by Tony Attwood
Yesterday we published Arsenal’s 20 man squad for the new season
So it was with a little surprise that the editorial group at Untold peered at its screens soon after and saw the headline from the Express saying, “Arsenal 25-man Premier League squad revealed as Unai Emery includes new signings.”
Had we really missed five players out?
As it turned out, no we hadn’t. For despite the headline the Express listed the same 20 players as we had. They’d just counted them wrongly.
Anyway, with the whole transfer malarkey done and dusted we can now do a list of all the players who left during le mercato as they say in foreign parts. Every single Arsenal player was tipped to be leaving by the all knowing but totally bonkers media during the summer, but that of course means nothing. So who went? Here’s the list.
- Julio Pleguezuelo — to FC Twente (free)
- Stephan Lichtsteiner — to Augsburg (free)
- Cohen Bramall — Free agent (released)
- David Ospina — to Napoli (£3.5m)
- Jordi Osei-Totu — to Bochum (loan)
- Aaron Ramsey — to Juventus (free)
- Bayli Spencer-Adams — to Watford (free)
- Daniel Ballard — to Swindon Town (loan)
- Vontae Daley-Campbell — to Leicester City (£££???)
- Charlie Gilmour — to Norwich City (free)
- Ben Sheaf — to Doncaster Rovers (loan)
- William Saliba — to Saint-Etienne (loan)
- Xavier Amaechi — to Hamburg (£££???)
- Krystian Bielik — to Derby (£7.5m)
- Takuma Asano — to Partizan Belgrade (£910k)
- Laurent Koscielny — to Bordeau (£4.6m)
- Carl Jenkinson — to Nottingham Forest (£££???)
- Danny Welbeck — to Watford (free)
- Dominic Thompson — to Brentfor (£3m)
- Eddie Nketiah — to Leeds United (loan)
- Alex Iwobi — to Everton (£28m)
- Nacho Monreal — to Real Sociedad (£450k)
- Mohamed Elneny — to Besiktas (loan)
- Kelechi Nwakali — to Huesca (£££???)
- Henrikh Mkhitaryan — to Roma (loan)
At the time of writing this, the media have not made much of there only being a 20 man squad, but there is a lot of chatter about a lack of defenders. But I wondered if this really is the case, for as far as I can see we have…
- Sokratis Papastathopoulos
- David Luiz
- Sead Kolašinac
- Ainsley Maitland-Niles
- Hector Bellerin
- Kieran Tierney
- Rob Holding
- Shkodran Mustafi
- Calum Chambers
- Konstantinos Mavropanos
(Please note that when I first put up this post Sead K was listed twice – as two commentators immediately picked up. Very sorry.)
Now I know that many “fans” have turned against Mustafi, and that the media have reported that he was told to find himself a new club, but didn’t. But whatever has happened he is still on the list and at the club, and many a player has been known to come out of the dip in form and come back a new player. We shall see.
Anyway we have 11 players in defence, and can play a maximum of five in a game. Plus I suspect that out of the half dozen defenders listed in the under 23 squad at least a couple will be given a chance in league cup and maybe even Europa League group stage games.
(Again in the original I wrote Uefa Cup, which was meant to be a rather silly retro joke. But one correspondent didn’t see it, so I’ve gone back to proper lingo).
So put it all together and we have a fair range of players in defence. Personally I would say that a back four of Bellerin, Sokratis, Holding and Tierney looks rather fine to me.
Anyway the deals are done, we have a squad and there is nothing for the media to moan about, right? Well, no, actually there is. For as soon as the fenêtre had fermé we had details of the players we should have signed if only we had had the all powerful all-knowing Paul Merson running the show. He said we made a mistake in not getting Fabian Delph.
But maybe seeing the amount of abuse Arsenal gets from the media (and the residual AAA), in the end Delph decided against it.
And so as we come close to wrapping up the whole load of nonsense that is the transfer time, Football.London has told us that the Arsenal Supporters Trust and their hangers on were all right, and that we really didn’t have loads of money to spend.
According to Fo Lo all we spent was
Tony, Sead is on your list twice.
UEFA Cup? Has Sead Kolasinac been cloned? Check defenders 3 and 11.
you counted sead kolasinac twice in the defenders’ list , now i know hez a hulk of a man but i doubt he can play in place of two people …. jokes apart…
I think the transfer business has been sensational, even last year the squad wasnt as bad as it was made to sound by the media (evidence: we almost and infact should ve finished third ahead of chelsea and spurs but bottled it)
So the jury is out on emery now, hez had 3 transfer windows with one coming in january and all the backing of the higher ups(albeit in the sale of iwobi which i imagine emery wouldnt have been too happy about but was a good decision by the Arsenal management as far as im concerned.)
So lets see where emery could take us this season. Hopes are always as high as ever, my eyes are dying to see our unbelievable attacking talent working up a chemistry(only if emery is dying for it too).
Thanks, yes I definitely need a new proof reader. Or to put it another way I need a proof reader.
I am Personally happy with those we have. A for Mustafi, I think if Guardiola could get some solid performances out of defender N.O. then there is hope for Mustafi yet.
Emery should be able to stabilize the first team and make real progress this season. Improved player and team stats, whether its more clean sheets, more points, fewer goals-against more goals from midfield, more set-piece goals, win more penalties etc.
Would I be happy if improved stats fail to put us into top 4? It would certainly be disappointing to reach 77 pts (seven more than last season) and not make top 4.
Remember Emery yes Emery added seven points to Wenger’s final season points tally of 63 to make his own first season finish 70pts
Just think ….. with the right tweaks here and there and a slice of luck of course we could even scale the elusive 80pt mark this season
P.S.
