!

By TotalArsenal.

Water, is taught by thirst.
Land—by the Oceans passed.
Transport—by throe—
Peace—by its battles told—
Love, by Memorial Mold—
Birds, by the Snow.

By Emily Dickenson

Carrying water and not spilling it is a skill. Quite a few fans have been calling our Egyptian midfield dynamo ‘just a water-carrier’, as if being a water-carrier is somehow something to be ashamed of. Elneny, as an Egyptian, will fully know about the importance of water. Without the wonderful river Nile and its habit to overflow and thus irrigate the land on its banks seasonally, there would never have been an Egyptian dynasty which lasted for millennia and gave us the most exquisite art-works and artifacts. No water no life and no civilisation.

If the supply and distribution of water were managed well by the Egyptians then life would be good and there would be spare time for great things to happen. Those water-managers and carriers were vital; and our water-carriers and water-managers, Elneny and Xhaka, are just as vital to Arsenal.

There is an obsession with having at least one deeper-laying midfielder to be a ball-carrier: a foxie-foxie boxie-boxie who just runs with the ball and hands it over to the attackers or, ideally, delivers that beautiful through-ball time and again. The fact that such a player leaves huge space behind them and with that leaves our midfield and defence vulnerable, seems not to matter. Yet this is exactly why Arsenal have not been able to move on in recent years. We were leaky at the back and gave away far too many chances – and Arteta’s first priority is to stop the rot.

Just get a ‘proper DM’, they say, and get rid of that donkey, Xhaka! Get that Partey guy and all will be swell. Ah well, Arteta seems to see things differently, and being a former midfielder and having played under Arsene and co-managed with the Pepster, I think he knows what is needed more than you and me, don’t you think?

The combo of Xhaka and Elneny may not be sexy for some, but to me – and yes I am the kind of guy who can look at a man-made wall and say ‘now that is a fine wall’ – it is a joy to watch. Tidy, eager, calm and organised, the Swiss and Egyptian water-carriers make us tick and purr. Arteta tried to tame Guendouzi and Ceballos but Elneny is a natural in this role, and it shows.

I wrote previously about the importance of Willian, who both works hard and will make regular connections with our deeper-laying midfield to carry the ball forward if required. This will make a huge difference in terms of chance-creation this season. But if you watch carefully, you will also see that Xhaka and Elneny are actually supporting our attack more, but rather than run forward with the ball – so often a time-consuming and wasteful activity giving defences an opportunity to organise themselves – they prefer to pass their way through whilst keeping it tidy between them and behind them.

And there is one more point. If a team plays 3-4-3 with two marauding wing-backs then that much-desired forward thrust from midfield will be coming from them, in the first instance. They need to be launched with good passes and combination football, and they will also need to be covered for, as huge gaps are left behind every time they join the attack. Hence we need two disciplined water-managers and carriers to keep the balance right.

This does not mean that Arteta will not be looking at some added thrust from the centre of midfield, or that Elneny cannot be improved on. There is hope that Ceballos will develop further and Partey may still join the very Arsenal-party that Mikel is organising, but let there be no doubt that Elneny is an important player for us and Arteta is counting on him.

Water is taught by thirst.

By TotalArsenal.

Carnage at Craven Cottage!

Fulham 0 – 3 Arsenal: a dream-start for the hungry Gunners!

What a fabulous start by Arsenal: three goals – one by a newcomer, one for Auba and one for our centre forward – a clean sheet and a controlled performance all over the pitch. We will analyse the game over the next few days, but for now here are the BK players ratings:

Leno: 7 – clearly happy to be back and made no mistakes. One word: back.

Tierney: 7 – fine all-round performance and great energy. One word: commitment.

Gabriel: 8 – half a point extra for it being his first game in the PL and half a point extra for his well taken goal. Was well shielded by the midfielders and supporters by his fellow CBs, but composed on the ball and great at winning balls back. What a debut! One word: imposing.

