By Chayasai
Very early in the season Arsenal played Chelsea and Man City without those players who are the backbone today. And, in hindsight, with the great advantage of having training under Emery, and getting immensely better, physically, mentally and tactically, Arsenal can justifiably believe that they are a completely different team right now from the earlier ones that were like innocent lambs in the Den of Man City and Chelsea.
Arsenal’s 2018-19 season of high ambitions really takes off at the Emirates from 1st January 2019.
Arsenal’s major hurdle is the situation about the Player’s Contracts: and the resultant sale and the consequent purchase of players. It’s every fans hope that mistakes of the past will not be allowed by Emery to be repeated.
In the current Arsenal team, the defence line is not up to scratch and there are no wide players or really classy genuine wingers. The squad is quality heavy in the midfield areas and in the attack-line. Some advance has been made in better utilization of the existing players in areas in front of the goal by fine tuning the technical capability of the players; more intense and disciplined style of training methods and most importantly the coach himself is an inspiration for this talented squad. His no-nonsense approach and his even -handedness in man-management areas have earned him enormous respect in the squad.
Solving the problems cited above is largely possible by thinking out of the box and making better use of the available resources.
The problem of lack of wingers can be addressed by playing Bellerin as a winger on the right and Iwobi on the left. To date Bellerin’s work on the defensive side has been largely disappointing. But in an advanced role of an attacking RB, he has proved that he is very, very good. In the limited chances he has had Lichsteiner has shown why he is such an highly rated and accomplished player at RB . Lichsteiner must be allowed to fulfill his role as RB for which he is professionally highly qualified, acclaimed and accomplished.
Iwobi is a completely changed player. As a converted winger on the left, he is the best that Arsenal has.
So how will the Team look?
Leno
Lichsteiner Socrates Kolasinac
Xhaka Torreira
Bellerin Ozil Iwobi
Lacazette Aubameyang
Kolasinac and Lichsteiner must cover the wider areas of the pitch in their channel and allow Iwobi and Bellerin to cover the inside tracks: if necessary track back; they can link up with their powerful strikers with short passes or use the great Qzil to thread delicate passes; they need not worry about the back line with the Xhaka – Torreira duo giving them solid cover. Not to forget that the LB and RB are quite pacy and adept in backtracking [there are upgrades possible in the January window]; but for now, this move will keep the opposing attackers in their own third and relieve pressure on the Arsenal defence. This can only make the Arsenal strikers even more lethal !
We will take up the matter of sale and purchase of players: that will increase Arsenal’s chances in the EPL and Europa manifold. Sale of players will fund the purchases .
Arsenal has problems with four of its players.
Ramsey Contract offered to him was withdrawn. Arsenal has offers, it is said, in the region of €35 – €40 million. Arsenal must sell.
Welbeck has huge ambitions of representing England, but without regular starts that is impossible. His valuation is about €25 million.
Mustafi: With Sokratis grabbing his chances and Holding growing in stature and performance, and the German continuing to make silly mistakes, it looks curtains for him. Italian interest in him is for real. He was acquired for a sum in excess of €35 million.
Monreal: 33years old, reports suggest that he will sign for Real Sociedad and end his career there. Could perhaps fetch around £ 20+ million. He cost Arsenal £8.5 million in January 2013.
32 year old Atletico Madrid LB Felipe Louis is currently available. A reluctant Simeone has said that Filipe is still World Class and match fit. But the great LB has decided to move on. Arsenal must not let him slip away. He is good for another 2 to 3 years: he costs only £ 20 million.
Jardel, 31 years, a fantastic CB from Benifica, as pacy and skillful as ever, is an upgrade, in many ways, on Sokratis. At £ 20 million he is an enormous steal.
Hirving Lozano , RW-LW, pacy, skillful, fearless [ penchant for cards!] and extremely good at defensive duties and tracking back. This 23 year old is a diamond and with Emery polishing him technically, he is probably the player that Arsenal missed out in Ronaldo. He is touted at about £35 million.and Arsenal must pursue this PSV Eindhoven awesome winger aggressively.
Finally ,the one who nearly got away! Cristan Pavon of Boca Jrs at 22 is a favorite of Messi and held in high esteem by him. Extremely pacy, on the right, and a talented wide player. He will improve further especially under Emery. Could cost around £30- £35 million. This precocious talent is a must if Arsenal have big dreams for the future.
