Winter Transfer Speculation and Shit.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Oh no, I'm not thinking of a traditional 4-4-2 winger at all. Most teams that play a 4-3-3 or a variation use inverted wingers. With Real Madrid, Ronaldo and Di Maria play that way. Munich, Ribery is on the left, Robben on the right. Chelsea play that way, Barca use inverted wingers....if you're going to be playing on the shoulder of defenders, wouldn't it make more sense to receive the ball on your stronger foot when going for goal?

Speaking of showing too much of the ball and getting exposed, when Wilshire played on the left and kept coming in field, he was showing way to much of the ball and kept getting clattered. When he switch flank, he coped much better. I can see the same for Theo and I'm thinking about that Newcastle goal where he just looked so much more confident taking on players. At the moment, I think it's easier for defenders to keep him out because all they have to do is usher him over to the byline.

Also, I thinking of that Townsend kid. Of all people, Harry said he decided to play him on the wrong side because he could see how he was struggling on the left but he hit form as soon as he was on the 'wrong' side and cutting in on his stronger foot. Again, if we're trying to use Theo as a winger/striker, then play him on the opposite side because on the right he's more prone to operate like a 4-4-2 winger. As soon as he gets in to the box and the angle becomes to acute for him, the only option he has left is to cross.

With respect to the little guy Theo, who I am actually a fan of, those guys you mentioned are infinitely better and more accomplished dribblers than he is. I suspect if they weren't, they would not be regulars for their respective clubs.

Even on the wrong flank Theo will need to opt for the right option, be it a pass, shot or a little 1,2 with someone else. He might only actually get 1 or 2 clear cut shooting chances cutting in on his favoured foot, which is a tenuous reason to switch him alone. He has scored a fair few goals with his right foot from the right. It is easier to bend it in from the wrong flank but we do sometimes forget the advantage of the ball veering away from the keeper when a right footed player shoots from the right.

That said, I wouldn't be disgusted if Wenger tried it out, although I do often things this sort of thing is better left for pre season rather than in the middle of a season.

[Fist of Lehmann]

Good arguments there, but weirder things have happened before.

Of course the main reason that Walcott is unlikely to leave should be self-evident.
If a player has the will to stay, and the club has the will to keep him what else is left? Only the means - means we now have.

From an economist's point of view, when someone offers you more than something is worth, the smart move is to sell, and use that money on something better. But something immediately better than Walcott is likely to be as or more expensive than what you get for him. So what do you do?
The economist will look for value, look for potential. And that is how we have operated up till now.

Wengar was often mocked for his annual mantra:
"We want to keep everyone and maybe add one or two more".

Mocked, because it rarely, if ever happened. We always had the will to keep players (so it was claimed), but when push comes to shove, either the proffered price was too tempting or the player too tapped up. When Utd offered the little boy inside Van Persie £250k a week, that was that. Suddenly he didn't like the direction the club was going.

The AST recently commissioned a study into the effect of squad stability on success. Apparently it has a impact. Who knew? The annual churn of sell/replace did us no favours.

But finally we have the means to keep hold of players, or at least to manage succession planning in an intelligent way. And that doesn't mean we wouldn't sell Walcott if a ridiculous offer came in, it means that we have a much more flexibility in the way we handle it.

[LDG]

BFG and Özil have been tapping Draxler up

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/20/julian...ummer-4195140/

[JonasTC]

I would love Draxler here, but how do we fit him into our already stacked offensive midfielder line?

[Marc Overmars]

He's only what 19/20 isn't he? He could be a long term replacement for Rosicky.

[I am invisible]

Squad rotation based on form, fitness, injury, suspension and general tactics? It's a long old season when you look at all 4 competitions (plus internationals), so I'm sure there's more than enough starts and subs appearances for all - we don't have to shoehorn everyone into the same XI for every game...

[milla]

BFG and Özil have been tapping Draxler up

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/20/julian...ummer-4195140/

Per MD confirmed Draxler has Arsenal DNA.

[JonasTC]

Squad rotation based on form, fitness, injury, suspension and general tactics? It's a long old season when you look at all 4 competitions (plus internationals), so I'm sure there's more than enough starts and subs appearances for all - we don't have to shoehorn everyone into the same XI for every game...

We already have like 9 players covering those 3 spots. Even considering all the stuff you mention, i dont think we need more players for those spots, especially considering one of those spots is covered by Özil, who seems to be a machine, playing 60-70 games a year the last couple of years. That leaves 2 spots for 8 players.

[Power n Glory]

With respect to the little guy Theo, who I am actually a fan of, those guys you mentioned are infinitely better and more accomplished dribblers than he is. I suspect if they weren't, they would not be regulars for their respective clubs.

Even on the wrong flank Theo will need to opt for the right option, be it a pass, shot or a little 1,2 with someone else. He might only actually get 1 or 2 clear cut shooting chances cutting in on his favoured foot, which is a tenuous reason to switch him alone. He has scored a fair few goals with his right foot from the right. It is easier to bend it in from the wrong flank but we do sometimes forget the advantage of the ball veering away from the keeper when a right footed player shoots from the right.

That said, I wouldn't be disgusted if Wenger tried it out, although I do often things this sort of thing is better left for pre season rather than in the middle of a season.

At the sort of angle Theo comes in at when approaching goal, a shot veering away from the keeper will often result in a miss. The amount of goals he's gotten from that position shows how good he is at finishing. He's having to drive them low and hard into the side netting. It's not the swerve that beats the keeper it's just the sheer pace when he's coming in from a tight angle. Keeper can't get low quick enough to stop it.

Found some good articles worth reading. Helps explain things in more depth than I can.

http://www.footballparadise.org/blog/inverted-wingers/

Inverted winger is fundamentally a simple concept. Instead of putting a left footed winger on the left, play him on the right. While this is a counter-intuitive tactic, (I mean, come on! How can you put him on his weaker foot! Most wingers don’t have another foot! *cough* Bale *cough*) it is surprising deadly.

“Why?”, you ask. Well the end goal is the same as a false 9 – dragging the opposition out of position. Since an inverted winger’s on the wrong wing, he invariably runs inside towards the goal. If the full back follows him, it opens a huge gap for any other player – a supporting midfielder, the wingback, etc. – to exploit. On the other hand, if the defender does not follow him inside two things happen.

The center back is dragged out of position allowing the striker space to run into.
The center back does not move out of position giving the inverted winger time to unleash a drive from a long range. This particular scenario is from where a large number of Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals come from, shrugging off the full back, cutting in and unleashing his monster long range shots.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blo...de-out-wingers

Some really good articles on this.

When you consider the fact that we play with a lone striker that's good at linking up play, one twos, we rarely cross the ball and it's hard to find a sole striker unmarked when you do cross...I can't see why we play two deadly finishers in positions where they're constantly being forced down the byline. We've never been a team that whips in crosses, neither Podolski or Walcott are great ball carriers and hardly stretch play when driving to the byline, they hardly look to get down the byline these days and hug the touchline so I can't see why we can't switch flanks. We use overlapping wingbacks......would like to see how it works. Otherwise, with the money we have, I wouldn't mind us bringing in a winger like Di Maria. Someone that can get goals and create. Since we have the money, I have a feeling those two positions are vulnerable and open to improvement despite the good stats.

[Syn]

I can't see why we can't switch flanks. We use overlapping wingbacks......would like to see how it works.

You basically wanna see some of this.