Holdingho: 7.5 – extra half point for that keepie-uppie and general willingness to bring the ball forward and make things happen. Worked hard and was strong in the air. One word: energetic.

AMN: 7 – fine all-round performance and great calm and energy. He also produced a peach of a pass with his weaker left foot that deserved to be an assist for him. One word: task-master.

Xhaka: 7 – kept it tidy and worked hard without too much glamour in his football (legs looked a bit weary from his international games). Was isolated a lot in the first half as Fulham pressed us high and left little space for him to receive the ball in. Was able to get more involved in second half. One word: professional.

Elneny: 7.5 – Reborn it seems. Also kept it tidy and organised in midfield and never stopped running and passing. Together with Xhaka he made sure that Fulham just could not get close to our box and therefore were impotent in attack for almost the entire game. One word: tidy.

Bellerin: 7 – If only his final ball into the box was better what a player Hector would be! Still, he worked hard and supported Holding much better this time round. One word: gutsy.

Auba: 7.5 – Half a point extra for THAT goal – his trademark goal – but a bit sloppy in his passing at times; his final balls to his fellow attackers were below par. One word: pouncer.

Laca: 7.5 – Half a point extra for that poacher’s goal. Alex worked hard in that typical Laca – flee in the fur – sort of way. Good to have him in the team. One word: nuisance.

Willian: 8.5 – MOTM – two assists and also heavily involved in our first goal, and that wins him an extra full point, but it was his overall work rate and calm on the ball that was so impressive. He was also unlucky not to score from his freekick that beat the keeper but landed on the post. One word: efficient.

Subs:

Ceballos: 7 – some lovely moves and passes.

Pepe: 7 – brought some new energy and focus to our attack.

Eddie: – too little time on the pitch to judge.

By TotalArsenal.

Arsenal v Fulham – September 12^th, 2020

Fulham have played at their current home, Craven Cottage since 1896, here is a little of the grounds history.

The original ‘Cottage’ was built in 1780, by William Craven, the sixth Baron Craven and was located close to where the Johnny Haynes Stand is now. At the time, the surrounding areas were woods which made up part of Anne Boleyn’s hunting grounds.

The Cottage was lived in by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (who wrote The Last Days of Pompeii and other somewhat notable (and moneyed) persons until it was destroyed by fire in May 1888.Many rumours persist among Fulham fans of past tenants of Craven Cottage. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jeremy Bentham, Florence Nightingale and even Queen Victoria are reputed to have stayed there, although there is no real evidence for this. Following the fire, the site was abandoned. Fulham had 8 previous grounds before settling in at Craven Cottage for good. Therefore, The Cottagers have had 12 grounds overall (including a temporary stay at Loftus Road, meaning that only their former ‘landlords’ and rivals QPR have had more home grounds in British football. Of particular note, was Ranelagh House, Fulham’s palatial home from 1886–1888.

When representatives of Fulham first came across the land, in 1894, it was so overgrown that it took two years to be made suitable for football to be played on it. A deal was struck for the owners of the ground to carry out the work, in return for which they would receive a proportion of the gate receipts.

The first football match where there were gate receipts was when Fulham played against Minerva in the Middlesex Senior Cup, on 10 October 1896.The ground’s first stand was built shortly after. Described as looking like an “orange box”, it consisted of four wooden structures each holding some 250 seats, and later was affectionately nicknamed the “rabbit hutch”.

In 1904 London County Council became concerned with the level of safety at the ground, and tried to get it closed. A court case followed in January 1905, as a result of which Archibald Leitch, a Scottish architect who had risen to prominence after his building of the Ibrox Stadium, a few years earlier, was hired to work on the stadium. In a scheme costing £15,000 (a record for the time), he built a pavilion, the present-day ‘Cottage’ itself and the Stevenage Road Stand, in his characteristic red brick style.