How will Arsenal look, after the new entrants are inducted into the team ?
Leno
Lichsteiner Jardel Filipe Louis
Xhaka Torreira
Pavon Ozil Lozano
Lacazette Aubameyang
Given the quality and depth on the bench, with just a bit of luck, anything is possible for this team under Unai Emery. Particularly, winning Europa and EPL!!
Mattis Vargas, only 20 years , immensely talented with breathtaking power and pace as AM his preference is Arsenal, as per an interview on 4th October 2018] “ ….. when asked who he would like to play for and presented with a list of Europe’s top clubs, Vargas replied: “The Arsenal.”
This Argentina player is already dubbed as the “Argentinean Eden Hazard”. Of course, Arsenal have this unhappy knack of looking gift horses in the mouth! One hopes that – miraculously, at least – better sense and judgement will prevail . He is available for under £9 million only. Born to play for Arsenal!!
And that this young prodigy along with Nice’s 19 years old Malang Sarr [CB or Defensive MF, available for under €15 million] Emile Smith Row , Guendouzi. Reiss Nelson [a second spectacular goal for Hoffenheim recently], Nketiah, Norwegian Sander Berge [just 20 years old, a fantastic CB or AM or Striker, Genk, will cost about €10 million] will one day show that class is permanent and there is no substitute for it. These are superstars in the making!!
Arsenal have announced its new Adidas £300 million (€ 262.35 million or $ 397.4 million) deal over five years. Or an average of £60 million per year. The extra € 34 million will be [£29. 73 million] a one time investment and that there would not be further player investment, till and including January 2020.
If invested now at €34 millions, the only investment from Arsenal’s own funds, until June 2020!! And just imagine, how many millions Arsenal will save over the next few years. Mindboggling!!!!
And no summer spending till June 2020 , by the way!
Yawn….
Oh gosh, I wish we could get some of the players you mentioned, looks more like a fantasy football tail. The big question is if there will be funds available next January and in summer and how much. And we still need to get rid of dross. Jenkinson, Chambers, Nacho, Welbeck, Mustafi.
I’m rather hoping that Monreal (32) and Welbeck will sign contract extensions. Both are happy here and are excellent team players.
There’s a basic set up issue that most have not grasped. Arsenal do not have a football Manager but a coach in Unai Emery. The management structure is such that it ultimately decides the employees (players, coaches, medics etc,). The choice & primary selection and interviews might be done by the coach after the club has approached the selling owners. The structure that is Arsenal Football Club is very formal and correct in its method & ethics. This has been set up following Wenger’s blueprint.
I’m sure all renewals will be approached in due time and within a structured set of rules. This will probably create a more difficult environment for agents but I have yet to hear if it does.
It is easy for the outsider to criticise a system that is not understood. Bear in mind it is millions of pounds that the club is dealing with. The club has already parted company with senior management & players & replaced personnel within this system. So far the system appears to be stable & functional.
Chayasai, your article posting makes an interesting reading to read. But honestly, I don’t see Lichtsteiner ahead of Bellerin at RB as a starter in the Gunners starting XI lineup in the PL. But against the lesser opposition teams in the Carabao and in the Europa, Lichtsteiner could start. I think by and large, he covers for Bellerin at RB where Holding too can also play from. Do you remember how Christopher Mendy took Lichtsteiner apart in the Arsenal box, holding him and head butt him in our Man City game at the Ems in our opening day match of this season in the PL? And the match referee who was in the box and witnessed the harassing of Lichtsteiner by Mendy did nothing on the bookable offence as he did not book Mendy, which Lichtsteiner had hopped he’ll do. Thus, the question begs, Is Lichtsteiner up to a scratch in a duel against a strong opponent player?
And again, I will succumb to the negative notion being tailored around in the media labelling Arsenal defence a no show and not up to scratch this season according to you. If Arsenal defence is a no show and not up to scratch this season, how comes Arsenal are on a 9 game winning run presently in all competitions? If the defence is no show and not up to scratch, would they not have stumbled to defeats in their last 9 matches which they’ve won consecutively? Enh?
Arsenal are playing from the back and pressing in the front against their opponent teams this season and it has worked giving them victories 9 times out of 11 times this season. And the onus is on the Gunners to continue winning games in all competitions when they resume actions on the field in the PL and in the Cup games after they’ve returned from the international break. The idea that Arsenal will receive a thrashing purportedly from Liverpool by Paul Merson is a joke of the season to me. For, if at all anything, is Liverpool that will receive a thrashing from Arsenal at the Ems in the PL and the joke of the season by Paul Merson will be put to bed to rest permanently.
