Calafiori was a fine buy, tons of talent and not too expensive. It’s not his fault we didn’t spend on a forward. We need lots of good players in the squad, like 6-7 strong defenders to challenge for the PL and the CL. The prospect of having both competing for a position is excellent news.
The problem with spending £72m on Pepe was spending £72m on Pepe, not that we had the teenaged Saka coming out of the academy.
Myles is not a left back he's a midfielder. The signing we should question is Merino, not Calafiori.
How does it beggar belief? MLS hadn't even made his professional debut when we signed Calafiori. I'm sure even Arteta didn't think he'd grasp the opportunity as well as he has done.
Sicario2 - Tier 1 this is the full bit. It's great.
Gurgen Why is everyone so sure about this? The fullback spaces vs the central midfield spaces make very different demands on a player. The club shifted MLS to an inverting LB for a reason – presumably because they felt it was a profile that maximized his talents and could give him a viable role in a team playing to win the Premier League. There are always suggestions that certain defenders could step into midfield, but how many have really done so? Kimmich comes to mind. David Alaba. Stones sort of in Pep's weird formation. But history isn't exactly littered with them.
And Merino was cheap and bought as a squad player, I don't get the frustration with him. Our problems all come downstream from being a winger and a striker short, and tactically too labored in attack.
Very impressive so far.
I think having someone with his skillset in midfield could be a game changer (if we ever get our left backs, uh, back) He's so good on the ball, press resistant and has an eye for a pass. I think of those tight CL games where Saka and Ode are shut down and we lack a bit of that special sauce driving through the middle of the pitch, opening it up and I think this kid could provide it.
Everyone knows it’s easier to play fullback than central midfield.
No surprise that plenty of talented players start there before maturing into central mid players.
I’m also not concerned that MLS will stagnate and be constrained to playing there. He’s already showing the poise that Chamberlain and Maitlind-Niles were clearly missing from day 1. Decent players mind you, that MLS still has plenty left to work on to top their careers, but I’m hopeful he will.
I've been shocked how physically ready he is for the EPL too. He's got that build like Moussa Dembele where players just bounce off him and he knows how to use his body very well. I think he got moved to LB this season for two reasons- 1) necessity since its clear we can't trust the health of Calafiori (at the moment) or Zinchenko and Tierney is a different profile and 2) its an easier introduction to the EPL since there's a bit less responsibility as well as having more immediate opportunities in our team until Partey/Jorginho move this summer.
Pretty sure MLS has been playing as inverted LB at lower level a fair few times recently too tbf
This is what Arteta just said in a press conference:
on whether Mikel was involved in changing Myles Lewis-Skelly to a left-back:
When I saw him, to give him a chance and with the project that we had in the academy the moment that I saw him, the only way I could think was to change his position. I spoke to him and said I think this is where you’re going to have it, because I think it fits a lot of his qualities, the way that we play and it fits because we had necessities in the position, so we started to work on that. He got into it straight away with the personality that he has. I think it’s very obvious and now he’s doing it.
That reads to me like Arteta sees inverted fullback as MLS's best position, and the position where he can find a role at Arsenal.
https://www.arsenal.com/news/every-word-artetas-pre-aston-villa-presser-0
The new golden boy, I want to play him as a CM, bet money he is a baller there as well.
Califiori does not get back into this team, the left back position is his.
Switch him to DM. Toss Unnamed Player off the bridge and stick Timber or Cala on the left.