The stand on Stevenage Road celebrated its centenary in the 2005–2006 season and, following the death of Fulham FC’s favourite son, former England captain Johnny Haynes, in a car accident in October 2005 the Stevenage Road Stand was renamed the Johnny Haynes Stand after the club sought the opinions of Fulham supporters.

Both the Johnny Haynes Stand and Cottage remain among the finest examples of Archibald Leitch football architecture to remain in existence and both have been designated as Grade II listed buildings.

An England v Wales match was played at the ground in 1907, followed by a rugby league international between England and Australia in 1911.

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

We have an extremely strong away record against Fulham in the EPL wining ten out of the fourteen games played and gaining 73.8% of the points. We should go into this game with a high degree of confidence to kick off the 2020/21 campaign on a winning note.

Arsenal v Fulham EPL Away Games
		W	D	L	GF	GA
1	15-Sep-01	1			3	1
2	03-Nov-02	1			4	1
3	09-May-04	1			1	0
4	11-Sep-04	1			3	0
5	04-Mar-06	1			4	0
6	29-Nov-06			1	1	2
7	19-Jan-08	1			3	0
8	23-Aug-08			1	0	1
9	26-Sep-09	1			1	0
10	22-May-11		1		2	2
11	02-Jan-12			1	1	2
12	20-Apr-13	1			1	0
13	24-Aug-13	1			3	1
14	07-Oct-18	1			5	1
15	12-Sep-20
	Total	10	1	3	32	11

Arsenal v Fulham – ALL Away Results
P	League	W	D	L	GF	GA
2	Total Div 2	1	0	1	2	6
12	Total Div 1	4	4	4	22	22
14	Total EPL	10	1	3	32	11
28	All Results	15	5	8	56	39

GunnerN5

Le Gall’s predicted Line-Up

had everyone been available, my guess would have been:

emi
rob-david-kieran
hector-dani-granit-ainsley
pépé-laca-auba

luiz being sidelined, what are the options now?
The most obvious to me would be Big Sok, so David’s defending job might be covered; but I think mikel might rue the loss of David’s first touch, first pass, more – the way they ignite the whole team – and the only player in the squad who, imo, could play that very specific part, is … Mo Elneny, which is why, in the end, I’d bet a few bucks on:

emi
rob-mo-kieran
hector-dani-granit-ainsley
pépé-laca-auba

With just 48 hours to go till season kick-off against the Cottages, Arsenal have been dealt a mini-blow: apparently Luiz is injured and could be out for weeks. If this is true, it will provide Mikel with a challenge regarding both how to replace the Brazilian mastermind and how to set up the team. GN5 has produced a fine match preview which we will post tomorrow, but for now let’s have a quick look at Arteta’s options for replacing the curly-haired giant.

I cannot imagine Arteta starting with a backline of four against Fulham. I reckon the manager will stick to our tried and tested 3-4-3 formation and will use his fit and available second option for the central centre-back position, Holding, instead. When fully fit, Mari, could play there too, but for now Holding is the main man. This could mean a start for Big Sok – who apparently is on his way out so maybe not a good idea in case he gets injured – or the young and eager to start Saliba. Or is Chambers fit enough to start a game at a ground he knows very well?

Furthermore, Arteta needs to decide who to play on Holding’s left side and behind him. For continuity more than anything else Martinez is most likely to get the Spaniard’s nod. His LCB options are Tierney, Kola or new signing Gabriel. If Tierney starts as LCB then who will play as left wing back? Kola or Saka would be the obvious choice to make, but we also have AMN available to boss that wing. Holding will need a safe pair of hands and it does look that Tierney would be the strongest option. On the other hand, Gabriel may have played there anyway in Mikel’s plans, and why change it then?

With Luiz out, Xhaka really will have to play despite him having played two tough international games in the last nine days or so. The team – the spine – would lose too much structure without him in the side too. The final big question is who to play next to the Swiss maestro? Ceballos for thrust or Elneny for defensive strength? Or should AMN make what would be a surprise start there? I reckon it will be the young Spaniard to link up with Granit.

