Time is not running out (not yet)

First…
of all, a good , studied post Ambarish, unlike what look like a handed over composition we see elsewhere

Thanks Hoopah, Marc, and Tony.

The ads will get time to sort themselves out.

Emile Smith Rowe has , what he called a successful surgery. He says it made good a long standing problem in the groin , which he never realised was a problem. Mind you he had a 10 goal season suffering from the groin problem and in 1/3 of the season.
There is unsubstantiated acknowledgment that ESR is still prone to injury if he plays regularly. From what I see this perception has come out of insinuation by Arteta and not from the medics. ESR looks heavier, stronger than before. But yes, definitely, ESR late few minutes outings have not yielded anything. Have looked at him each time he came on, and found he was moving every time in good positions but team mates were not combining, as if they feared the wrath later on..
Malevolent and sad

I was delighted when Ornstein confirmed AFC is no mood to sell him. He is a very good player and if the surgery fixes his long running injuries, he will be someone to watch out this season, if Arteta trusts in him.

If not anything, Ode’s needs a competition too. Arteta prefers good passers, ESR is more of a direct runner like Sanchez. Time will tell if Arteta can utilize him.

In Football sometimes it may not be as evident how important a bench can be but in Rugby you readily see the importance. Only a few players play the entire 80 minutes and many are being subbed on for the remaining 20 minutes or so and it is far more evident that a good bench is the difference in winning.

We need to have the same approach, if we have a world class manager and are in our competitions doing well to the point of having a shot at trophies, players don’t mind coming of the bench. But that in game management is sadly lacking from our not so great manager.

it will be interesting to know what needs to happen in this window for it to be deemed a success, as this will be a rather subjective undertaking…for myself, if we sell off Balo, Tierney, Partey and Holding, then bring in only 2 backline players and a more defensively minded midfielder to replace Xhaka, like Rice, I won’t see that as a successful window…this would mean that we would be relying on players like Vieira, the oft-injured ESR, Tross and Jorginho way too much and that won’t get things done on multiple fronts…not to mention, I won’t take the all-too-familiar Arsenal view that Saliba will be like a new signing if he re-ups because if MA had done his due diligence this would have been a foregone conclusion…in my estimation, we need a bare minimum of 2 midfielders(1 offensive/1 defensive), another pacey forward and both a right and left back…at least 3 of these players need to be readymade game-changer types

Killroy

I can’t remember the exact numbers but a piece on Sky Sports the other week put out the manager who’d made the most changes (rotation!) and the manager who’d made the fewest.

Most = Pep
Fewest = Toss pot sorry Bob I mean the genius who’s Arteta.

And we wonder why we burnt out.

For this window to be deemed a success is quite simple – is the team and the squad stronger.

Yes means the window was good.
No means it wasn’t.

A thousand excuses means it wasn’t as well!

Hi Ambarish
Great piece as usual and the revamped site is fantastic. I think the ‘she wore’ song came to the fore as Arsenal fans’ original addition to the wemberlee song. And the yellow ribbon reflected our club away colours for all the time I was a starstruck kid.

That’s why old bastards like me are allergic to pink, mink green or purple kits (or outfits as Ms Kroenkephobe hilariously likes to call them).

The tune, ‘she wore a yellow ribbon’ features in a 1940s western film of the same name starring John Wayne.

Marc
I’d just finesse that by saying the TW has to improve our midfield. Something we’ve all been saying for years but frankly, we mainly need improvements in that area alone.

Kroenke

At face value I’d agree with you (and then as my Mum would say just to be a pain in the backside and bleedin difficult) I’d say its a little more complicated. Our defence could well need attention this summer, Saliba is a major worry unless we get him signed and will need a major signing to replacement him should he leave, RB needs backup and if we lose Tierney (which I think is likely) we’ll need solid cover in there as well. Normally it’d be fairly straightforward but with Arteta’s “inverted” FB getting players who can do that and do it when they aren’t first choice will not be easy.

Love the nuance Marc!