As regards to players buying and selling at Arsenal which you’ve raised, well, I think Arsenal are not in the transfer mode now but maybe they’ll likely be in the mode in January next year, no Gooner can say for sure. But what is certain and on ground now at Arsenal is, they’re on a winning run mode which they want to see running to the ultimate to give them 3 Title wins out of the 3 competitions they are competiting in them now.
Please insert the word ‘not’ in-between will and succumb in the first line of the 2nd paragraph of my last comment posting.
As a near 95year old, I simply cannot envisage players in their 30s as being in the early twilight of their careers.
In my book they are in their prime, both in knowledge and experience.
Bring ’em on! 😉
My apologies. I really fume reading such articles. New manager, team and strategy. Give them time will you. Even the new players you suggest will take time and make mistakes.
Already rubbishing half the team after a handful of matches and a good run. Don’t even have the decency to wait until half way through. Support the team and even those players who is running his contract down. He has yet to disrespect the club by playing nonchalantly.
Seriously, if Emery do buy the players you suggested, you appear to be someone who will come up with another article for another handful of new players because the current bunch is not performing to task.
It’s a new system and style and will take time to adapt.
Mr manager Kwantinue!!!!!!
I am sorry, but I can’t take this article seriously. It’s just a recital of all the anti-Wenger, anti-Arsenal narratives from the mass media outlets.
Disrespectful to players also.
Probably more at home on Talkshite.
John I have always said that if someone who disagrees with my views about Arsenal wants to provide an article and it is not abusive I will publish it. That option has always been there and over the years we have had a number of such articles. I don’t agree with some of the things the author says but that is not a reason to not publish it in my view. As I have often remarked here, I don’t feel the need to represent alternative views to the dominant view expressed in articles on Untold, but if a writer wants to send one in for publication to argue a different position, and it is not abusive, I don’t see why we shouldn’t run it.
I don’t agree to what the writer stated in this article. Give it a break guys, all over Europe, with referees not pigmob, the big teams are losing matches.
The arsenal team is on the rise, let’s support them, that’s what we’re called to do.
Bully to you pops. My dad is 90 & fully agrees with you that us boys have so much more to offer.
It seems just too early in this new regime to carry out such a decimation of the team. Let us give time for the churn generated since the end of the 2017/18 season abate and we have a team that is performing creditably well before new additions/replacements are done.
Untold Arsenal is a special place because articles that are not even close to the site owner’s views can get published and that’s why Tony deserves a major praise.
Speaking of this article, there are a few things that I’d like to argue about.
Firstly, spelling of Felipe Luis’ name. I understand that the Brazilian is hardly going to read this article, not just because he plays for Atletico Madrid. It’s “Luis”, not “Louis”.
Secondly, he is on the wrong side of the thirties. That means we won’t splash one quarter or one third of our budget on a player that has two years of football ahead of him. Plus, Luis has already tasted Premier League (Mourinho’s Chelsea) and I’m not sure he is willing to try again. Mind you, under this unlikely scenario, we would get rid of Nacho Monreal, one of the most reliable players in the last three years, because he is over 30 only to sign a more expensive player who is not getting younger.
Thirdly, Jardel from Benfica. Again, a player that is over 30 and hasn’t had a single season in a big league under his belt. He plays for Benfica and their last season Champions League campaign was among the worst I have seen in the competition. Throwing 20 million pounds (again, money that we don’t have and that we are likely to spend on a Torreira – younger, energetic player that goes under the radar of the richer clubs) – rather than on a central defender without experience in a top league.
Fourthly, whilst it’s true that both Lozano and Pavon are exciting wingers that might become world-class players and fit under a lot of criteria of the new regime (young, skillful, energetic, not too expensive comparing to Cristiano Ronaldo-sque fees), I can hardly imagine both of them joining Arsenal. Mr Emery likes Iwobi a lot and we also have Mkhitaryan, Özil, Aubameyang and Lacazette for four or five positions in the attack. Add Welbeck who might decide to stay (I see him as a very useful player for Emery’s system) and talents like Nketiah, Nelson (currently on loan) and Smith-Rowe and you have yourself a very crowded attacking department. I see Pavon as a more like addition.