Yeah Buendia doesn't have assists or goals but creates a lot of chances and space for others through his dribbling and passing.

Clrnc wrote:

Ray wrote:

A load of nonsense.

So you think he's ready quality now and Arteta refuses to use him because of politics with previous management?

And that we are trying to loan him out not because he isn't ready now and need more game time to improve?

I think he deserves a chance to play first team football, and the alternative options aren't that great to warrant leaving Saliba out of the picture completely.

I hazard a guess that this is Arteta stamping his authority as a manager, he did it with Pepe, but as he was more expensive and we are rubbish in attack he hasn't been able to justify his choices.

At first I thought he may be easing Saliba in to eventually take over from Luiz next season, but with reports that Arteta wants a CB, this pretty much shows he doesn't have a long term plan for Saliba, in which case it's best to just sell him.

Difficult to imagine Saliba being so poor tbh. He was highly rated in France close to two years ago and its not just us who wanted him Spurs were very interested too. Now he's apparently worse than every other option we have

jones wrote:

Difficult to imagine Saliba being so poor tbh. He was highly rated in France close to two years ago and its not just us who wanted him Spurs were very interested too. Now he's apparently worse than every other option we have

I think we had some screw ups in the Saliba decision-making process. Simple. Whatever his circumstances, one potential decision should’ve been Keep Saliba AND register for Europa. Somehow we just kept him, without game time. Tonight’s game versus Rapid Vienna would’ve been perfect to trot him out in a low stakes environment.

It’s a reminder how fundamentally broken our decision making culture is at the club. It’s no mistake we have the trash team of 30 we have and no midfield. We had all the info in the world with our scouts and StatDNA but couldn’t build an appropriate midfield

Claudius wrote:

jones wrote:

Difficult to imagine Saliba being so poor tbh. He was highly rated in France close to two years ago and its not just us who wanted him Spurs were very interested too. Now he's apparently worse than every other option we have

I think we had some screw ups in the Saliba decision-making process. Simple. Whatever his circumstances, one potential decision should’ve been Keep Saliba AND register for Europa. Somehow we just kept him, without game time. Tonight’s game versus Rapid Vienna would’ve been perfect to trot him out in a low stakes environment.

It’s a reminder how fundamentally broken our decision making culture is at the club. It’s no mistake we have the trash team of 30 we have and no midfield. We had all the info in the world with our scouts and StatDNA but couldn’t build an appropriate midfield

Yep exactly. And to splash a big amount for a youngster that is then deemed not ready, needs another year of football, then go on to target another RCB who's probably going to expensive again when you already have like 6 CBs fighting for a position. It's a huge mess.

I believe Arteta plays whoever who he thinks is the best for the team. Don't buy the stamping authority theory, doesn't make sense whatsoever. Apparently a few clubs in England and France is ready to take him for loan in january

I think people are reading too much into it. Arteta doesn't think he's ready and we have 9 experienced centre backs. The rest as Claudius says is just bad management.

I still don't have any issues with the Saliba signing. If you have the chance to sign an extremely highly rated young player you take it, it's exactly the profile we should be going for. If you end up having to wait 2-3 years for it to pay off, so be it.

I think the issue people have is with signing a new centre half in January while he gets loaned out and we have 9 experienced centre halves here too.

If he’s of healthy mind, i would rather throw him on in January than sign a new centre back. And Edu should enforce this. We need to use yet another lost season as an opportunity to evaluate every player on the book. Even Cedric

Claudius wrote:

jones wrote:

Difficult to imagine Saliba being so poor tbh. He was highly rated in France close to two years ago and its not just us who wanted him Spurs were very interested too. Now he's apparently worse than every other option we have

. Tonight’s game versus Rapid Vienna would’ve been perfect to trot him out in a low stakes environment.

We play tonight??

Once again linked with Yves Bissouma.

Stats wise his numbers are quite good for a DM.

Leaves a foot in too.

Wouldn't be a bad replacement for guys like Xhaka and Elneny.

jones wrote:

Difficult to imagine Saliba being so poor tbh. He was highly rated in France close to two years ago and its not just us who wanted him Spurs were very interested too. Now he's apparently worse than every other option we have

People are forgetting you need to give young players belief in the form of first team opportunities, in order for them to blossom. Artetas insistence that he missed a developmental year always sounded too rigid to me. If thats the case, adapt the situation and develop him in house, don't cut him adrift in his first season in a new country. Anyway, the whole situation pisses me off whenever its brought up, even more so now that its clear mikel isnt playing 4D chess with these decisions, but is more likely in over his head a bit

Arteta has too many degrees of freedom.

whats with the links to bissouma? he looks like an off brand version of partey. is the idea to form a base of 2 athletic pivots and play a dedicated link player ahead of them?

Gazza M wrote:

whats with the links to bissouma? he looks like an off brand version of partey. is the idea to form a base of 2 athletic pivots and play a dedicated link player ahead of them?

So he doesn’t gang up with Maupay to batter us next time we play them

Bissouma is so average. Doubt we will go for him. Most of our targets now are pretty class.

He used to be very average but he's upped his performance recently. Probably Brightons best player. He's very combative in midfield but he gives away a lot of frees and he's not exactly a metronome with his passing. Not sure he's an Arteta player.

https://le-grove.co.uk/
scouting-report-solving-the-creativity-problem-in-2021-long-read

'I would sign two creative players as I wouldn’t want to put the burden on one. As you’ve seen with our midfield , when our only ideal candidate gets injured, we are back at square one.
I’d buy Szoboszlai and Buendia. You could get both for £40M."

IIRC this guy did a similar quality piece last season based upon 27 years coaching.
Looking forward to his thought on the CF/ST situation, but again I expect it to be based upon achieving a balance within the team structure and roles needed.

As for Bissouma

"I’d sign Yves Bissouma as a true modern DM who would give others behind and ahead of him the confidence to focus on their game.
I’d pursue Renato Sanches too.
Bissouma, Partey and Sanches would suit Arteta’s desire for hybrid, athletic, rotational players.
A beautiful dream and again, more likely in the summer."