the big issue i still have with arteta and the way we are running the club now is that some of our purchases still seem to be made without really knowing exactly why we are buying the player.
we bought mari because we wanted a left footed CB. then in the summer we spent big on a left footed centerback who immediately jumped ahead of mari. we presumably wanted willian for his "experience", but we didnt buy him to be a RM/RW or a CAM or whatever, because he has played all over the front line. he was a naturally rightsided player at chelsea, where we have pepe, who we dont seem committed to. we seem to have bought partey because of his talent, but it doesnt seem clear if we purchased him to sit back and sweep up in front of the defense (a huge waste of his talent) or to play him in a more free ranging CM role.
arteta has preferred these hybrid, highly flexible formations. and while i can see the benefit of being adaptable, it seems like it has completely jumbled up our attack. a big feature of the last few years has been a real lack of off ball movement in the final third, with people standing around just waiting for the ball. our press defensively has also been very inconsistent. where this is problematic is that we don't have a system that we are comfortable with at both ends of the pitch, and we don't even know where our best players fit in. is auba a striker or a LW? hes the club captain and our most talented player, and we dont know where hes going to play week in and week out. if you look at the top sides in the league, they dont have that issue. how do you add to the squad when you arent even sure where you are going to add? if we buy another midfielder, are we buying a box to box mid who can play in a 4-3-3? are we buying a more attack oriented midfielder to play behind a striker in more of a 4-2-3-1? the only players in our squad that seem to be nailed on are gabriel at LCB, leno, and lacazette as a central striker, because hes too fucking slow to play anywhere else.
the system needs to be fixed first. we need to figure out how we are going to set up, what kinds of attacking patterns we want to play, and then we need to bring in players who tick those boxes. if we're going to become stoke lite and be cross merchants, then we might as well sell auba, because he is not a pure winger who can whip in crosses, and hes not a target man striker.
