Yeah, it does feel a bit that way.Originally Posted by Globalgunner
Not sure where I stand on it, tbh? I do think central defence needs an upgrade, but I wasn’t expecting it this summer, with everything else there is to do - thought we might just bring Saliba back in and leave it at that for now.
I would like to see Gabriel and Saliba form a good partnership next season. We would also have good back up with Holding and Co.
We need to add a good defensive midfielder and another striker to replace Laca and / or Auba.
Martinelli should be a starter in the new season. Arteta has several good young players at his disposal (Saka, Smith-Rowe, Pepe, Martinelli etc.) if he gets it right, we should be ok.
we also have Balogun up front, to whom we should start giving opportunities now he's decided to stay
Yep! Good shout, I had forgotten about hime
It sounds like Saliba will be with us next season and will get his chance to impress, which is great - don’t know whether I’m ready to call him a starting CB yet, though? It’s a big ask. And if he’s not ready for it quite yet, then that leaves us with no first-choice to replace Luiz and a surplus of backup-level (again!). Might need to see some action there.
As a minimum, I think we need a RB, a CB, a backup LB, a backup keeper (Ryan?), at least one CM (maybe more depending on Xhaka) and a creative / goal-scoring midfielder.
Every signing needs to be bought with a view to moving the ball from back to front much faster. No one who slows our play down or sits too deep because they don’t have the athletic profile to cover ground.
Amen to that, brother!
Putting the laughter back into manslaughter
Where do you stand on Willock?
He is doing well at Newcastle, (seven in seven) but does he fit with our style of play?
I am not sure. If Newcastle offer a good price (£30m), I would take it tbh.
so would I, purely on the basis that i don't trust Arteta to get the best out of him
and for the player himself, he's got a chance to go to a club where he'll start every week and be one of the main men
So hard to make a call Willock when there’s such a massive overhaul planned - without knowing what the team’s going to look like at the end of the summer or how we want to play next year it’s almost impossible to say where / how he fits.
The more I think about it, the more I think our CB interest is probably legit. That way of playing starts with ball-playing CBs with good recovery pace who can push high, and when you look at our lot there’s clearly still a lot of gaps in the profile we want. Only Saliba looks like the complete package in terms of comfort on the ball, passing range and athleticism, but he’s the youngest, least experienced and probably the most volatile of the lot...
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