Bosscielny wrote:
I get that CL brings allure that the EL does not. I don’t think it seems to be affecting it too much. Anyone move to a CL club that you would have preferred over any of our signings so far? Is it likely they would’ve chosen us over who they moved to anyway? We seem to be managing pretty well without it so far, don’t you think?
Why does it matter how long it takes if we get to where we want to? What’s the rush? We’ve been treading water for 15 years and you can’t wait another year or two? Why not enjoy the ride instead of getting worked up about every decision the club makes?
IMO it's not just the players who have already moved, but also those who may have moved but have said they will only move to a club in the UCL.
Whilst I like our signings they also have question marks about them in the positions we are likely to play them in. In some ways it reminds me of peak AW signing misfits and converting them to become elite players, or at least that is what we are hoping to happen if we are to regain top4/UCL.
My issue with the rebuild is IMO we should have prioritised the team spine to be fit for purpose, so that we had a continuity throughout all areas of the team of players who fit the roles and style. From there we can add the pieces around them whilst still having that capability to play through the different parts of the team and the pitch as intended. At this point it is still quite likely that Arteta still doesn't have all the pieces he wants from his starting XI, so we are still not 100% sure of any part of the team (Defence, Midfield and Attack), let alone what it is we may be still looking for.
The alternative to this is to play to your resources as you rebuild each part of the team, and to not look to implement the very precise style until you have those pieces in place. One of the most consistent comments I've seen about positional play is that it is very much all or nothing in terms of player performance to achieve any success - not in terms of titles or silverware but in regards to results. When it's on song it is very good and strong if you have the required quaity, but if you have square pegs in terms of suitability or even just level of application then it can be exxploited and can become very brittle.
