Who is on the bus?: Page 3 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Who is on the bus?

flobaba

awooga83 wrote:
Problem is don't trust Raul not to pick up his own duds and add them to the payroll. We are not a team that looks at the positions where we need strengthening and then try to buy the best players who could fit that. We have a dodgy contact book board member who signs whoever is pushed to him by his agent mates.

I don't see our squad situation getting why better whilst we have Raul because we aren't making footballing decisions for the benefit of the team.

I don’t think this is entirely accurate. I guess I would have to know how far back a period you are looking into when making your assessment.

We did go all out for Zaha/Pepe when we needed a winger.

We went for Torreira when our middle was deemed to be weak. You can say he isn’t Vieira but he does represent a somewhat decent attempt to fix an identified problem.

In defence we brought in Tierney. Picked up one of the brightest young talents in Europe in Saliba, and at short notice, cobbled together a package for David Luiz to replace Koscielny when it was clear there was no persuading him to remain.

The bigger issues are how many positions we needed to strengthen in a short period, and how much we actually have to spend on these positions, and the respective answers are: too many and not very much in the current market - a problem I attribute to the ownership.

We also have to remember that we are or, were, doing all this whilst in the midst of coaching transitions. And how deep a hole we are trying to dig ourselves out of, as well as how far back we are behind the competition.

awooga83

With the recruitment, it sounded like Emery wanted zaha but ultimately Raul et Al went for Pepe. That's obviously okay but right now he doesn't look like a player that suits this team and maybe the league so I wonder how much work they did to see if he was the right type of player for us versus let's look like we are spending.

We needed a quality CB for a long time and yet they didn't address that which is unforgivable for me. Luiz is not good enough. Saliba may prove to be a good signing but it's one for the future which you can still do alongside current recruitment.

Torreira was a decent signing but more associated with Sven Mislintat time at the club who actually had some pedigree. This is part of my concern without him I worry about the signings. See Soares for an example of something that does not make sense or seem to be a transfer in our interests.

Right now I don't think you can view the summer transfer business we conducted as having improved us and you would have to say we are actually in a worse position squad wise right now.

We are in the position at are because of the guys at the top of the club over the past 10 or so years so I have little faith they know how to get it right.

Klaus

Pepé was definitely the seond choice. We tried really hard for Zaha whom I think Ornstein said was Emery's preference, but it couldn't be done so we moved on to the next name on the list. No issues with how we did our business, but you have to do your homework better than we did. It doesn't look like we had identified any of Pepé's weak points. If we had we would never have paid that much for him. That's neither here nor there really, but a smarter club would have been more aware of potential issues than your average fan.

Clrnc

Yeah most people here don't believe it, but I have seen Ornstein and many other sources say Zaha is definitely the first choice.

Palace is stupid not to sell him. He isn't as committed this season after that failed transfer move and it actually hurt Palace not to have 70m to rebuild the squad instead of having an unhappy player playing at 50%

goon

Maybe he was first choice when we thought he'd be cheaper? Worth bearing in mind we big £40m for Zaha and gave up, didn't even try tempting Palace with Pepe levels of money. It makes sense, the former is older with arguably a lower ceiling and likely no resale value.

I also don't think it's a matter of not identifying Pepe's weak points, rather we just desperately wanted someone who can dribble.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

I'm not upset we went for Pepe over Zaha. I think Pepe will be a serial menace once we get an actual midfield.

Meatwad

goon wrote:
Maybe he was first choice when we thought he'd be cheaper? Worth bearing in mind we big £40m for Zaha and gave up, didn't even try tempting Palace with Pepe levels of money. It makes sense, the former is older with arguably a lower ceiling and likely no resale value.

I also don't think it's a matter of not identifying Pepe's weak points, rather we just desperately wanted someone who can dribble.

this. they clearly felt pepe was the superior option for now and the future and zaha was the cheaper option. once they saw that the price for zaha was gonna be to close to pepe's they said nope let's go for the guy with more upside.

awooga83

From having seen Pepe playing this year, whilst he does have an enigmatic ability at times to run with the ball he is very raw. His decision making is pretty much non existent right now so he doesn't make great runs or do the right things with ball. He also doesn't look particularly suited to a team that is more likely to have possession. All things which should have been identified prior to signing him. The money we spent on him was not just on a potential, he was supposed to contribute more this year. That's where it feels like we didn't do due diligence.

The faults in his game are not minor issues either decision making is not something easy to improve its a natural skillset that is automatic in moments of pressure you you instinctively make the right decision.

Clrnc

awooga83 wrote:
From having seen Pepe playing this year, whilst he does have an enigmatic ability at times to run with the ball he is very raw. His decision making is pretty much non existent right now so he doesn't make great runs or do the right things with ball. He also doesn't look particularly suited to a team that is more likely to have possession. All things which should have been identified prior to signing him. The money we spent on him was not just on a potential, he was supposed to contribute more this year. That's where it feels like we didn't do due diligence.

