WARNING....LONG READ
Was chatting to a mate who happens to be a Chelsea fan and he was asking what went wrong and how much would we be able to spend to get better...especially with no fans (loss of income) and now no European football.
I personally think the biggest issue is the manager.
Emile Smith Rowe came in in December and playing as an AM. Plays there very well for a month but Odegaard comes in and ESR is shunted left.
Pepe has had outstanding games and then gets dropped the following game for Willian. Same thing has happened to Martinelli. Our CBs have been rotated as if they were box to box midfielders running on fumes. Laca has been dropped for Nketiah for games on end.
We played with NO AM until December...anyone could see we needed to play with one desperately. But we vacated the middle and played down the left wing only. Got found out and had shocking results. Since ESR came in and we started playing with a number 10, our form has been SECOND/THIRD to City. That is crazy. It means we had a horrible, horrible first half of the season.
Arteta threw away the FA cup by ringing in the wrong changes. He also played a false fackiing 9 at Villarreal with a team of midfielders who don't score (minus Pepe - who was kept wide). The return leg was horrible. We managed 4 shots on target across BOTH games.
So many examples of horrible man management, tactics, formations, subs.
Now..I know we need to bring in new players. I for one am not holding my breath thinking Kroenke will green light a 200 million pound spending spree. However, there are a few players we could buy for a decent fee and recoup spending with some outgoing sales. Bissouma and Buendia I believe can be got for 80 -90 million total. Bissouma would free up Partey to play as a box to box and support the AM. Buendia is a goalscoring midfielder and will put pressure on ESR. Bertrand is available as a free. Tierney is young so bringing in a player with 2 to 3 years left to fill in would be solid.
I'd sell Bellerin for even 10 mill. Sell Xhaka for another 10. Give willian away (fat chance). Sell Maitland-Niles for 10 and Nketiah for 5. I think we can get 35 mill for 4 players...especially with 2 of them being young English players. Surely we can get 8-12 mill for Torreira (who i like very much but he does not want to be here)
GK. Leno, Ryan
Rb. Cedric, Chambers
Lb. Tierney, Bertrand
Cb. Gabriel, Holding, Saliba,
Mari, Mavrapanos
CM. Bissouma, Partey, Elneny, Guendouzi
Am. EsR, Buendia
Wingers. Saka, Pepe, Martinelli,
Reiss-Nelson
ST. Auba, Balogun, Lacazette
That is a core 24 players who should be able to fight for top 4 in a season where we have no midweek games.
That would be with MINIMAL spending. If we were ambitious, I'd be looking at a first choice RB, a replacement for Guendouzi and shipping Lacazette and bringing in a top striker.
What needs to change - realistically?
posted on 24/5/21
but the point i was making was we could have a net spend of 50 million to shore up areas we need players in.
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We could have a net spend of less than £50m if we get far closer to market value for them. What is your point, other than you have plucked numbers from thin air?
Getting less for those 5 than a small club like Sheffield United paid for Ramsdale and Brewster during a pandemic
posted on 24/5/21
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 1 hour, 40 minutes ago
I'd sell Bellerin for even 10 mill. Sell Xhaka for another 10. Give willian away (fat chance). Sell Maitland-Niles for 10 and Nketiah for 5. I think we can get 35 mill for 4 players.
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Thank fack you aren't in charge of negotiating
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Those fees are shocking though..5-10 mil for Prem players in their early 20's...madness
posted on 24/5/21
comment by AFCISMYTEAM (U14931)
posted 15 minutes ago
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 1 hour, 40 minutes ago
I'd sell Bellerin for even 10 mill. Sell Xhaka for another 10. Give willian away (fat chance). Sell Maitland-Niles for 10 and Nketiah for 5. I think we can get 35 mill for 4 players.
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Thank fack you aren't in charge of negotiating
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Those fees are shocking though..5-10 mil for Prem players in their early 20's...madness
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In a regular time period...absolutely agree with you. Especially as some are home grown.
