@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Talk is Arteta is prioritising a centreback in January.

Good call, we can't continue with just 8. What if we have 7 injuries?

Of the 8, only Gabriel looks like a long term starter unless Saliba is the truth. Drain the swamp

It just can't be the priority right now. We need creativity urgently and another CB won't achieve this.

LOL. We actually have enough players to do significantly better than what we are doing. I worry about the idea of signing players.
I would like this season to primarily be spent seeing what we can do with Willock, Nelson, Saka, Saliba, Maitland-Niles, Nketiah, Ceballos, Pepe, etc. And then we can decide what we want to do in the summer. I really worry about our asset utilisation. It is atrocious. And fans are prone to thinking new toys will solve everything when really half the problem is how the manager constructs offense. I'm perfectly happy with Gabriel and Luiz until Saliba comes through, and Holding seems to be acquitting himself well when Luiz is out. Don't really much care for the rest.

I agree, I think Arteta has to show he can get us firing to a reasonable extent before we splash out on new toys (as much as I want them).

I dislike our squad, but I'm certain we should be passing, moving and creating a lot better than what we're seeing.

Claudius wrote:

Of the 8, only Gabriel looks like a long term starter unless Saliba is the truth. Drain the swamp

Gabriel is the nailed on starter but we gave Luiz a new deal and Sokratis can't even get in the squad list. No way we should be signing new centre halves at the moment. The defensive side of things is adequate for now, we need something else in midfield or attack. I'd a say another centre mid should be a priority, Parteys partner options are a much bigger issue than Gabriels.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert wrote:

I agree, I think Arteta has to show he can get us firing to a reasonable extent before we splash out on new toys (as much as I want them).

I agree. More than anything though he needs to let players go if he wants new signings, you can't give guys new deals and then sign players in their place. If we want a new centre half Luiz shouldn't have been renewed. We've had too many signings and renewals lately that make no sense when you look at the squad and where we are short.

Qwiss! wrote:

Claudius wrote:

Of the 8, only Gabriel looks like a long term starter unless Saliba is the truth. Drain the swamp

Gabriel is the nailed on starter but we gave Luiz a new deal and Sokratis can't even get in the squad list. No way we should be signing new centre halves at the moment. The defensive side of things is adequate for now, we need something else in midfield or attack. I'd a say another centre mid should be a priority, Parteys partner options are a much bigger issue than Gabriels.

Only tricky thing is Luiz is probably our 2nd best centre back. But I really wouldn't piss on most of the rest if they were on fire. 

Claudius wrote:

Qwiss! wrote:

Gabriel is the nailed on starter but we gave Luiz a new deal and Sokratis can't even get in the squad list. No way we should be signing new centre halves at the moment. The defensive side of things is adequate for now, we need something else in midfield or attack. I'd a say another centre mid should be a priority, Parteys partner options are a much bigger issue than Gabriels.

Only tricky thing is Luiz is probably our 2nd best centre back. But I really wouldn't piss on most of the rest if they were on fire. 

I think Holdings a better defender than Luiz, obviously the Brazillian is better with the ball but the positives that brings aren't always that great. Don't think theres much between Luiz and Mustafi either bar perceptions and baggage. Chambers is as good as any of them if he can get fit too. Sok is done, doesn't suit Arteta at all. Who knows what the hell is going on with Saliba and Mari is still a big question mark. Unless you are getting some world class defender on a can't say no deal I don't know how you could justify another centre half coming in.

Agree. I wouldn't buy for now definitely. Arteta has coached defensive rigidity into the uncoachables and doesn't get enough credit for it.

What he has to do is now do the same going forward.

You only get credit for the defensive improvement when it doesn't mean you stop scoring goals completely.

Our centre backs are fine. Aside from the Villa game they've performed very well, I can't see how Arteta's takeaway from this season can possibly be that we need another centre back unless he's spent a little too much time with Pep. Holding is playing well, Gabriel is great and the likes of Mari and Chambers are decent too. Then you have the Saliba factor.

You really only need one top centre half and one decent one, especially at our level. Matip and Gomez looked like mugs before they were partnered with VVD, its no wonder Holding looks better alongside Gabriel than he did beside the clown shows of Luiz or Mustafi.

part of why the look fine is the smaller spacing amongst themselves and Xhaka
so spacing amongst themselves can always be maintained. letting Xhaka (or other central midfielders) out a bit more, is going to expose them a bit. but that's the tradeoff we have to make. and that is why we need someone more athletic than Xhaka back there. because he will not be able to leave the defense and make recovery runs to cover them.

Reports from Italy and ESPN reporting that Inter has offered us Eriksen for a fee much lesser than the 16m they paid. Eriksen first choice is us as well.

On monstrous wages most likely. No thanks.

He's on around 250k at Inter apparently, and he'd probably want a 4 year deal. No thanks. The transfer fee is a trap.

That being said, the dumb part of the brain would love to see a Eriksen - Partey - Ceballos midfield.

Clrnc wrote:

Reports from Italy and ESPN reporting that Inter has offered us Eriksen for a fee much lesser than the 16m they paid. Eriksen first choice is us as well.

we are a great proposition. the London retirement home. why go to Spurs and Chelsea and suffer when you can come to Arsenal, get a big salary and relax. some even get paid to play Fortnite all day long. 

He knows Mourinho will demand a lot of him and Chelsea don't need him. At here he can be another Willian