The Wishlist: Page 294 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

The Wishlist

Anzac

Klaus wrote:
Seen very little of Rabiot, but I know he's very highly rated. I'm not sure he's good enough to start for us though, and he seems to be gunning for regular playing time.

You'd think that he'd understand that he'd need time to adjust to a new league & team set up before he could push for a starting role at a CL club.

Anzac

Surprised we haven't been 'linked' to Xhaka as yet.

Gunner89

Probably because we're not short of technical midfielders for whom tackling isn't a strong point.

jones

Xhaka is brilliant defensively, not sure where you got that from unless you mean that he can be a bit of a hothead at times. His improvement this past season has been ridiculous, went from a talented very inconsistent player to a virtually complete midfielder. Would be my first choice heir for Arteta except I think he'll be much better than Arteta ever was.

innervisionscm

Gunner89 wrote:
Probably because we're not short of technical midfielders for whom tackling isn't a strong point.

The only player we have who fits this characterization is Cazorla. :brow:

Gunner89

innervisionscm wrote:
Gunner89 wrote:
Probably because we're not short of technical midfielders for whom tackling isn't a strong point.

The only player we have who fits this characterization is Cazorla. :brow:

Really so Ozil is a technical midfielder for whom tackling IS a strong point?

Wilshere is a technical midfielder for whom tackling IS a strong point?

Gunner89

jones wrote:
Xhaka is brilliant defensively, not sure where you got that from unless you mean that he can be a bit of a hothead at times. His improvement this past season has been ridiculous, went from a talented very inconsistent player to a virtually complete midfielder. Would be my first choice heir for Arteta except I think he'll be much better than Arteta ever was.

Arteta at his best has been of the most consistent attacking as well as defending midfielders in England. So "much better" then him would be a bit of an exaggeration.

Anyway he's probably unlikely to leave as his club have qualified directly for the Cl group stages.

jones

Arteta at Everton was a very good player in his pomp, Xhaka has, if he can cut a few brain farts out of his game, potential to play for a CL contender. There are already first reports in Germany that Bayern are interested.

Clrnc

Gunner89 wrote:
innervisionscm wrote:
The only player we have who fits this characterization is Cazorla. :brow:

Really so Ozil is a technical midfielder for whom tackling IS a strong point?

Wilshere is a technical midfielder for whom tackling IS a strong point?

I think they are talking about the centre mid positions where only Santi fits the criteria of the discussions.

Anzac

Bacca reportedly has a release clause of 21.5m = just get it done.

EDIT - just realised that he plays exclusively as CF and not across the front line which is the sort of flexibility Aw prefers unless for a specific role as seen with Giroud's link play.

Anzac

If we're looking for a ball winner who can pass then what about the likes of Aranguiz to provide cover / competition for Coquelin as well as being able to play alongside him or Rambo/Cazorla/Wilshere?

Gunner89

THIS MAN!

Clrnc

😆

To be honest, he really looked so good in that first few months for us. He never recovered from that orgy scandal.

Ricky1985

-----------------Cech*
Bellerin--??????--Koscielny--??????
-----------Ramsey--??????
Wilshere---------Özil-------Sanchez
----------------??????

Cech*, Kos, Ramsey, Ozil and Sanchez - there are very few in their positions I'd swap them for. Very few. Bellerin and Wilshere are, for me, a season of playing like they we know they can away from joining that list. There are also good players already filling the positions that aren't, in my view, filled perfectly; Mertesacker at CB, Monreal at LB, Coquelin or Cazorla in CM, even Giroud at CF is a good player.

We also have some really interesting potential for internal development, either because of a player improving or through tweaking their positions. Is Gabriel going to be the 'revelation' that Wenger claims? Will Chamberlain explode and join the level of the aforementioned stars? Can Walcott develop into a world class centre forward? Or could Jack and Ramsey actually play effectively together in midfield? Could Sanchez be just as brilliant up front? Would the team work with him there?