However...we are in a pandemic, clubs are broke, the players named have played little or been very poor...AND...we have a shocking track record for selling players for good money. We could not even get a few mill for Mustafi or Sokratis. Not even a token couple mill. Put those together and I for one will be shocked if we get any more than 10-12 mill for AMN or even Bellerin. Nketiah I'd be surprised if we got rid for more than 10 mill (yes 5 is an underestimate).
posted on 24/5/21
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 34 minutes ago
but the point i was making was we could have a net spend of 50 million to shore up areas we need players in.
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We could have a net spend of less than £50m if we get far closer to market value for them. What is your point, other than you have plucked numbers from thin air?
Getting less for those 5 than a small club like Sheffield United paid for Ramsdale and Brewster during a pandemic
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Look at Liverpool and what they get for players normally....and then look at us. Brewster was overpriced for...and our players will be underpriced when sold I bet. My numbers are made up for sure...but Id bet good money that when/if we sell the players mentioned, we'll be closer to my numbers than the likes you are mentioning by bringing up those players.
posted on 24/5/21
comment by MaineGunner (U10130)
posted 1 hour, 19 minutes ago
comment by Girøulski Alt-0216 forever (U14971)
posted 1 hour ago
Imagine thinking that we don't need to buy a right back.
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What has Cedric done wrong in that position?? Bellerin is shot and Chambers is not a right back. I for one would be happy starting with Cedric there....he has shown good attacking play and is a solid defender. Again..I said I was being super UN-AMBITIOUS. Which would line up with our owners no?
My last sentence DOES infact mention the need for a 1st choice RB..but hey...I guess maybe you commented without reading that far? Smh
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Breathe.
posted on 24/5/21
And what’s happens when Bissouma and Partey leave for the AON in January? Play Elneny and Gwen as a double pivot!
Xhaka for all his limitations is twice the footballer Elneny will ever be.
posted on 25/5/21
comment by ubad9jagooner .Ramsey : don't get the hype ! (U7978)
posted 14 hours, 21 minutes ago
And what’s happens when Bissouma and Partey leave for the AON in January? Play Elneny and Gwen as a double pivot!
Xhaka for all his limitations is twice the footballer Elneny will ever be.
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Good point. Forgot that ACON is back on. I doubt it makes sense to keep Xhaka as a backup though. He is too good for that but not good enough to be first choice. I do think he is much maligned and would probably look better in a 433.
Elneny is not a bad player. He puts in 100% every game and does the dirty work well. I'd be fine starting him as the dm for a month...unless Egypt are in the competition. Either way, we are short in cm. Bit of a dilemma.
posted on 25/5/21
Elneny will be at ACON as well though.
Going to the Olympics too I think.
posted on 25/5/21
It will be very difficult to attract top players without European football or a top name manager. So it will be pointless to unnecessarily weaken the squad any further without the scope to find adequate replacements. So for example is there any point signing Sander Berge to replace Xhaka? I have been down Xhaka but is he really worse than Sander Berge?
posted on 25/5/21
1.Recall the loanees. 2. Sack the dire fool of a manager who refuses to learn from his mistakes and so, is doomed to repeat them all again next season. 3. Hire an experienced club manager, he doesn't have to be a top name (they won't come cos the owner's too tight) just a decent one who has solid experience of running a club, not just being a defensive coach or assistant. JOB DONE!
The squad was not the problem this season the MANAGER was and still is. Every obstacle the squad has had this season was one Arrogantetta placed firmly in their way HIMSELF! Stop slating the players and talking about mass sales for chump change. We need to replace the arrogant, incompetent fool in the managers job currently. Then we won't need to replace half the squad because he'll be far too busy using it properly and getting far better results than Arteta ever did or currently can.
Arteta got everything wrong this season then didn't have the humility to take responsibility for any of his LAUNDRY LIST of bad judgement and tactical errors. It's too much to expect any group of players to succeed through Arteta's level of prolonged, blundering, incompetent management. The seasons record breaking failure is SOLELY Mikel Arteta's to own and aside from not renewing DL, the only shipping out that fans should be/keep yelling for is his.He can't be allowed to stay after such epic miserable UNNECESSARY failure. Never mind ke, he ain't going anywhere. But redirect the hate all at Arteta staying in the job and we might just get him to sack the muppet after all.