There is actually one more big question: will Willian start and who will ‘lose out’, Pepe or Laca? I have got a feeling it will be the latter, but then he can come on as a super-sub when we may need him most. Willian as a ‘false-9’ is my most daring guess, with him playing closer to the midfielders than the other two attackers for most of the game.

Taking it all into account, we may see Arteta start with the following 11 (if two options left sided player is my preference):

But what do you think will be Arteta’s starting 11 alongside the Thames on Saturday morning?

By TotalArsenal.

Dear Pierre-Emerick,

What a decision you have to make. You just turned 31 and are in the form of your life. You are Adored at Arsenal, a club with the potential to grow into a European Powerhouse. But the clock is ticking and for such a talented player you didn’t win too much silverware until now. A few national cups in France, Germany and England, but no league titles or European titles. So doing a ‘Thierry’ and leave us for an established Powerhouse-club, and thus with a much better chance to win the heaviest silverware, must be very enticing.

I hope I am wrong, but it feels like we are your second option currently, and you are waiting for one of the current big four – Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus or Bayern – to knock on the door for you. They should do so, because you would strengthen the attack in all of these teams. But Barcelona are in a mess and they have to rebuild; Juventus just keep buying to finally win that dammed CL-cup again and are getting bored from winning the league year after year; and Bayern, the archrival of your former club who have tried to eliminate them by constantly buying their best players away, is surely not an ideal option either. I could see you in the Los Merengues shirt to be honest. So I guess if they come knocking seriously we will be in trouble.

I do hope, though, you are not waiting for an English team to come and get you, but I trust you would not want to hurt the fans like a certain Dutchman once did. This particular Dutchman was also keen to leave us and win the league with another team, and he subsequently did. It is his proudest medal on the wall no doubt, but now that his career is over he has no club-legacy to speak of. And this, dear PEA – staying at Arsenal and finishing your career at the Home of Football and leaving a legacy – is what’s really at stake here.

Sign with us, and you will carry the standard in Arteta’s revolution. Stay with us and you will have an excellent chance to become a club immortal – one of the Greatest Gunners. You will be the master, the main man, and loved by hundreds of thousands Gooners across the globe. You will be able to guide the super talents of Saka, Eddie, ESR, AMN, Nelson and Martinelli, and who knows who else, to the summit. This season, you will get much better service from our new signing Willian; Luiz, Xhaka and Tierney will love it to feed you with long balls you so like to run on to; Pepe will have trained his left howitzer into an even more lethal weapon and he wants to find you in the box with it. And Laca… what’s he going to do without his buddy?

Arteta is on to something but I fully get it is a big decision for you. Titles and European Cups for Arsenal are likely to take a few years at least; and if that is your main focus then I hope one of those big four will come for you. I really do: you have given everything for us in the last three years and I will always have great memories of you.

But if you decide to stay with us and help Arteta to build something spectacular, you will have a football home for life, and maybe, just maybe end up with a well-earned league or European medal before you hang up your boots for good. It would be the sweetest reward for you.

You know what we want, Captain Auba. Please don’t let us wait much longer.

by TotalArsenal.

Final Note: there is still time to join the Bergkampesque weekly prediction competition:

https://bergkampesque.com/2020/09/07/bergkampesque-trophy-how-good-is-your-football-knowledge-week-one/

This weekend we are starting a season long competition to see who can get the highest number of game results correct. Regular Bergkampesque blogger but also new bloggers are invited to join. The more the merrier.

We will be listing five EPL games and one European game each week and you will get one point for each correct prediction. There will be four extra points for the blogger with the highest weekly score, and if there are more than one winners then those points will be divided between the weekly winners (with a minimum of one extra point in case there are more than four weekly winners).