It's all very exciting. Add one or two quality signings into the mix and it gets even more so. In a perfect world we'd take the uncertainty of player development away and buy top quality there; Hummels, Alaba, Pogba and Benzema! Ha...but we're not Real Madrid. It's actually really hard to pin down which top class player might come on to the market in our price bracket, if any. Our best bet is probably to watch and wait and then pounce when an opportunity presents itself and then adapt the team and players to suit. For example, if we can get a top midfielder to partner Ramsey, Jack stays wide. If we can get a top centre forward, Sanchez stays wide, and so on.

I guess my biggest hope is that next season we have a guy up front that can score 25 goals and also enable the team to play our quick, passing football. My gut says Walcott won't work there well enough and I don't see another option out there that's available. Maybe Benzema but I don't see Aguero leaving City. So maybe that man could be Sanchez? I have niggly doubts about it - just can't get away from the thought that a lone front man in the Premier League has got to be able to compete better physically than Sanchez can - even if he's a bit of a freak in that regard, hes still only 5'6" and 9 stone; it'd be tough - and I don't want to reduce his brilliance/goals from out wide. Maybe a Draxler or a Sterling could offset that loss but to what an extent? Is there another guy out there that is available and could match Sanchez's qulaity out wide? Not that I know of. Unless Marco Reus fancies leaving Dortmund all of a sudden.

It's exciting because I feel whatever we do, or don't do as the case may be, it will be possible to put a frighteningly good team of players out next season. Can't wait to see how the club goes about trying to make that even better.

IF he signs, IF IF IF, no jinx!

marv3llous

I think Benzema is about the only forward we would be ready to pounce on this summer with a big money bid. We're not going for these half-ass solutions who each have their own limitations (like Giroud does) - Higuain, Martinez etc. Its Benz or bust.

Cant see City giving up their crown jewel though. They have no reason to sell Agüero and Real have no real reason to make a mega money offer for City to consider it and rebuild.

Klaus

Think that's a sober look at the lineup, Ricky. It points out exactly what we need to do this summer. I'd cut the team some slack and put Monreal at leftback though. He had a very good season and he's a good player. His calm and constructive passing is important to the buildup too.

That leaves three positions to sort out this summer though - most of them throughout the spine. I'm really surprised we got the keeper we needed, but kudos to Wenger for this.

Klaus

marv3llous wrote:
Cant see City giving up their crown jewel though. They have no reason to sell Agüero

FFP. City need to sell players before they can buy, I think. And they need homegrown footballers. Not sure how much Agüero has left on his deal, but if he's expected to leave soon anyway it makes sense to sell and reinvest his fee in someone lke Sterling.

Clrnc

Klaus wrote:
Think that's a sober look at the lineup, Ricky. It points out exactly what we need to do this summer. I'd cut the team some slack and put Monreal at leftback though. He had a very good season and he's a good player. His calm and constructive passing is important to the buildup too.

That leaves three positions to sort out this summer though - most of them throughout the spine. I'm really surprised we got the keeper we needed, but kudos to Wenger for this.

Agree with that, but I am banking on Gabriel being that defender.

Honestly, Benzema (or a top class striker) is the key to everything.

Qwiss

Klaus wrote:
Think that's a sober look at the lineup, Ricky. It points out exactly what we need to do this summer. I'd cut the team some slack and put Monreal at leftback though. He had a very good season and he's a good player. His calm and constructive passing is important to the buildup too.

That leaves three positions to sort out this summer though - most of them throughout the spine. I'm really surprised we got the keeper we needed, but kudos to Wenger for this.

Out of Rickys choices for improvement I'd have LB as second. Coquelin has been brilliant (though he needs back up) and Per still has at least another season in him, plus Gabriel needs a chance to show us what he can do.

If we got Cech, a proper left back upgrade, back up/rotation for Coq and the top class striker we so sorely lack then I think we might actually have a chance.

Klaus

Monreal and Coquelin are much the same for me (and I felt the same way about Ospina). It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to start next season with them as regulars, but a team like Arsenal really should be aiming higher. You get the sense that they were overperforming in 14/15 and will struggle to replicate that form, especially if we change the team dynamic, and that has me worried. If they regress at all we're done for, because their backups are nonsense.

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