Killroy-I likewise saw those stats, which speaks to both their squad depth and the emphasis Pep places on his staff to coach up every single player so that they’re properly prepared regardless of the circumstances…the former has a lot to do with one’s financial wherewithal and/or transfer savviness, whereas the latter is far more an indicator of your mastery over the managerial arts

we all know one of the key reasons we were able to sit atop the table for such an extended period was that, unlike most other squads, we had the luxury of starting the same 10 or 11 players each and every match…of course that “strategy” ultimately came back to haunt us during the business end of the season as some were undoubtedly running on fumes and few others were lost to injuries…now a good manager will properly prepare for such scenarios, whether through the transfer window or on the training pitch, whereas a great manager will also have a variety of preplanned tactical tweaks in his toolbox just in case his original plans are derailed…unfortunately, at this juncture, Arteta is neither of these things

from all reports Caicedo is extremely keen on joining us, which should be a feather in our cap if other suitors stump up the cash…my greatest fear, in this regards, is that he’s being seen as Rice’s backup plan and somehow we’ll pursue our first choice so vigorously, even if it appears as if we don’t have a legit shot, that we’ll lose out on both options…personally I so wish we had the onions to at least reach out to Bellingham’s and Musiala’s people, as Caicedo at DM with either of those two playing in more advanced spaces with Ode would be a game-changing window…obviously both would be tricky gets, especially Musiala, as he’s under contract until 2026, but if you want to be one of the “big” boys you’ve got to start acting like one…I would much rather pay 110-120 for one of those players than 90+ for Rice…it’s high time we started fucking with the Munich’s and PSG’s of the world, as their CV’s are living on borrowed time, minus winning their respective weaker Leagues

When it comes to rotation Arsenal was at the bottom, least amount, next was Newcastle and it does say something about a manager and his trust in his players. Bringing back players early from injuries is another sign and I believe I will never loose image of Arteta pushing Partey back on the pitch when he was injured and wanted to come off.

Congrats on post 150 AK. Like the new look.

of course, I realize we won’t be on the hunt for players the likes of Musiala or Bellingham, so then who will be our big summertime midfield targets:

Rice-asking way too much, but not without his on and off field merits-just worry whenever we’re going after a player other bigger teams have set their sights on

Caicedo-high energy, physical presence, positional flexibility, PL proven and wants to come to North London-personally think that if we hadn’t butchered our approach in January we could have shaved a few bucks off his asking price this window, but still worth the squeeze

Gundogan-big fan but not really a full season producer-he would make great sense for the business end of the season, but we can’t be the team who employs Jorginho, Elneny and Gundogan…now if we could get rid of one of those two and Xhaka, then bring in 2 younger high profile midfielders and Gundogan, I’m all for it-just don’t see that happening though

Madisson-always appreciated his skillset, but he’s been injury prone in the past and he disappears too often, which could be problematic considering he would be paired with Ode, who likewise goes missing on occasion-never like getting a player from a relegation loser either, unless there was extenuating circumstances outside the players control

Xavi Simons-interesting prospect with considerable positional flexibility, but not sure I want to get someone for the midfield who played just as much, if not more, as a winger-I like that he scored in bunches this season, as he had 5 braces, but I feel like there are too many questions about how this 20 year old will thrive in the PL environment-if we were still getting two big time midfielders and we purchased him for added depth at AM and out wide, I’m totally on board

SMS-like his rather unique size/skill metrics, but I worry about his body language at times-he’s played a lot of minutes for Lazio in the last 4 years, which could mean that his playing body is older than his age would suggest-we all know how much Xhaka has played since arriving, much to my chagrin, yet SMS has played even more minutes in each and every year since 2018…maybe he just needs a new challenge to get his juices flowing again

Brahim Diaz-tidy player with the ability to play on both wings, good pedigree as a former Real and City product and fits our age profile, as he’s only 23-unfortunately we haven’t had the best of success luring anyone, even shite players, from Serie A

Nicolo Barella-just named the best MD in Serie A, who’s quite a workhorse in all the important areas of the pitch-he’s 26, so his age shouldn’t be a deterrent when it comes to making a sizeable investment-just not sure if he’s ever going to contemplate moving away from the Serie A, as he’s never played outside his home country, unlike Diaz-he reminds me of a more imposing Veratti yet he contributes far more in the final third-to be fair, Veratti has been playing deeper in more recent years

Bruno Guimaraes-now this is the kind of move a big club would make, but I highly doubt it-imagine us acting like a true contender and turning the head of a key cog from another top 4 club

Szoboszlai-another intriguing player, who fits the age profile and who some believe has been on our radar for quite some time-once again it’s difficult to trust his midfield impact as he’s been deployed far more often as a winger-furthermore I would have thought his stats would have been a bit more flattering by this point

