That’s a great transfer window you’ve had, got rid of a lot of deadwood.
For me it's clear mismanagement of talent that both Saliba and AMN have not played enough minutes as of now, but we probably didn't have much choice to let them go as players demand play time either here or elsewhere.
Management seems to have a short memory regarding the injury proneness of Holding/Luiz and I don't believe 4 midfielders is enough unless you pray that at least 3 of them don't get into a poor patch of form for the rest of the season.
Cutting dead wood is fine, but don't throw away old shoes before having new ones....
Hmm surprised you let Maitland Niles go
Guy always looks decent when I see him play, not been getting picked?
Yes, I agree. Ains needed games to force his way into the Euros squad, but we've shot ourselves on the foot by letting him go. It's obvious his versatility has counted against him, but it's something I fear we may yet regret, especially with the hectic Covid-19 schedule ahead.
I think we're short in fullback positions now AMN has gone out on loan. Was really hoping we could get a LB in either on loan or permanent deal, but obviously wasn't to be.
As far as the others that have left there is only Willock who has started in the Europa, and the rest haven't played anyway.
On paper we're fine - it's a possible13 games each. In reality, with our injury record, we might struggle if we progress far in the Europa. Especially when you factor in the likelihood that some players will probably end up isolating at some point.
comment by Blarmy (U14547)
posted 9 minutes ago
Hmm surprised you let Maitland Niles go
Guy always looks decent when I see him play, not been getting picked?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wants to play CM, none of our managers seem to trust him there, despite playing well every chance he has got in CM. The hope is he plays CM for WBA, impresses, comes back and proves his quality. The reality is more likely we sell him in the summer, and he proves himself elsewhere.
As far as the others that have left there is only Willock who has started in the Europa, and the rest haven't played anyway.
========
Kola and Mustafi did play 18 times between them, although not often in the PL.
Really don't want to see Saka playing LB, but I think that may be a reality again at some points.
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by Blarmy (U14547)
posted 9 minutes ago
Hmm surprised you let Maitland Niles go
Guy always looks decent when I see him play, not been getting picked?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wants to play CM, none of our managers seem to trust him there, despite playing well every chance he has got in CM. The hope is he plays CM for WBA, impresses, comes back and proves his quality. The reality is more likely we sell him in the summer, and he proves himself elsewhere.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
More to gain succeeding with you though. Or he'll just end up playing for the likes of Palace etc forever (not bad tbf but not where his runway could take him)
I'd have loved to see some left-footed additions in the specialist LWB/LB and Left Wing positions.
The only players who have looked comfortable hugging the line on the left and spamming crosses into the box for 90 minutes have been Tierney, Saka and Kolasinac.
It's unfortunate that we've lost Kolasinac. And I'm yet to be convinced that Odegaard can do the business on the left wing should something happen to Saka.
Other than that, I can't really complain about losing the others. Their individual positions aren't very specialised, and Arteta could always improvise.
We've got two players for every position so wouldn't say we're short, Arteta was saying a couple of weeks ago how he wanted to work with a smaller squad. AMN is a better utility option than Chambers but he needed the loan and should benefit us more in the long run than keeping him to warm the bench.
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 1 hour, 30 minutes ago
As far as the others that have left there is only Willock who has started in the Europa, and the rest haven't played anyway.
========
Kola and Mustafi did play 18 times between them, although not often in the PL.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, you're right - my mistake.
Although, I guess in the latter stages Arteta would probably want his first teamers starting. Kola & Mustafi are fine against the "farmers", but I probably would trust either of them against Benfica, let alone any of the more difficult teams we could encounter if we progress.
You have to wonder whether this is in part financial. Arsenal stretched the finances big time, relying on massive match day revenue (falling way behind commercially at the same time).
Perhaps the club simply can't afford a decent size squad right now without the fans in the stadium
comment by Scruttocks (U19684)
posted 2 hours, 24 minutes ago
You have to wonder whether this is in part financial. Arsenal stretched the finances big time, relying on massive match day revenue (falling way behind commercially at the same time).
Perhaps the club simply can't afford a decent size squad right now without the fans in the stadium
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think it's more about our squad having been bloated before, in terms of the amount of people we had in the squad and the wages some of those players were on. I think we could use a LB, but otherwise the squad size is about perfect now, we just need more depth.
comment by TBaggerin (U11806)
posted 29 minutes ago
comment by Scruttocks (U19684)
posted 2 hours, 24 minutes ago
You have to wonder whether this is in part financial. Arsenal stretched the finances big time, relying on massive match day revenue (falling way behind commercially at the same time).
Perhaps the club simply can't afford a decent size squad right now without the fans in the stadium
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think it's more about our squad having been bloated before, in terms of the amount of people we had in the squad and the wages some of those players were on. I think we could use a LB, but otherwise the squad size is about perfect now, we just need more depth.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
But if we need more depth then we're short. I'm really happy we've got rid of deadwood btw
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Have we left ourselves short?
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posted on 2/2/21
That’s a great transfer window you’ve had, got rid of a lot of deadwood.
posted on 2/2/21
For me it's clear mismanagement of talent that both Saliba and AMN have not played enough minutes as of now, but we probably didn't have much choice to let them go as players demand play time either here or elsewhere.
