lorddulaarsenal maybe. But none of those players are without injury risk and the more we lean on them, the more they're likely to get injured.
Kiwior seems relatively robust so far (albeit he's not had as much exposure as others) so that's a big tick for him in my book. Would much rather sell Tomiyasu (and Zinchenko).
awooga83 Arteta's going to have to take the handbrake off in Saka's absence. Take some more risks and get our attackers into space more often. Even the best attackers in the world find it hard when having to constantly dance through heavy traffic to create chances and score.
SimplyThePest I've been critical of our handbrake but with the squad we have and Saka out I think I'd actually double down on solidity. The Havertz and Ode midfield appealed to me with Saka but now I want our best back 7 with Havertz up top, Ode AM and 2 wingers.
If we sign someone worthwhile I'll revise this
I'd give the Havertz at 8 and Jesus at 9 thing another chance. The former has scored two in two like this after all, and it means we have at least a bit of vertical movement into the box from deeper.
It's no long term thing though, and signing a top wide player who can break lines with his ball carrying and movement would mean we could really give Merino a go in the left 8 at the same time.
Yep get that left sided attacker in.
Qwiss You might be right, mate but bloody hell, we've looked very pedestrian in attack with Saka available... Time will tell but I suspect Arteta may very well do what you have suggested.
I don't expect us to make any major signings in January, therefore, Arteta needs to be bold and either changes formation or trusts Nwaneri to be the man on the right until Saka returns. I believe it will be better for us long-term even if he doesn't have an immediate impact.
Switching to a front 2 with 4 midfielders behind them appeals to me because I trust our midfielders more than I do our forwards. Upfront I'd always go Havertz + 1. The one could be any of Trossard, Martinelli or Jesus depending on form or opposition. I think this is one way to solve our problems up front i.e switching to a formation that requires us to only play 2 forwards at the same time.
Something like this:
-------Trossard----Havertz----
-------------Odegaard
----Rice---Jorginho--Partey-----
Cala----Gabriel---Saliba---Timber
---------------Raya
This drastically changes the way we attack as we'll be using 2 overlapping full backs and Ode has the license to roam which makes it harder for teams to shut him out.
Arteta can also have his box midfield that he so craves by pushing Rice next to Odegaard when we are in possession. Also, generally midfielders are better defensively than attackers, so having more of them could in theory help us defend better.
Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert if we are going to keep playing Havertz at 8 then we need a CF in January, even in a beat case scenario with Jesus form you'd need another option there to come off the bench, rotate, etc And does anyone really think Jesus is going to make it till June without picking up an injury here or there?
Tactics I know you've basically shown a haram ball line up there but what you're describing is basically a 4-2-2-2. The problem is that the full backs are not 4-2-2-2 fullbacks, they're CB working as fullbacks specifically so that they can invert.
We've started to pack our midfield in a similar way to Pool now and play less of a box and more something like a 3-5-2 in posession. Sometimes we do the double invert and have MLS + Timber join a DM and the wide forwards join Odegaard and we basically get the reverse of the box midfield, an MW formation which is what happened with Ipswich. This packs the midfield way too much but as a result the CMs have more license to roam forwards which we saw with Odegaard's and Merino's shots in that match (Ode shoulda finished better his own great work).
I like our options with Leo and Kai as 2nd strikers, the latter's goal was a direct result of this changed setup. We need that pure CF now that can fit this structure.
Gabimart was a disaster this match despite again trying very hard. Can't fault his effort but with the way we play now I'd say give Ethan a try for that slot.
tetball has an inverse logic to it. in order for the attack to function we have to create overloads from our own half, usually involving our fullbacks. in the absence of saka I propose that we need to our fullbacks to get even more aggressive as an attacking force, even if it leaves us a bit exposed. if we keep repeating the usual deep ball circulations with FBs tucking in all the time, the forwards are going produce fuck all. let timber and MLS get forward in some kind of fullback/centremid/libero role and let them create some overloads. they've both shown they're skilled enough to do it.
