Claudius wrote:

So I would buy Szoboszlai. The guys finished top 8 in this year’s golden boy awards. It’s a no brained for a team that a) needs creative help and b) can pick up a future star for _£20m.

And then I would start shifting the old men. Pretty much leave Aubameyang, Willian and Luiz. And even they can be discussed at the end of the season. And really start to learn about the kids. And figure out who you want to sell / keep.

Never say this if you are in Ireland.

We should have been focussed on youth all along. Arteta has made his bed though, he bought Willian and resigned Luiz while taking about a title within 3 years. Thats the path he chose and now he has to live with it. If he goes we need a manager who is focussed on the future, on the young players and we need a longer term strategy. No more has beens on big wages and we need to cash in on players who are doing well but getting on, even if they are our biggest stars.

Goodness. That’s not what I meant at all

shift some codgers claud

Qwiss! wrote:

Claudius wrote:

So I would buy Szoboszlai. The guys finished top 8 in this year’s golden boy awards. It’s a no brained for a team that a) needs creative help and b) can pick up a future star for _£20m.

And then I would start shifting the old men. Pretty much leave Aubameyang, Willian and Luiz. And even they can be discussed at the end of the season. And really start to learn about the kids. And figure out who you want to sell / keep.

Never say this if you are in Ireland.

We should have been focussed on youth all along. Arteta has made his bed though, he bought Willian and resigned Luiz while taking about a title within 3 years. Thats the path he chose and now he has to live with it. If he goes we need a manager who is focussed on the future, on the young players and we need a longer term strategy. No more has beens on big wages and we need to cash in on players who are doing well but getting on, even if they are our biggest stars.

You’re speaking my native tongue sir.

I hope I can say that in Ireland.

Claudius wrote:

Goodness. That’s not what I meant at all

Each to their own Claud, you do you.

google says to bang 'em.

Kissing with tongues, French style

Leaning to Buendia over Szoboszlai, as I think we could get something out of this season with:

Saka---Auba---Pepe---
--Buendia--Ceballos--
-------Partey--------

There's goals a plenty there and it would actually let us have possession in central areas. We'd be asking a lot of Partey in matches where we're overwhlemed, but with Gabriel/Holding behind it's not too bad.

I seek only the banishment of those who would hurt us.

If we're serious we get buendia and szobozlai. Ceballos is off in the summer, and xhaka needs to be binned asap. Get the 2 replacements in now

Let's get Aouar. New CF and another CM in the summer. Sell as many as we reasonably can. Play 343/442 to maximize Saka and Auba.

Aouar has said he's not moving in jan

Gazza M wrote:

If we're serious we get buendia and szobozlai. Ceballos is off in the summer, and xhaka needs to be binned asap. Get the 2 replacements in now

Partey
Buendia Szobo

This midfield will work

Fabrizio has said he expects us to to do something special in Jan, Orny saying he expects us to be active, looks like it will be a fun window. Hope we can act in advance of the window actually opening.

There is a side issue though. We need to de-register as many as we sign.

goon wrote:

Fabrizio has said he expects us to to do something special in Jan, Orny saying he expects us to be active, looks like it will be a fun window. Hope we can act in advance of the window actually opening.

There is a side issue though. We need to de-register as many as we sign.

Sok is likely to sign on a free with a German club and I'd imagine we'll release him early to them. 

speedy wrote:

goon wrote:

Fabrizio has said he expects us to to do something special in Jan, Orny saying he expects us to be active, looks like it will be a fun window. Hope we can act in advance of the window actually opening.

There is a side issue though. We need to de-register as many as we sign.

Sok is likely to sign on a free with a German club and I'd imagine we'll release him early to them. 

He's not registered though, neither is Ozil.

