A quick recap of what’s happening to the last season’s top 4 teams.
The winners, Manchester City, has further improved their team by adding Grealish. They have a bid for Harry Kane, who is forcing his way out of spu*s and most likely will replace Aguero.
Second place finisher Manchester United has already brought Jadon Sancho, and Varane is almost a done deal. They already have a very balanced squad and they are improving it further.
Liverpool fumbled a bit last season with injuries but Virjil Van Dijk is back and they have got a team who is fresh from last year’s burnouts. They have tied down Alexander-Arnold and Allison to long term contracts.
Fourth place finisher and Champions League winner Chelsea are splashing €130 million to get Lukaku from Inter. This is after they failed to bring Halland, they have identified they don’t have a clinical CF and Lukaku presence will improve an already brilliant team.
So, what are we doing?
First of all, we don’t have a half competent squad to these teams. They already have a very good squad and they are improving on it. We, on the other hand, finished 8th last season and a lot of holes to fill to our first XI.
We have brought Ben White to partner with Mari/Gabrielle and that sorts out the CB problem. Kieren is a brilliant LB and we have got an understudy in Tavares. We have Partey in the midfield and Saka and ESR are automatic starters.
Here lies the problem. We don’t have a RB – Bellerin has lost his pace and Cedric is not good enough to improve our right side of play. We don’t have a partner to Thomas! Elneny is a squad player at best, Torreira don’t fancy the weather here, we have lost Guendouzi and although Xhaka is been given a new contract, we all know he is slow and average at best. Sambi Lokonga has looked pretty decent in the pre-season matches but it’s his first year at Arsenal and you won’t expect him to come and have a blast. We need an automatic starter to partner Thomas, and Sambi can be integrated gradually.
We don’t have an CAM. Various publications have are trying to bring Odegaard or Madison but it’s just over a week left before we have our first Premier League match. Ode prefers Madrid and Leicester is asking a huge money for Madison. I personally prefer Madison over Ode, and if he comes in, that automatically improves our midfield.
Auba is a shadow of himself now. We scored just 55 goals last season, which is a short of 15 goals to make it to top 4. Auba is low on confidence and has lost his magic goal scoring form. Though Laca had a decent season, he is entering his last year of contract and selling him would be a better option. We can’t afford two players on 200k+ per week wages fighting for one spot.
I would love to see Martinelli / Balogun given a game of run and prove themselves. If it’s too risky to go into the season with youngsters and we have sufficient cast left, I don’t mind if we bring Tammy. He has proved himself in PL and Tuchel just don’t prefer him.
Wrapping up
In short, we have a lot to do and time is running out. We don’t even have a decent playing XI and there are 3-4 positions that needs an immediate upgrade to compete for Top 4. Even then it’s gonna be difficult but at least we will be in the run. I have my differences with Arteta but he is staying and a Champions League spot is a must this season.
Right-o, let me know what you think of these in the comments.
