Squad management: Page 5 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Squad management

banduan

speedy wrote:
Claudius wrote:

Our social media manager regularly posts Ramsey. (S)he’s either dim or finds pleasure in agitating the fans. People lose their minds whenever they see an old Ramsey clip.

It'll be a team of 5-6 people that work around the clock to reply in different time zones to fans all over the world if our team is similar to other top clubs. It's a very stressful job apparently as they feel they're never off work.

believe me it is.

mdgoonah41

so looking at the squad (pulled the contract details from transfermrkt)

we were told the new club policy is that players werent going to be able to take their contracts under 2 years, either they had to sign up or they'd be sold. but that apparently has changed. for guys with less than 2 years remaining, we know the following:

sokratis - has said he wont be signing an extension. i actually thought his contract expired this summer, but apparently not?
mustafi - will probably be leaving on a free in 18 months
luiz - thank god he signed a short term contract, hopefully we can sell him for something in the summer, maybe he wants to go to china with the rest of his brazilian mates
ozil - will probably be leaving on a free in 18 months
auba - rumor is that hes pulled out of contract extension talks

after that group, the guys with 2+ years left (2 years this summer) would be

martinez - backup keepers arent worth a lot of anxiety/energy, but i dont trust him at all and wish we had someone better
kola - not sure what to make of him, hes not really a defender, but also not a great attacker. on decent wages, doubt we'd sell him
chambers - i think he'll merit a new contract
guendouzi - will definitely be in line for a new deal
lacazette - will be an interesting case, i dont see why he'd sign a new deal here or why we'd keep him, unless we sell auba and decide to use him at ST. he is 2 years younger than auba, but obviously not as good. i think id rather sell him and find a younger placement

then we have the crop of guys who are signed through 2023 and we can probably wait until summer of 2021 to address their contracts.

leno - should definitely get another contract and looks like our keeper for the next 7-10 years
holding - wish he could get fit and a run in the team
mavropanos - nothing player at this point
bellerin - wish he could stay fit, but we definitely need a new RB at this point
torreira - seems like he'll be off before 2023, but who knows, maybe freddie has plans for him. a new manager could be a factor here
xhaka - who knows at this point.
AMN - no need to worry about his contract for at least 2 years
nelson - same as AMN

saliba coming in next season can replace luiz in our squad setup. but we still need to sign a more senior (age 25-27?) centerback to partner him. hes going to need someone to guide him and mentor him, and i dont think we can rely on chambers to be that player. in fact, i know we cant rely on chambers to be that player, and i dont want him picking up all of sokratis bad habits too. i think sokratis or holding partnering chambers is the answer in the interim, but we need a good CB to replace luiz. and if we have the chance to sell mustafi, we should.

our midfield is still a big bowl of uncertainty. a month ago, i was certain xhaka would be off in january, now hes back in the team like nothing even happened and hes on a long term deal. same with torreira. ceballos will surely be heading back to madrid, so we'll need another midfielder. ozil's place in the team is very much a question mark.

and then of course you have our captain batman, and his backup robin, both getting into the back end of their contracts. will auba stay? if he goes, does laca replace him? do they both go and we bring in someone else? do we play martinelli at striker and look to bring in a left winger?

cant say the state of our squad fills me with a ton of confidence. we need to sort out the auba situation this summer no matter what, he cannot still be on the team with only 1 year left on his contract when the window closes. he either extends or we sell him. we have so many other deficiencies, we can't afford to let him leave on a free, unless kroenke has decided that money is no restriction and we're prepared to go on a £150m shopping spree to deepen the squad. which we know wont happen

mdgoonah41

having reflected further, sell both auba and laca this summer. that should net us, what, £80m? £90m? use a chunk of that on a striker in the 22-24 age (lautaro? werner? whoever) and then spend the rest of the funds on an experienced CB and a good RB. xhaka should be sold and whatever remaining funds we have, buy a suitable center mid

Clrnc

Its hard to judge our players when this club is in such a mess. If you ask me I will swap the entire Leicester first team with ours any day of the week, but if you swap the manager it will be very different.

Our players are not as bad as they have shown this 2 seasons surely.

Claudius

That’s true, Clrnc, but I would probably still do what MD suggests. We need to get ahead of the player developments and be proactive in squad management. We need to build a squad that can compete for the next few years. Wenger kept building teams that might make top 4 in this current year. We are caught in that cycle. We need to break out of it and build a team that will contend for a 3-5 year period and have the momentum to replenish itself. What we have now will do neither. What MD suggests might put us on a path to do this.

Gazza M

Claudius wrote:
That’s true, Clrnc, but I would probably still do what MD suggests. We need to get ahead of the player developments and be proactive in squad management. We need to build a squad that can compete for the next few years. Wenger kept building teams that might make top 4 in this current year. We are caught in that cycle. We need to break out of it and build a team that will contend for a 3-5 year period and have the momentum to replenish itself. What we have now will do neither. What MD suggests might put us on a path to do this.

Yes, we're back to needing to buy players that appreciate in value. The season is unsalvageable, so i dont want to see us spaff money on another aimless bandaid signing in a desperate attempt to lift the team. That kind of short term thinking got us where we are. Our buys have to very calculated moving forward, and have to address actual weak areas of the squad ie midfield and defense

A big part of that is also putting them into a structure that allows them to shine. Pepe is an example of a player whose market value might be halved by the end of the season, because he's walked into a tire fire of a situation

Irishgunner

Our biggest issue is central midfield, everything stems from there. We need a ball playing 6 and two 8s. Nobody we have now is good enough to start if we have any aspirations.

