Dom During our most dominant form last season we had Rice as an 8.

This isn't really true, though.

(5 game sliding window, by the way)

We started playing Rice further forward starting at gameweek 26 against Newcastle. As you can see, you can't really say that we turned anything around at that point. If anything, things turned around in a negative way. We simply started playing better when Odegaard started playing better. This happened to be confounded by some finishing variance stuff which has led to some bad takes about several players, in my opinion.

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      Interesting thing here at the end where Arteta confirms on the record that it seems likely that we're not going to make any really big signing this summer. I've been wondering when the bill was finally going to come due. Seems like it's this summer.

      I guess Jamal "The Croydon DeBruyne" Musiala will have to wait for next year.

      I didn't expect another 100m signing. That would be unrealistic at this point like he said. His responses before were coy. We must be under pressure to sell our dead wood before we can sign anymore players. We've spent a bit in the last 2 years

      given how obsessed arteta is with buying more defensive players when that is already our biggest strength, its puzzling he wont just spend big money on a true DM. having a dedicated deep midfielder to just defend and free up the front 5 seems like a no brainer at this point. he obviously sees what rodri does for citeh, puzzling he wont try and replicate that here

        Seems highly likely we bring in some medium to big fish later in the window, no matter what Arteta says.

        He was saying he wanted to keep Smith Rowe a week ago, the man's rehearsing his lines carefully. This window's been built with the selling campaign up front. I'm sure we want to sort out a move for Nketiah before we show our funds.

          If there really isn't an elite 6 out there this summer—and it does seem there isn't—then adding a "Trossard" (could be Merino) to the Ethan Nwaneri Project™ and kicking the regista-DLP-conductor-pivot-destroyer can down the road looks like the solid play for the present and future of our midfield.

          Also seeing plenty of Arsenal buzz about 22 year old Ezequiel Fernandez, who can apparently play a long pass and likes to play left 8. No idea what his level is.

          Ship out Partey please.

          Claudius I mentioned this in the calafiori thread, but having thought about it a bit more, i can concede that getting calafiori and merino running that left channel could potentially offset rice playing at the 6. calafiori and merino look like they'd cause chaos for opponents given how dynamic their movement and passing is, and alleviate the need for rice to provide line breaking passing and invite pressure from the opposition.

            Rice can play 6 very well in most situations. I wouldn't love him doing that away in Europe maybe, but he is still excellent there. The pendulum has swung too far to the "Rice is an 8" direction, exacerbated a bit by his struggles to successfully be a one-man midfield in a disjointed England setup.

            mdgoonah41 Arteta isn't obsessed with buying defensive players. People forget that we were all in on Sesko, and would have signed him if he hadn't elected to stay another year in Leipzig. He is particular about buying players for his style of football, which is exactly what you want in a manager. And unfortunately you can't write a check and make a "true DM" appear. If Zubimendi were available, you can guarantee we'd be desperate to get him, and have the funds to do so. You want to spend £100m on a tiny 19-year-old DM in Neves, like PSG? I'm glad we've stayed away.

                CPM Rice can play 6 very well in most situations. I wouldn't love him doing that away in Europe maybe, but he is still excellent there. The pendulum has swung too far to the "Rice is an 8" direction

                Sure, Rice can do the job at a very high level. The thing behind the "passing problem" at 6 is if Ødegaard continues to come back to lead the build-up while also leading the press a lot of the time. I'm not a fan of that, it'll burn him out and I'd rather free him up to create further forward.

                    Burnwinter Odegaard wil likely keep dropping back. Our game is based on small triangles. So Odegaard or the new left 8 would come back to help secure and advance the ball

                        If Rice gets injured, or Jorginho and Partey both get injured, who plays left 8 for us? Merino sounds like a sensible buy to me. What is the current pecking order at left 8? Rice, Havertz, Vieira? Zinchenko?

                        I'd love Zubimendi for 6 but I think the worry around that role is a bit exaggerated. We have 3 players who can play it plus maybe Lewis Skelly may come into the equation this year. There may be a couple of games a year where none of them are who you'd ideally want at 6, but they should leave us covered to knock down the vast majority of our opponents across a season.

                        Claudius I've never been on board with this. odegaard is most devastating when he's being fed between the lines, playing closer to the front 3, and free to make runs into the area. any system that results in him dropping deeper to assist with build up is a waste of time and should be binned as not fit for purpose. i saw enough of this when rice and havertz played in midfield and it was just dysfunctional

                            Gazza M @Claudius That's it. We need Ødegaard playing the forwards in or scoring, not the first ball. He's too good at working the right pass behind the defence to divert him to other tasks. He'll track back all day regardless but how deep and with what responsibilities? If he's often playing a pass he should be receiving, or he's deemed a necessity to evade the press, that hurts us.

                            I don't expect we'll be carrying the ball to break the lines often. Players who come to us with that reputation don't attempt it much at Premier League level. Rice is among those, I expect Calafiori will be next. We train the option out of them because it's inefficient nine times in ten.

                              So they are linking Sane to us by saying that he won't leave. Looool. They have no fucking clue what is going on.

                              Burnwinter Seems highly likely we bring in some medium to big fish later in the window, no matter what Arteta says.

                              That is my hope too. That they are just waiting to see what they can bring in first before they decide how much to splurge.

                                Agreed. We've a strong squad and it's clear we are sailing close to the wind with PSR, so finding players who will improve us that we can afford is going to be challenging. If I had to wager, I'd say we'll sign a fairly expensive wide player and more of a budget CM late in the window once Nketiah and Nelson have departed.

                                I just know we are going to try for ISAK at the end of the window. If Eddie leaves there is definite room for a striker.

                                Mik Merino is top notch by the way. Great physique, big range and uses the ball well. Reminds me of Edu in many ways