Management seems to have a short memory regarding the injury proneness of Holding/Luiz and I don't believe 4 midfielders is enough unless you pray that at least 3 of them don't get into a poor patch of form for the rest of the season.
Cutting dead wood is fine, but don't throw away old shoes before having new ones....
posted on 2/2/21
Hmm surprised you let Maitland Niles go
Guy always looks decent when I see him play, not been getting picked?
posted on 2/2/21
Yes, I agree. Ains needed games to force his way into the Euros squad, but we've shot ourselves on the foot by letting him go. It's obvious his versatility has counted against him, but it's something I fear we may yet regret, especially with the hectic Covid-19 schedule ahead.
posted on 2/2/21
I think we're short in fullback positions now AMN has gone out on loan. Was really hoping we could get a LB in either on loan or permanent deal, but obviously wasn't to be.
As far as the others that have left there is only Willock who has started in the Europa, and the rest haven't played anyway.
On paper we're fine - it's a possible13 games each. In reality, with our injury record, we might struggle if we progress far in the Europa. Especially when you factor in the likelihood that some players will probably end up isolating at some point.
posted on 2/2/21
comment by Blarmy (U14547)
posted 9 minutes ago
Hmm surprised you let Maitland Niles go
Guy always looks decent when I see him play, not been getting picked?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wants to play CM, none of our managers seem to trust him there, despite playing well every chance he has got in CM. The hope is he plays CM for WBA, impresses, comes back and proves his quality. The reality is more likely we sell him in the summer, and he proves himself elsewhere.
posted on 2/2/21
As far as the others that have left there is only Willock who has started in the Europa, and the rest haven't played anyway.
========
Kola and Mustafi did play 18 times between them, although not often in the PL.
Really don't want to see Saka playing LB, but I think that may be a reality again at some points.
posted on 2/2/21
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by Blarmy (U14547)
posted 9 minutes ago
Hmm surprised you let Maitland Niles go
Guy always looks decent when I see him play, not been getting picked?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wants to play CM, none of our managers seem to trust him there, despite playing well every chance he has got in CM. The hope is he plays CM for WBA, impresses, comes back and proves his quality. The reality is more likely we sell him in the summer, and he proves himself elsewhere.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
More to gain succeeding with you though. Or he'll just end up playing for the likes of Palace etc forever (not bad tbf but not where his runway could take him)
posted on 2/2/21
I'd have loved to see some left-footed additions in the specialist LWB/LB and Left Wing positions.
The only players who have looked comfortable hugging the line on the left and spamming crosses into the box for 90 minutes have been Tierney, Saka and Kolasinac.
It's unfortunate that we've lost Kolasinac. And I'm yet to be convinced that Odegaard can do the business on the left wing should something happen to Saka.
Other than that, I can't really complain about losing the others. Their individual positions aren't very specialised, and Arteta could always improvise.
posted on 2/2/21
We've got two players for every position so wouldn't say we're short, Arteta was saying a couple of weeks ago how he wanted to work with a smaller squad. AMN is a better utility option than Chambers but he needed the loan and should benefit us more in the long run than keeping him to warm the bench.
posted on 2/2/21
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 1 hour, 30 minutes ago
As far as the others that have left there is only Willock who has started in the Europa, and the rest haven't played anyway.
========
Kola and Mustafi did play 18 times between them, although not often in the PL.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, you're right - my mistake.
Although, I guess in the latter stages Arteta would probably want his first teamers starting. Kola & Mustafi are fine against the "farmers", but I probably would trust either of them against Benfica, let alone any of the more difficult teams we could encounter if we progress.
posted on 2/2/21
You have to wonder whether this is in part financial. Arsenal stretched the finances big time, relying on massive match day revenue (falling way behind commercially at the same time).
Perhaps the club simply can't afford a decent size squad right now without the fans in the stadium
posted on 2/2/21
comment by Scruttocks (U19684)
posted 2 hours, 24 minutes ago
You have to wonder whether this is in part financial. Arsenal stretched the finances big time, relying on massive match day revenue (falling way behind commercially at the same time).
Perhaps the club simply can't afford a decent size squad right now without the fans in the stadium
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think it's more about our squad having been bloated before, in terms of the amount of people we had in the squad and the wages some of those players were on. I think we could use a LB, but otherwise the squad size is about perfect now, we just need more depth.
posted on 2/2/21
comment by TBaggerin (U11806)
posted 29 minutes ago
comment by Scruttocks (U19684)
posted 2 hours, 24 minutes ago
You have to wonder whether this is in part financial. Arsenal stretched the finances big time, relying on massive match day revenue (falling way behind commercially at the same time).
Perhaps the club simply can't afford a decent size squad right now without the fans in the stadium
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think it's more about our squad having been bloated before, in terms of the amount of people we had in the squad and the wages some of those players were on. I think we could use a LB, but otherwise the squad size is about perfect now, we just need more depth.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
But if we need more depth then we're short. I'm really happy we've got rid of deadwood btw
Page 1 of 1