Our rate of conceding is already worrying at 1.5 per game (that’s almost SIXTY! goals conceded a season if unaddressed). We need to be conceding less than 0.85 goals per game while flourishing at the other end in order to conduct a sustained campaign for a CL place.
Repeating words, phrases or even facts happens to all good writers, so no big deal there. How do you asses a defense without its goal keeper? To me Leno is a big worry both in terms of his quality and the number of Xhakaish errors that lead to goals. He needs to improve FAST! At the back I would rather have David Louis and Holding but i concur on full backs coz I dont see anything in Socratis. Mustafi must be given a chance also at 26 he is still a young defender! I LOVE ARSENAL!!!
I do love the way that people use the method of calculating transfer spend based on what we paid this year not including add-ons which will be paid in future years. But then they conveniently forget to include the add-ons that we may have agreed for players signed in previous seasons. It’s like the ‘payment over several years’ argument that people use but then forget to include the payments we would still be making for Laca, PEA, etc.
Some people just want to find a reason to moan. I think anybody who adpots this attitude should be known as a ‘Casca’ after the delightful chap you spoke of a few posts ago.
Btw Tony
Having removed one of the Sead’s from your list, two paragraphs later it should read, “Anyway we have 10 players in defence……”
I have just read that Arsenal have included William Saliba in our Premier League squad for this season. No doubt some people will pick up on this and say the club doesn’t have a clue what its doing. I understand though, that by doing this, he will subsequently qualify as a HG player at a later date. I’m sure all the tabloids and pundits will be widely praising the club for being so astute………
I keep coming back to read the Arsenal vs Totttenham Match Report. Is that on it’s way?
For me the biggest impediment to the club succeeding is not the squad, it is the manager. The manager has plenty of good players but does not seem to know it. Ozil unused but Mhki, who was sold hours later, was. The North London Derby and Emery is really trying to sell that Willock and Mhiki are going to produce more than Ozil? And Arsenal’s supporters buy that trash? Monreal started a game, then is sold almost immediately after.
Showing such a lack of confidence in players is shockingly unprofessional. Kolasinac should have played left back against Liverpool; he could hardly have done worse than Monreal, who was beat like a tin drum by Alexander Arnold. Sooner or later Arsenal will need Kolasinac to perform and how does he do that when it is clear his manager thinks he’s shite? Maitland Niles looked every inch out of his depth against Robertson. Ceballos has had one good game against relegation contender Newcastle, but he’s special according to one pundit. No offense, but he’s a loan player with one good game under his belt. Meanwhile Ozil, who has delivered huge goals and assists for the club is an unused substitute.
David Luiz was in a different uniform two weeks ago, he was thrown in to the starting line up, and already some fans favorite scapegoat. If only he hadn’t signed and Arsena sold Granit Xhaka, they’d be battling for the title… except, of course, they wouldn’t be. Arsenal have good depth at center back but no right back at all and seem to be waiting for an oft-injured kid from the Scottish Premiership to start at left back.
Ceballos over Ozil at number 10 is a joke. Bernd Leno was wretched in goal in the derby, but not one mention of his poor play but thousands of voices baying for Xhaka’s blood. Any starting lineup that does not include Lacazette, Pepe, and Aubameyang is stupid. You play your best players. Arsenal’s best XI is
(Unfortunately) Leno
Kolasinac, Chambers, Luiz, Niles
Torreira, Xhaka
Pepe, Ozil, Aubameyang,
Lacazette
For a more attacking team replace Xhaka with Ceballos. That’s a team that could go away to Liverpool and win. That’s a team that could beat Tottenham 4-2. Last year I predicted if Guendouzi started more than half Arsenal’s games they’d miss out on the top four and I’ll make the same prediction here. His lack of discipline and penchant for stat-padding safe passes and losing possession via passing to players already under pressure is epic.
With the top four wide open, Arsenal should be there. Tottenham are stagnant. Man U is in total disarray and being managed by a journeyman, Chelsea is being led by a manager with exactly one year of experience, a transfer ban, and an ego problem. Instead of leading Arsenal into a solid third place and perhaps a challenge for a title, Unai Emery is showing his limitations. His fragile ego, pettiness, and determination to make the team ‘his’ atthe expense of wins, will open the door to Leicester West Ham, or Everton sending the Gunners back into the Europe League for the fourth year in a row.
Thanks Unai.
paul35mm.
I completely agree with the idea of a possible top six break-in by some serious clubs eyeing the Europa spots at the least. The strange thing is one of them could actually find a way into the top four given the low level of strategic readiness demonstrated by some of the traditional top six.
Arsenal have had a good enough transfer window therefore no point tinkering, this is the time to reclaim our top for spot. It would be a shame if this season turned out to be like that odd season….I still find it strange that we finished above both Mancs., Liverpool, Chelsea, and totthm. and ended up with 71 pts. In Second Place!!
We have to assume from this point on that we are in a better position than some of our direct rivals, so let exorcise the PTSD and inferiority complex and show what this team can really do.
You can have some of the best players around but if mentally the team considers itself too far behind to be a title contender then the chances for a top for finish also take a hit.
Klopp calls his team the mentality kings. Wenger fuelled his young teams with “BELIEF” and kept them on top for many years and until recently pundits always had Arsenal as a title contender.
Now people (myself included) look at Liverpool and Man City and think we are miles from the title. Yet Leicester, Newcastle and Crystal Palace defeated them, none of which are top six.
We need the manager to keep telling them that they are good enough over and over again until they believe it and act that way
I keep reading about the back four of Bellerin, Sokratis, Holding and Tierney and how good they will be. No-one seems to predict on their arrival.
They cannot be the answer to our past defence problems while they remain invisible.😎
We’ll proof read for you. You corrected the double listing of Kolasinac, but two paragraphs below you didn’t correct for the double listing when you claimed we have 11 defenders, not the 10 on the corrected list.