Ship out Ozil, Xhaka, Lucas, Laca/Auba

Reinvest in athletic two way midfielders

deardevil

Clrnc wrote:
Its hard to judge our players when this club is in such a mess. If you ask me I will swap the entire Leicester first team with ours any day of the week, but if you swap the manager it will be very different.

Our players are not as bad as they have shown this 2 seasons surely.

Do you need a third season to quash your doubts?

I would take Rodgers, as well. But I think he would reject us.

mdgoonah41

from looking at the above post where i outlined the entire squad, lets take a rational look at what needs to change, both now and in the summer when we can actually readily buy/sell players.

our spine needs to be strengthened. leno is an excellent keeper. we have saliba coming in, but he needs an experienced, solid partner who isnt physically past it. neither sokratis or luiz should be tasked with trying to mentor him, would be an absolute horror show for the poor kid. ahead of them, we need a physical, mobile, well rounded center mid who can anchor our midfield in both directions.
we need to sign a quality right back and left back. not £30m guys, but guys who have experience in a good league, who are not 18, and who are also not lichtsteiner quality. someone who can comfortably start 25-30 games for us. we know bellerin will miss at least 2 months per season with his various ailments, and it looks like tierney might be the white diaby. kola is not cut out for this league and this team, and AMN is not a right back. we absolutely need to improve the quality in our back line first. i dont even think this is up for debate.
our midfield has a bunch of interesting pieces, but i think its important to understand what kind of shape and philosophy the new manager is going to try and install. torreira is suited to the DM role only and should not be asked to be a playmaker or a box to box CM. xhaka should be sold the first chance we get and replaced by the theoretical CM i noted above. douzi and willock are both worth keeping and developing. that still leaves us short. i dont know that AMN is good enough to play a box to box CM role. as a swiss army knife/last guy in the squad who can cover in a pinch, hes okay to keep around.
we should commit to a front 3 of LW/RW/ST. that means that one or both of auba/laca should be sold. we need to make a push to sign young elite talents, so getting a young striker who can grow and prosper with pepe and martinelli should be a high priority. laca and auba will add substantial funds to our transfer budget, and we have a lot of work to do

Anzac

I suspect we'll entertain offers on just about anyone who is not Pepe, Tierney or the kids, and much will depend on who offers what for whom first.

For example if RM make an offer for PEA that includes Jovic as previously suggested then I think we'd do business - even more so if this happens in Jan, as we can then retain Laca until the summer before reassessing.
There is also talk of a number of Serie A clubs interested in Torreira, although I'd like to see him as DM before making and decision to sell.
Bellerin is linked to a return to Barca and I think we'll do business if he can't remain fit.

I don't think Xhaka has the attributes to play in an Arteta midfield even as a 3 and would not hesitate to get rid of. Further to this if we are talking about 'The Right Stuff' in terms of being a leader at the club then both Xhaka and Ozil need to go.

There has been a lot of talk about what Arteta needs to address first, and IMO it is the lack of commitment by the senior players in particular.
There is talk that a number of senior players want Ancelotti re his experience, but I want to play Devil's Advocate and suggest that they see Ancelotti as being more laid back and less intense than what Arteta is likely to demand.
IMO if we are going to back Arteta or whomever replaces Emery in terms of both a purge and rebuild, then we must do so in for a penny in for a pound - we need to rid the club of any signs of complacency or accepting less than total commitment to the team and club. I don't care who it is = senior player or youngster, staff etc.

Captain

Why would they see ancelloti as less demanding than Arteta?

Claudius

People are pointing to a few comments made by Bayern players given that he was less intense than Guardiola who immediately preceded him. That episode has defined the brand of a manager with 4 league titles and 3 champions league trophies, including a record 4 visits to the final.

Qwiss

Irish gunner wrote:
Our biggest issue is central midfield, everything stems from there.

Defence is as big if not a bigger issue. Everytime the defence is shit people say its the midfields fault and sure the midfield needs a massive upgrade but you could put DeBrunye, Kante and Pjanic in front of our centre halves and they'd still concede 2-3 goals a game.

speedy

Claudius wrote:
People are pointing to a few comments made by Bayern players given that he was less intense than Guardiola who immediately preceded him. That episode has defined the brand of a manager with 4 league titles and 3 champions league trophies, including a record 4 visits to the final.

Everyone knows ancelotti is the nice guy in football. Hes just mega easy going. That's how he gets the wheels back on shot term he drops the whole stress level. And its great if youve a very talentled under preforming squad he comes in and is instantly everyones best friend and gets them all expressing themselves again and feeling confident.

deardevil

Why does it have to be either or? Both the midfield and defence is cack.

Clrnc

Claudius wrote:
People are pointing to a few comments made by Bayern players given that he was less intense than Guardiola who immediately preceded him. That episode has defined the brand of a manager with 4 league titles and 3 champions league trophies, including a record 4 visits to the final.

Not true at all. I think you are mistaken. Even when he was winning things he has the reputation for poor training and only set his sides well for cup competition. There are some obvious great teams he took over that won leagues, but go a little deeper and his league record is actually pretty poor. Most journalists who followed his career knows he is no longer up to it.

Claudius

We need to trade aggressively in January to fix this misshapen squad and accelerate our recovery. There are 3 sets of problems

Talented but ill-fitting pieces in frontline
Insufficient quality in midfield
Insufficient quality in defense

I would do the following (2 big outs and 2 ins)

Sell Lacazette and make Auba main striker, hoping he will sign extension
Sell Xhaka and remove his socially destabilizing effect
Replace Xhaka with a mid who can control play, eg Vd Beek
Get a defender, eg Upamecano

Try to go through the rest of the season with fewer distractions.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

Totally agree with that. Xhakazette have been the biggest problems/imbalances for a couple of years now.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

Do we think we'll get BDR in Jan?

Don Pacifico

The fuck is BDR?

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