Things are obviously not right. Good bet that a change at manager is in order but new manager or not there are still some personnel issues to fix. Not expecting a ton for the Jan window but it doesn't mean we can't discuss.
GK - We are fine. Eventually need someone to push Leno but low priority right now. LB - Assuming Tierney steps up after he is fit we should be fine. RB - If Bellerin comes back in decent form we should be in decent shape. That said, it would be really nice to find a backup that could push him. CB - Need someone to help solidify the line desperately. Hopefully Holding comes back and steps up quickly. Chambers looked decent in preseason. Wouldn't mind seeing him get a chance. Luiz & Sokratis aren't looking nearly as good as I had hoped. Don't think it is entirely their fault (more on that in a min) but they could be better all things considered. CM - We have lots of CMs and no true #6. This is part of our issue on defense. We are playing too many MF that either don't care about D or are too slow to do anything about it. W - Pepe has shown flashes. Hoping he brings it all together soon. Not a huge fan of Auba on the W for a number of reasons but it that is the best we have right now. Disappointed in Nelson. Showed so much promise at Hoffenheim and has shown nothing for us so far. ST - Other than bouts of poor finishing, I can't really complain much. What I would like to see in Jan... Sell - Mustafi, Xhaka, Ozil (I know it's not likely) Buy - CB, #6, LW Was thinking about this stuff last night and also about Max Allegri's employment situation and thought it might be interesting if we target Rugani, Bentacur & Bernardeschi. Rugani - We already went for him this window. He is a good defender. Not as physical as Luiz or Sokratis (avoid PKs) but is very good reading the play and shutting it down with positioning. Per stats, he is also good in the air. Doesn't get enough games at Juventus and fans have made him a scapegoat. Bentacur - Young DLP that is getting no PT due to a crowded CM group at Juventus. He is bigger and more athletic then Xhaka and capable of making the same passes. May also help settle Torreira if he was playing with a countryman. Bernardeschi - Not a huge goal threat but speed to burn, excellent dribbling and good at creating chances. Ive read on a few forums that Juventus fans seem to be turning on him. Not sure if we could pull them all but they are all familiar with Allegri's system and would fill need positions... ---------------- PEA/Laca ----------------- - Bernardeschi ------------------ Pepe - ---------- Dani --------- Torreira --------- ----------------- Bentacur ----------------- Tierney - Holding - Rugani - Bellerin -------------------- Leno -------------------
I hope we offload some Of the shite in jan Xhaka, sok, mustafi most importantly We desperately need a capable cm who can start attacks and receive the ball in deep positions without giving it away We also need a lw Maybe dembele is available as fati seems to be the new golden child? I like the idea of a footballing cb who is not error prone but maybe that is holding? The midfielder is a harder one to find.
Sadly our #1 priority for the summer window remains our #1 priority... central defense. Lulz (there I used it!) is just not good enough. And I'm not surprised one little bit. Sokratis I haven't completely written off yet. He's better than Lulz. His partnership with Kos was decent. I'm hoping that Sok+Holding will shore things up a bit, plus the addition of two top-class FB's quite soon. Saliba may be a better answer in a year or so, but no sooner than that unless we were to revise his loan terms, i.e. pay more money... could we??? AND because of his pending arrival next summer, and all of the other baggage of depth that we've accumulated in this area, I assume that nothing significant will be done in this area in January.
Me too. It's one of the biggest puzzles in our squad. And I intuitively feel like it's holding back our MF progress.
More of Emery’s brilliance, he should be DM. Thats what he played at Samp. If Emery wanted a b2b, he should have re-signed Bennacer.
I'm not convinced that he's no good, but he does seem like a natural DM. Which is why it irks me that Granit Fvcking Xhaka has a virtual lock on that position. I've been hearing more and more about Torreira not being the player Emery wanted. OK too bad, I'm sorry, but play the man to his strengths please????!
Torreira was a good buy and it's on Emery that he's not being used properly. He's a player with obvious useful skills and it should be easy to get production out of him.
Absolutely need to discard Xhaka, but he is a club captain can we really see him leaving? He has been an absolute hindrance to our team this year though.
If Emery is retained, no. If Stan/Josh opt to fire Emery, no telling what the new manager might want to do.
Man, I go away for 2 days and all this churn! Reading posts on a day by day, hour by hour basis, you guys seem like pretty reasonable, objective posters. But to binge read 2-3 days of posts, I feel like the sky is falling!! All of a sudden, Obi Won called and Emery is not the manager we're looking for.
I read that as well, and my first thought was, "Why say this now?" Seriously, who benefits from making this statement 8 games into the season after an International break? I'm not even sure we want him yet.
Yup, we all gushed after his first game but now I’m not so sure. Gotta give him another few months to be judged more accurately.
But wasn't there an interview like a week ago with him where he said Arsenal is good for him so he can play in the euros, but his goal is to play for RM?
I hope that Tierney comes through because, right now, all of the summer transfers look extra mediocre.
Ceballos has been incredibly underwhelming. Doesn't create chances or advance the ball. Like a shitty Xavi.
Jury’s still out, imo, but you expect to see more involvement. Great technique, but seems like something’s missing