The faults in his game are not minor issues either decision making is not something easy to improve its a natural skillset that is automatic in moments of pressure you you instinctively make the right decision.

That bit was pretty obvious to be honest, even pointed out by Bayern publicly. That was my only worry for him here but I have already seen pretty decent improvements from his game to adapt and he will probably come good by next season.

Sick of seeing Emery's mouthing about us though, its like the 3rd or 4th interview he has done blaming the players and board for his own failures.

awooga83

I saw Arseblog did an article on this subject today. Whilst his points about Emery looking to deflect attention from his self is a fair perspective. A number of our players have also been coming out saying this or that was wrong under Emery so it's not surprising that there is a response.

Ultimately if we get ourselves in order then you never care what someone outside the camp says because your performance will speak for you.

Equally many of the players have pointed out that are much happier with things now and the tactics are clearer but we are yet to see that manifest much certainly in an offensive capacity.

Coombs

The players have been hard to support for a while now. Bunch of vipers.

Meatwad

Clrnc wrote:
awooga83 wrote:
From having seen Pepe playing this year, whilst he does have an enigmatic ability at times to run with the ball he is very raw. His decision making is pretty much non existent right now so he doesn't make great runs or do the right things with ball. He also doesn't look particularly suited to a team that is more likely to have possession. All things which should have been identified prior to signing him. The money we spent on him was not just on a potential, he was supposed to contribute more this year. That's where it feels like we didn't do due diligence.

The faults in his game are not minor issues either decision making is not something easy to improve its a natural skillset that is automatic in moments of pressure you you instinctively make the right decision.

That bit was pretty obvious to be honest, even pointed out by Bayern publicly. That was my only worry for him here but I have already seen pretty decent improvements from his game to adapt and he will probably come good by next season.

Sick of seeing Emery's mouthing about us though, its like the 3rd or 4th interview he has done blaming the players and board for his own failures.

he has every right too. we employ a contemptible bunch of cvnts at all levels.

Anzac

https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/transfer-news/arteta-arsenal-transfer-news-upamecano-17749835
"We need to know the direction we want to head and to do that we need to bare in mind different scenarios. With that in mind I need to tell the club what we need, where we think we can improve and where we want to aim.
"If we all aim for the same things and put a plan together to try to execute it and make the process as short as possible."

Encouraging to think we are looking to be proactive in the summer, with the obvious trigger being if we regain CL or not.

awooga83

We our also supposed to have our transfer business all sorted last summer so makes me wonder if the problem is the guys supposed to be overseeing this.

KingslandBarge

----------Leno
Bellerin-Saliba-X-Saka
-------Torriera-X
----------X
X------------X-------X

Keep: Leno, Bellerin, Saliba, Saka, Torriera // Martinelli, Guendouzi, Willock, Pépé, Maitland-Niles, Holding (x11)
Loan: Nelson, Nketiah,
Possibly out the bus: Xhaka, Mustafi, Chambers, Martinez, Özil, Kolasinac, Tierney, Aubamayeng, Lacazette,

Not an expert on who to get but Saliba, Torriera, Martinelli and Leno acquisitions are quality supreme scouting. Would be fine with more or the same. But as suggestion: Dayot, Partey, Isco.

Qwiss

Torreira is still some way off being an automatic starter for me. He's still young so he could get there but right now I'd be happy rotating him as needs be. I don't really think any of our midfielders are all that great. Xhaka has been pretty solid under Arteta so if he stays he's the obvious automatic starter in midfield.

I'd be looking at fixing the midfield in the summer first and foremost. That would mean getting 2 starters. One being a deep midfielder with some physicality and the other being a modern attacking mid to replace Ozil. Not a like for like but someone who plays a bit deeper than Ozil but who still contributes to the attack.

goon

I agree with that. Basically we need someone who can do what Ceballos and Ozil did today as a base performance consistently (maybe Ceballos can be that guy, time will tell). Nothing wrong with Torreira or Xhaka though, you need a good set of midfielders.

Also madness to suggest that Tierney is on the sell list.

KingslandBarge

Fair enough; he might even be one of the first out the door but I think he's got immense potential and showed in parts what a terror he can be. Its just so tough for me to conceptualize the starting XI. Really felt like I was sticking my neck out even just putting those names but nice to archive current feeling.

Just soooooo much up in the air but I agree at least one midfield addition is what Edu needs to start laying the groundwork to act on in 4 months time. Guendouzi and Willock will have plenty of time to assume leadings roles in the club's future midfield if not at present.

KingslandBarge

goon wrote:
Also madness to suggest that Tierney is on the sell list.

Only assuming Arteta's analyzed the situation and is looking for a different kind of profile, but yeah we have yet to get a proper look at him and I have plenty of patience for it. Amended the classification. Its's more just who is firmly 'on the bus'.

QuincyAbeyie

He hasn't even been fit under Arteta yet, so it would be strange to assume such a thing. It's also too early to make the conclusion whether he's easily injured or if he's been unlucky two times.

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