Squad depth 2026-2027: Page 5 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One more in the Tolly

Squad depth 2026-2027

Coombs

daredevil all of them but us?

daredevil

Coombs

How's that?

City and Pool won titles with defensive demons on the wing.

PSG are back-to-back CL winners with defensive demons on the wings.

This working hard thing wasn't designed by Arteta - it was Pep and later Klopp and now Arteta and Enrique.

It's funny how Arteta is part of the leading pack of modern day coaches and he gets criticised for it - and Wenger in his latter years was getting criticised for not being with modern tactics and being left behind.

Sicario2

The potential sale of Mart is very important not just for the obvious of getting a decent fee. It sends a message to the rest of the squad that being average won’t cut it anymore. Some players who have 2 years left on their contracts will need huge seasons this year.

Gurgen

daredevil Vini is plenty hard working, there’s a lot of light between working hard and having to play like a second fullback

daredevil

Gurgen

How is that two year trophy drought working out for Vini?

There's also a lot of light between how our wingers play and how a second fullback plays, and even more light between Vini Jr's talent and Martinelli.

You can't afford to let your wingers work less than your opponents when they aren't more talented and capable than them.

We have become this successful without having the best individual attackers in the league - precisely because we have built a team that outworks everyone and also is capable of executing every block in the book to a world class degree.

It's rather myopic to criticise the very thing that has brought us back to the apex. If you want a reminder of what it's like to allow your attackers freedom, not demand that they work diligent positionally all whilst not even being the best attack in the league - just revisit any Wenger period post Ozil. That should be a stark reminder of how freedom without the best talent isn't title winning.

Meatwad

if you're not an elite attacker you better be a hardworking one. we don't have elite attackers so we win with hardworking ones. if vini came he wouldn't have to be as hardworking (he would still have to make an effort) because he's elite or at least supposed to be elite because to be fair he hasn't actually looked great the past year.

Klaus

You don't need wingers to run the length of the pitch, you just need the wingers to come in and defend so the midfielders aren't left alone in the centre and get run over, and everyone in the modern game does that except Madueke for some reason... who's the one we've got. The idea that we could play successful Tetaball with a not-very-good player like him, but not a great one like Vinnie, is rather eccentric.

Coombs

daredevil nothing against Arteta, just against your incorrect statement. Salah is not a defensive demon lol

Meatwad

Coombs
look at the difference between salah with the last remnants of his legs in 2024-25 and with them gone in 2025-26. when you're elite your team wins the title, when you're not they get slapped up. same freedom, different ability.

daredevil

Coombs

You're thinking of old man Salah. Klopp's gegenpressing was predicated on them outrunning and outworking everyone. That's why they were on inhalors and would go from competing to falling off a cliff and back again.

Qwiss

Coombs Salahs not a defensive anything. 😂

daredevil

Meatwad

We've not had anyone even remotely as good as Salah or Vini to ease the work rate - so citing them is nuts.

RowJimmy

Kvara Doué and Barcola all talk about how hard Enrique expects them to work (and how they'll get benched if they don't).

daredevil

RowJimmy

and in case anyone has forgotten. This is the best coach in the world killing Mbappe for not working defensively.

I thought we had shed this ridiculous criticism but I guess not.

https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/dembele-sets-example-psg-with-defensive-intensity-before-arsenal-clash-2026-05-20/

'Dembele sets example for PSG with defensive intensity before Arsenal clash'

https://tacticsjournal.com/research/2026/05/30/kvaratskhelia-defensive-work-releases-psg-full-backs/

'Kvaratskhelia’s defensive work releases PSG’s full-backs'

People need to get with the times - it's not 2004 anymore.

QuincyAbeyie

daredevil

How many minutes are Kvara and Dembele playing in a season? If you're using these guys who are regularly rested throughout the season as your successful examples you're just arguing against your own philosophy of how players should always be a bit injured and suffer through it because Henry said he did so.

Coombs

daredevil les petits princes at PSG have no right to talk about hard work.

Burnwinter

daredevil People need to get with the times - it's not 2004 anymore.

Sure these PSG guys work hard when circumstances demand, but they play 1,000 minutes less per season and a lot more of those minutes are under less pressure.

Claudius

If you pulled a top team from 2004 and asked them to play a top team now, their players would be winded at 60 minutes

daredevil

QuincyAbeyie Burnwinter

You're conflating two different seasons. It was last season when they were rested. The season before in 24/25 they both played 3500 minutes and were still running up and down and defending hard.

The season they won the treble -

Dembele - 3,488 minutes
Kvaratskhelia - 3,616 minutes
Vitinha - 4,521 minutes
Neves - 4,276 minutes
Mendes - 4,078 minutes
Hakimi - 4,667 minutes

That's more minutes than our core players played last season.

What are we even debating here? That you shouldn't work hard or that they can defend hard because they play fewer minutes? Stupid if the former, and that clearly wasn't the case in 24/25, if the latter.

The two best clubs in the world demand that their forwards work and defend hard - @Gurgen tells me we can do without that. Sure - I'd love to see you show Arteta and Enrique otherwise.

Gurgen

Hard work for 20-30 games a season

QuincyAbeyie

Dembele played 1063 minutes (that's a third of the maximum possible) in their last Ligue 1 season across 22 appearances, which means his average appearance was a single half (48 min).

Even yesterday they took off Kvara and Dembele at half time.

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