Arda Guler-this 18 year old AM/RW of Turkish descent seems more our speed, as he’s got that babyface mug we usually gravitate towards then wonder why they couldn’t handle the PL rigours-now if he’s just a future project and we don’t have to pay through the nose for him, which means nothing much above his current 11M market value, he might be worth a shot as several much better player evaluating teams seem to like his future prospects

best case scenario-Caicedo, Barella and Simons-with these adds we could high press the shit out of teams and increase our final third production considerably without exposing ourselves defensively, like when we had Xhaka and/or Jorginho on the pitch

on a side note, we really fucked the pooch on the whole Nkunku gig, as somehow Chelsea finagled a top European talent for almost 30M below his market value…where the fuck was our recruitment team when this bargain was on offer???

“Bruno Guimaraes-now this is the kind of move a big club would make, but I highly doubt it-imagine us acting like a true contender and turning the head of a key cog from another top 4 club”

Sorry TRVL, that ship sailed in the Jan 2022 TW when our squad was threadbare by getting rid of players and not replacing them, Auba to Barca happened in that TW. Tets excuse was there were no players available in the Jan 2022 TW and he went to Newcastle. Bruno destroyed us in that penultimate match at Tyne side with the crowd singing “Arsenal wanted Bruno but he said Fuck that, I am going to Newcastle”. Still hurts because we would have had CL in the past season instead of Sp*ds. There is a snowball’s chance in hell that he will come to North London after Tets treated him with dismay.

As you and I agree on, only change in manager and sporting director would make us a true contender.

Just read thi:
“Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) owns 80% of the Magpies and yesterday acquired FOUR of the Kingdom’s biggest clubs. Al-Ittihad, Al-Ahli, Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal have all been set up as newly founded companies 75% owned by the PIF.”

Guess who plays in those clubs? Ronaldo, Messi and Benzema.

“Sides under multi-club ownership can trade players, meaning in theory Newcastle could sign all three on a loan.”

Thanks Aitcho.

Killroy,

Ronaldo, Messi and Benzema playing for magpies? I would pay extra to watch them. It will only be a popularity stunt and will likely end in a laugh, if it happens.

TRVL

A good shout, though we missed on Bruno. I think we would go hard on Rice and might get him over the line, Caicedo then would depend on how much we can negotiate. Personally, I have 0 confidence we are getting both of them. I am more worried about the Xhaka’s replacement, have zero trust in Vieira and don’t think Arteta is going to try ESR in that position.

A DM, an attacking midfielder, And a CF would be good addition for me. We have enough body in defense, Tomi will be back, KT will likely stay and Kiwior has joined the pack. Saliba and Gabriel will be preferred partnership and White moves to RB.

Cancelo link up and that RB bid which was rejected is again non-sense. Our season collapse was because Saliba and Tomi got injured at the same time but we were in winking situations in enough games to prepare Kiwior and Holding. We didn’t rotate, when the players got injured, we got them from the bench but with no match fitness.

A good manager can perform in adversities.

Ambarish, if we replace Holding with a RB it would allow White or TT to play as RCB.

Tony made a very good point the other day that if we have two strong CMs playing the need for an inverted FB is less valuable. Fresneda could fit the bill or Boey.

Bob

But both Tomi and White played and can play at RB.

We have Saliba, Gabriel, Holding and Kiwior in for the 2 CBs position . It’s less tiring in defence and with some rotation, we can manage that. If Holding is gone, let’s gets a competent CB rather than a RB.

But I would like to see the midfield sorted first. Defence is the least of a priority when Saliba is back.

I’d rather have a specialist RB than CBs who can play RB. Both TT and White are versatile footballers but most observers would argue that they’re at their best at CB.

Having a young energetic RB who can meaningfully run up and down the right flank could be just what we’re looking for.

The issue we had when Saliba was injured was that TT was injured in the same game. White couldn’t play in two positions so Holding came in.

We have Gabriel, TT, White, Kiwior and Saliba who can play CB.

You see Tomi and White fit to play as CBs, and I believe they are doing great specially White at the RB. I am inclined to not disturb two positions (if we move White to CB, and someone else to RB) when one of the CBs are injured.

If we go by that route, even KT can deputize at CB.

I also think it’s a question of opportunity. If we can get a top young RCB at a decent price, fair enough but if a decent RB option, a player who specialises in that position, is available I think it’s a very reasonable option.

