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My take on the season so far:
The main point is this: as we can all see, we are much more solid defensively, and less fluid offensively compared to last season. This is down to a number of factors that have additioned themselves to create this situation imo:
Saliba is a f*****g beast. Best CB in the world this season?
Havertz has been a talking point obviously. He has not been good enough. It’s really weird because I thought Havertz would bring a lot offensively and I was kind of worried about the defensive balance of our midfield, but the opposite has happened. Havertz leads our team in aerial duels won and he has done his best work defensively. If he can find a cutting edge offensively, he will be quite the complete midfielder we actually need him to be. Looked better the last 2 games, but he still hasnt reached the level we expect of him. All in all though, he hasnt been as bad as you can read on a lot of social media posts.
Raya/Ramsdale. The topic has gotten really boring but it has to be on the list of talking points. A lot has been said. I think what’s relevant is that Arteta wants his GK to behave almost like a LCB in possession. Gabriel goes wide left, White and Saliba occupy their space and our LB goes into midfield. Our GK then has to step up and participate in the build up to beat the press. Arteta doesnt seem to trust Ramsdale for this, at leats clearly not as much as he trusts Raya. I’m personally not sure either of them is comfortable enough on the ball for this. The real superpower of Raya compared to Ramsdale is his long range passing, but we dont play like that. Ramsdale will have offers (Chelsea, Bayern…) and will probably leave in the Summer if it stays like this. No way Arsenal let him go in January without a proper replacement.
Saka is great but we absolutely need a winger in January. Saka needs to breathe. It’s november and we need him to stay fit and ready for our big games in the Spring.
About a potential striker signing. I dont think that’s what we need right now. Ivan Toney for 100M is hell to the no for me, no way we take such a gamble on a 27-year old. If we’re spending big money on a striker it has to be one of the really top tier in the world, one that would clearly put Jesus on the bench or on the wing even when he’s fit. We’re talking the caliber of Lewandowski, Kane, etc. None of those are available right now, apart from Osimhen potentially, which would cost around 150M. How deep are our pockets? I think a winger would suit our needs more. I also think the real conversation to have is whether we want to sign a real goal-scoring CF (aka Haaland-ManCity model) or do we want a CF that can make our goalscoring wingers and midfielders shine (aka the Firmino-Liverpool model).
I also think our cutting edge problem is much more down to a tactical evolution due to our midfield, than a players’ problem up front. We have a lot of players that can score good chances, we need to creat more chances and have quicker transitions.
All in all, we are right where we want to be. Up there in the league, top of the group in the CL. Carabao Cup exit is a disappointment because I think this young and ambitious team needs a trophy sooner rather than later. But overall, we’re on the right track. This season is a marathon and we are in the leading group right now, ready to pounce if we adress some of our problems, mainly our attacking cutting edge.
Too long didn’t read
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/why-we-dont-read-revisited
My bad
Great analysis but Raya is clearly comfortable enough and good enough on the ball to do what Mikel asks of him, in my humble opinion.
He is good but I think he relies onn the quality of the players around him. Let’s put it this way: he finds a free teammate and passes him the ball, without necesarily thinking about what that teammate is going to be able to do. WIth Saliba, Rice, Zinchenko &co, I think he is kind of lucky to be surrounded by players who can find solutions under pressure.
I kind of agree with the gist of what you’re saying w.r.t. Partey/Rice, but if we’re mostly facing low blocks, and Partey is merely better than Rice on the transitions, then our problems can’t come down to the midfield. I think it has to do with Odegaard and Jesus’ absence and wrote about it after rewatching our match against Nottingham.
Yeah I should have been more precise. It’s not just transitions, it’s also passes between the line, basically unpicking the press and the defensive lines with passes. Partey can be useful even against low blocks or dense midifields.
1.4… agree completely. Rice as an 8 will not work unless he becomes a more progressive passer / better in the final 3rd… QUICKLY or we get a more progressive Partey like 6 to put behind him… so we need another LCM.
You make fair points but Raya still struggles to play from the back at the level that Arteta seems to expect. Often, his passes leave the recipient of the pass in kind of a diffiuclt situation. I think he is very happy to get rid of the ball and very happy to count on players like Saliba, White, Zinchenko or Rice, who can dig themselves out of a difficult situation under pressure.
Also, you’re probably right about Ramsdale refusin to do so, but a lot of things indicate that Arteta was happy to keep him as the number 1 GK. He just signed a new contract with improved wages and Arsenal didnt move for Raya until late in the window and they had to find a loan deal because of FFP. They didnt plan this, it was an opportunity and they took it, quite brilliantly has to be said. But all in all, Arteta hadnt decided that he had to replace Ramsdale, at least not for this season.
Agree with you on pretty much everything.
Declan - it didn’t seem like people had picked up on this, but it’s been sth I’ve wanted to see more of when he plays for the impact it would have on transitions. I think it’s more noticeably lacking bc we’re playing defensively & doing it well.
Martin - think more people need to acknowledge this instead of saying he’s crap/ghosting.
On CF - I think we need to go for a Halaand /Son type. The versatility of having 2 goal scoring wingers would be great. However, seeing current wingers being double marked, a lack of aggression in 2v1s or 1v1s, and their crosses that don’t lead to anything suggest that wouldn’t be the best option. We need someone who can steal and reliably lob a goal in, like Son, when we’re playing crap and everyone else is neutralised