Here's who is

Alves Soares, Cedric Ricardo

Aubameyang, Pierre-Emerick
Bellerin, Hector*
Borges Da Silva, Willian
Ceballos Fernandez, Daniel
Chambers, Calum*
Dos Santos Magalhaes, Gabriel
Elneny, Mohamed Naser Elsayed
Holding, Robert Samuel*
Kolasinac, Sead
Lacazette, Alexandre
Leno, Bernd
Macey, Matthew Ryan*
Maitland-Niles, Ainsley*
Mari Villar, Pablo
Moreira Marinho, David Luiz
Mustafi, Shkodran
Partey, Thomas Teye
Pepe, Nicolas
Runarsson, Runar Alex
Tierney, Kieran
Xhaka, Granit

From that list I think maybe Mustafi, Cedric, AMN, Mari and Chambers are the likely candidates to be sold or go out on loan.

The more I see the way things are panning out with Arteta and the team, the more I wonder if we have the right plan. Midfield is such a chaos zone simply because we are being outmuscled every week that I am wondering if we should simply focus on addressing that. Bring in some muscular boys who can run all day. The primary thing that seems to be happening to Xhaka, and a lesser extent Ceballos is they are getting overrun and pushed all the way back until they're in line with central defenders. Even in games where they start high. They don't have the pace and power to outrun their opponents in either direction.

Unless we are going to find unicorns like Patrick Vieira, I think we need to emphasise workhorses in that midfield. I would look to put a killer deal in front of Leeds for Kalvin Philips. He's 24, got a nice mix of skills. Otherwise look around at other young multi-talented physical midfielders like Locatelli. Ward-Prowse is another guy who's skyrocketed in the past year. His defensive PERs have doubled in in the last 12 months plus his offensive output in the run of play and on set pieces is excellent.

Have these guys with Partey and Elneny. Immediately loan Xhaka to Gladbach. Maybe even recall Guendouzi if you can save face. Then you can start to have combative midfields.

I think we need someone more physical and more defensive than Partey, not to pair him with a couple of attacking mids. Someone who's strong defensively and will link the defence and attack quickly when we play out from the back would be the best player for Arteta.

I'd like to see him with both. One more defensive than him and one more attacking.

Don't think we need someone more defensive. Just get a proper striker and a proper attacking mid, lets go.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

I'd like to see him with both. One more defensive than him and one more attacking.

Yeah exactly. I don't want to restrict Partey to being a DM. Best balance is with him as the centre mid, one more defensive and one more attacking.

Clrnc wrote:

Don't think we need someone more defensive. Just get a proper striker and a proper attacking mid, lets go.

I think a midfield like your earlier suggestion of Partey, Beundia and Szobo would be over ran in the PL.

Perfect picture to accompany the news.

New regulations to make signings U18 players harder for Premier league clubs in a post-Brexit world.

All U18 signings will require a work permit allocated based on a points based system determined on following criteria

• International appearances
• Club appearances (domestic + continental matches)
• Quality of selling club (league they play in + club league position + continental record)

Most restrictions seemed to be aimed at young (U21) players. Great news, means we should be able to continue signing the likes of Willian, Luiz and Cedric to our hearts content.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Eriksen links appearing today

Please no

If we get Eriksen it will become clear to me that the team needs to be sold 

Ornstein saying that we are prioritizing an attacking midfielder and a right footed CB in January.

Well, if Saliba is a bust, then we do actually need a CB. It's ridiculous, shameful, and represents some of the worst strategic squad-building in the European game, but I'm pretty resigned to that at this point.

Eriksen really feels so likely, and I so desperately don't want it to happen.

Arsenal is broken.

Right footed CB? Seriously Arteta thinks we are that specific like Man City?

A right-sided CB is probably more accurate, which usually means right footed. We played with that kind of specificity on my high-school team, it's not a big deal.

How many central defenders do we need?

Conservative, rigid Arteta wants a CB XI.

We will need a CB in 6 months, but id put it as a 3rd priority behind creative mid and striker. Hopefully we're only targeting a CB in jan because we have a bead on another good one like gabriel