Chelsea v Arsenal Sunday 10th Nov 1630 KO: Page 23 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Chelsea v Arsenal Sunday 10th Nov 1630 KO

lorddulaarsenal

Yes we need a bigger pool of attacking talent to select from.

Desperately need someone who has real power on the left.

Claudius

lorddulaarsenal I wish we had Leao. I know he’s got a ridiculous valuation. But I like his physical profile for what we should be doing as an alternate to Martinelli. Big powerful guy who can just run through opponents.

lorddulaarsenal

Yes that sort of profile - he’d frustrate because he often makes those big galloping surges forward to no avail, but it’s the type of threat we don’t currently have.

Semenyo would give us that at a Teemu price.

I’d want a more refined player though. Mitoma would be nice but perhaps he’s not physically strong enough. Kvaratskhelia would be good, and ofcourse we could try with Nico Williams again.

Don Pacifico

We need a Plan B for when the system doesn't work. And by Plan B, I mean 1 (ideally 2) attackers that can win games single-handedly.

Think that may be at odds with Arteta's team philosophy though.

Claudius

Don Pacifico nobody would be against the idea of a forward who can win games single-handedly. That’s what Bukayo does week after week for us. But he’s burdened.

Qwiss

Claudius yeah I think someone who wins games on his own is probably too high a bar but Liverpool have Jota, Gakpo and Nunez where its usually only one of them starting with Salah and Diaz. They've Chiesa too. Being able to bring on 2 players of that quality late in games is what we lack and its why we don't sub Saka early enough. TBF Trossards at that level but he's in poor form, that happens. Its Jesus and Sterling who are the real problem. I thought Sterling would give us a lot more in those instances, very disappointed in his contribution so far.

Clrnc

Claudius Nah Saka is confined in the system as well. He wants more attacking freedom and don't need to do defensive work like the Liverpool forwards.

His numbers would be insane if he is in a system like Liverpool.

If we signed Mbappe We will still need him to press, to drop back defensively and track runners.

Don Pacifico

Claudius yeah, I'm more with Clrnc on this one. Saka wins games...when the team is functioning. It's not a criticism but he's not a Sanchez or Henry type.

We need a player (an agent of chaos?) to have thr confidence and ability to make goals by themselves when their teammates aren't showing up for them.

Claudius

Qwiss yup. Different faces. And fresh legs. Agree

SimplyThePest

Clrnc our new left back, Kylian Mbappe... 😃

Claudius

Don Pacifico i actually think Saka is a Sanchez level player if not even better.
There is something else happening - he has a ton of defensive work that he has to do. Both him and Martinelli. If you compare their defensive data to other young forwards in the league, you see how much more work they put in. It's in line with our level of control and how our games have much less of a ping-pong rhythm than those of other teams.

Two ways to get around this
1) Find ways to get more protection from midfield, e.g., replace Partey with Merino, and then put Rice behind Saka as a protector
2) Power up... run Saka like this for 60 minutes, but then be able to bring a Diaz or Jota on for the final 30.

Don Pacifico

Claudius yeah, you're right in that within the confines of the system even if Saka were that player, he doesn't have scope to show it. I'm still not sure myself but certainly having more attacking options (as has been heavily debated these past few weeks!), we'd be in a better place.

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