We will keep a record of all of the results and will post both the weekly and season to date scores every week.

The eventual winner will receive this season’s Arsenal shirt (home or away) and a trophy which is TotalArsenal’s very own Bergkamp drinking cup. 😊

It is just a bit of fun but I promise you it will get quite competitive during the season.

All you have to do on a weekly basis is indicate whether the result for each game listed will be:

H = Home win

A = Away win, or

D = Draw.

Here are this week’s games.

Fulham v Arsenal

Burnley v Manchester United

West Ham v Newcastle

Crystal Palace v Southampton

Manchester City v Aston Villa

Bordeaux v Lyon

Good luck,

GunnerN5

Arsenal have been awesome against the top teams under Arteta with wins against MU, the Chavs, Pool and Citeh in various competitions, but there is a feeling amongst some supporters that we have struggled against the ‘lesser’ teams (and absolutely no disrespect to them!). Recent lost games v Aston Villa, Spuds and Brighton are often mentioned by supporters, and they may – or may not – have a point.

I thought we were quite unlucky against Brighton and the injury to Leno unsettled us as a team. Furthermore, Guendouzi lost his focus and so did we as a team, and we lost the game very late on when the thorn in our side – who was the main reason for Guendouzi’s ‘losing it’ – scored the undeserved winner.

We were poor against Villa, probably our worst game of the Arteta-era, but the boys were knackered after a heroic FA cup win against Citeh and these things just happen now and again.

But there is a bigger question regarding our 3-4-3 formation and potential lack of creativity in midfield. Unless we push up high and hem the opponent into their own half, which let’s be honest is not our natural game right now, we leave a lot of space between the midfield and the attackers in the central part of the pitch. Under Arteta, we have developed very strong wings, especially on our left, but through the middle we lack that bit of bite and invention.

And when we play the ‘lesser’ teams i.e. those that prefer to sit deep and let’s us come on to them, we can look a bit one-dimensional. So you would say, those are ideal games for Mesut’s magic, but that boat seems to have sailed – and probably with good reason.

I feel strongly that when Arsenal play 3-4-3 with adventurous, attacking wing-backs, Arsenal need to keep it tight in the middle. I think Arteta recognises this too (and much better than he predecessor). This means a disciplined midfielder next to Xhaka is required – the pivot in the team; one who can either defend very well (Elneny, AMN?) or defend reasonably well but can also move the ball forward well through passes, runs with the ball or dribbles (Ceballos, Willian, AMN, Partey?). I think Arteta is almost there; and surely, if we were to sign Partey and keep Auba we are in super fine shape next season – I would even argue that the Partey signing is not really essential and may hold back playing time of other good alternatives, but there you go. Happy if we get him/ okay if we don’t.

The one thing that could make us more balanced and more creative is to make a change to the three attacking positions. Do we really need three attackers without a ‘traditional’ nr.10 to feed them? Do we need wingers – Auba and Pepe – without a typical strong-in-the-air CF in the middle whilst we have fabulous wingbacks to feed the central attackers with quality crosses and passes?! I don’t think so.

Laca often moves into the ‘hole area’ and is effective in disturbing opponents’ midfield play and winning the ball back, but he is a CF and not an advanced attacking midfielder and we suffer from this. Now I would imagine that if Ozil were to put in the sort of shift that Laca does, he would have featered in many a game since the lockdown, but love him or loach him, Mesut is just not that sort of player. And that is why the Spaniard was keen on getting Willian from Chelsea on a free.

So to cut a long story short, if we play Willian in the hole/as a false nr9 and play with two attackers with loads of freedom to play on the wing or centrally, we should become much more effective in attack yet lose nothing in terms of denseness of our midfield and protection of our defence.

This would be the team I would LOVE to see getting starts against teams who will sit back and play us on the counter:

A relatively simple adjustment if you ask me, but what are your thoughts?

By TotalArsenal.