The main thing is to replace Holding with a player in our defence, who has the capability to perform in the way we want to play whether it is a RB or a RCB, in this Amabarish we are in total agreement! That said White is a very comfortable replacement for Saliba, if we had a RB who could step up.

Yes, Holding’s position need to be upgraded. Of course we can’t stack 4 Saliba’s on 200k/week wages but there is room for improvement.

Looks like we are interested in Ivan Fresneda but haven’t bid yet. Valladolid has been relegated and his release clause is reduced to 20m Euros. Won’t mind that one.

But I will come back to haunt Arteta about it in September if we don’t fix the midfield.

Fresneda is a player that gets my ducts flowing… A fine physical specimen, rapid, fully committed, ambitious and keen to get forward.

But I’d also give labrador-luvvin Nuno another season if KT leaves. Utilise him sparingly against top teams but let them both have a rip at the lower half teams.

Bob

As you said, it’s a question of opportunity. We have one in front. 20m Euros for a decent RB is no problem at all.

KP

Is it Nuno Tavares you are referring to? I don’t know why but I have an inclination towards chaotic players (may be because of Alexis).

He is one. He can outrun, out muscle anyone and then pass to an opposition player lol, won’t mind him picking up the KT’s role. We have got a lot of games coming season.

A big ‘no’ to Nuno from me. His strength is as a marauding wing back or even as a left attacker. I understand Zinchenko’s strength is not in defence but I do not trust Nuno to defend with any decent level of skill. There also seems to be a question mark over his professionalism. ‘Yes’ to Fresneda.

I’d like both Caceido and Rice but I’d be willing to pay a premium on Rice if we then got Fresneda and say Veiga.

KP-I would have both Nuno and Marquinhos back in the squad, for tactical versatility purposes whether late in matches, during Cup affairs or whenever a particular matchup suggests that deploying wingbacks would be best…let’s face it, MA isn’t going to all of sudden flip his rotational script, so I would use the bulk of our available budget on securing 2 top drawer midfield starters then worry about everything else afterwards…just think how deadly Marts and Saka could be if they had those two bombing about in wider spaces, especially if we actually secured a bona fide DM for defensive zone coverage purposes

btw the handful of times I watched Fresneda play the results were rather mixed, albeit sometimes it’s quite diffcult to properly evaluate when they’re playing on a shit team…that said, I do like what some rather notable managers and pundits have said about him, so he could be well worth the gamble…just think he will invariably land with one of the usual La Liga suspects, especially with that modified release clause figure

I saw Marquinhos play his first game on loan at Norwich. He looked like an Arsenal player and dominated the Canaries’ attack. His style is not dissimilar from a certain Mr Saka and I agree that he deserves some more time or a clever PL loan, maybe at a club like Forest where Cooper might be able to hone his talents. Nuno is a massive risk, but it’s easier to c oach defensive ability into someone than it is to make them an attacking threat. We’ll see.

here are a couple of concerns that could impact the effectiveness of our upcoming window

(1) if we dither in regards to Caicedo we could lose out…with MacAllister’s move to Pool basically done and dusted, Caicedo’s price will climb, as they don’t NEED to sell him and they’ve clearly changed their expectations with DeZerbi at the helm

(2) it appears as if the only stumbling block with regards to Gundogan heading to Barca is his wage demands…I’m worried that we will offer a ridiculously inappropriate wage to secure his services, with at least a 2 year term to boot, which could limit our ability to bring in proper long-term top class talent…now with the re-upping of Saka, Marts, Ramsdale and the pending raises for Saliba, Ode and Nelson, we need to be careful about how we manage our wage bill…this appears to be another short-sighted maneuver by our always two steps behind management duo, as there’s no doubt they believe that their window is now, whereas I believe that we’re a year away from truly competing on multiple fronts so we should take a bit longer view when it comes to this window

(3) as Ive said on multiple occasions I think this window is going to be too complicated for this organization, as it’s presently constructed, to naviagte, especially considering all the variables in play…from numerous re-uppings to a handful or so of outgoing assets, combined with the all-important recruitment process, which could include 5 or 6 players, I’m deeply concerned about their collective abilities to get all this done at an exceedingly high level

KP-I was just watching him at the U20s and I think it might be best to have him in-house for the first-half of the season, when the second tier Cup games are in play, then have a rethink come January…that way if it’s clear that he needs more gametime he can be logically loaned out…I feel that he’s the kind of player who plays to the level of his competition, much like both Marts and Saka, who were fucntionally better in the PL than against lesser talent