This is a good point Wumger's failure to agree to the "mega deals" for Alexis and Ozil in 2015 looks pretty stupid now https://le-grove.co.uk/2018/01/22/wenger-liberal-with-extent-of-his-incompetence/
Everything is sounding very positive this morning. The executives are in Germany to finalise the Aubameyang deal and the Mkhitaryan/Sanchez swap seems to be down to sorting out the paperwork. This is the slickest transfer operation I can remember at Arsenal since David Dein was around. We definitely need at least one central defender, probably two in light of Koscielny's injury record, a central midfielder (unless Maitland-Niles is given his chance there and has some kind of stellar second half to the season), cover for both full-backs and we should be looking at the goalkeeper position given Cech's age. So there's two or three windows worth of work to be done there. Roll on the 2019-2020 title charge! Good to see stuff actually getting done without having to go right to the end of the transfer window as usual though.
to be fair, for all his moaning about the january window, wenger does do a decent bit of business during it (if i recall correctly, both van persie and adebayor were january buys), just not many at high price - kim kallstrom excepted, of course.
I really don't know how any club could sign with a guy like Aubameyang. Yes, he's a great footballer but all the drama in the team, all the selfishness and recklessnesses when it comes to the interests of the club (e.g. his agressive sponsorship behaviour etc.). Do you really think the guy and his agent will act differently because you are Arsenal or what is the reasoning? I ask myself the same with Dembele and Barca but Barca it one of the 3 biggest clubs in the world so you can point on that but not much more. If I would be a follower/fan of your club I would've serious stomachache with a Aubameyang signing.
Desperation There is no goals in the forward line - so they are trying to sign the most xG they can find
Out of curiosity, how do you think you guys will line up assuming the Auba and Miki deals happen? Given your lack of actual wingers, the only formation that makes sense to me that would allow Auba and Laca to play together is a 352 with Ozil sitting behind them. But that would mean Bellerin and Kolasinic would be heavily relied upon to provide width and service and I'm not sure they're up for it.
Miki would be on the bench. I see him more as an eventual replacement for Ozil. There's no formation that allows for Ozil, Miki, Laca, and Auba to all play at once in their natural position. It just doesn't exist. 343 - So would Miki be at RW and Lacazette at LW? Where would Ozil play? 4141 - I don't get this one at all. Miki at RM? Laca at LM? Ozil in a midfield 3? I can tell you that Miki at RW is going to be a problem. He likes to drift inside, can't beat a defender off the dribble, can't cross, and does zero defensive work. You'll get the most out of him as a ball carrying 10.
---------------- Laca ---------------- -------------- Auba ------------------ --- Miki -------------------- Ozil --- --------- Jack --- Xhaka --------- Kola -- Kos -- Mustafi -- Bell 4-2-2-2 similar to Liverpool. Keep Laca central and Auba roaming. Let Miki and Ozil drift in and out. Not particularly good defensively but may be able to outscore enough to sneak into 4th. -------- Auba -- Laca ---------- -- Jack ----- Ozil ----- Miki --- ------------ Xhaka --------------- Kola -- Kos -- Mustafi -- Bell 4-1-3-2. Maybe worse defensively then the 4-2-2-2 option. Would have to get a real DM to make it work. Could also drop Jack & Miki back a bit and play it as a 4-3-1-2 or 4-4-2 diamond. -------- Auba -- Laca ---------- ----- Miki ------------ Ozil ----- Kola ------ Xhaka -------- Bell -- Nacho -- Kos -- Mustafi -- Nagelsmann 3-3-2-2. Works a good deal better with a true DM. Also exposes our lack of quality CB depth. The scheme by design allows both CAMs to free roam. each is supposed to drift wide or come central depending on the position of the ball. With AWs lack of tactics, I don't think we are disciplined enough to run this formation but it would work well with Auba, Laca, Ozil and Miki.
Ozil nominally plays in the forward line when Arsenal line up in 3-4-3 Personally I can see Laca dropping out of the team. Arsenal need a decent right sided midfielder because Iwobi is shit. That is where I think Mkhi will play
Not to mention the resurgent play of Willshire. I Have to admit that I have not always been a fan given is small stature and fragility. But his recent play, his heart, his obvious Gunner-love has me big time on that bandwagon. I think you are right - Miki would be bench and pushing the other creators. But for me right now - you have to give Super Jack a shirt.
Probs the best way to play all of them is 4-3-3 with Ozil in a 3 man midfield and Laca on left wing. Mkhi can play on the right given Arsenal's lack of a right wing, which allows two CMs to play PEA is best as a 9 - playing him on the wing is a waste However I don't think Arsenal have a good enough defence for 4-3-3
Depends on how you set up the the defence. I think we can play a pretty decent ----CB--CB---- FB---DM---FB ---CM---CM--- Given our personnel, I don't think we have the athleticism to play the more traditional back 4, our CB and Bellerin and most of our natural wide players, aren't up to the required physicality of the EPL for that. For the longest time, Arsenal has lacked the teams within teams aspect. Its is why our HG teams have been able to out compete teams to some degree. Why players like Gibbs could look better at times than they were. They would naturally developed what Pep is building into his teams.
Genau! Which is important because arse have no right sided player other than Alex watch this shot dribble off my toe Iwobi
You're obviously willing to suspend your disbelief better than me. IOW, I'm not counting my chickens just yet. Edit: Seek and ye shall receive. We're 50% there. Just waiting on the Auba deal this week.
Nah that is ott. He's a boy who does a lot of things very well. Miss hit shot aside, there is no player on the team that makes space for himself on the turn better than Iwobi, including Ozil, who's directionality is usually correct but couldn't muscle my sister off the ball or resist my sister muscling him off the ball. So when he turns into the right direction can just get blocked of tackled.
He lined up at right mid, he didn't play there. If you watch his games or even highlights at Dortmund, he started out wide and came inside at every opportunity. He spend very little time on the right flank. Dropping Lacazette just 6 months after spending big on him is pretty harsh. Especially since he hasn't been given a fair run to show his worth IMO. I guess that could work. Although again it would be harsh on Lacazette to spend big on him and then 6 months later force him to the wing to play a position where he's significantly less effective and limits all the things he's best at. Also, when you push forwards out into wide positions they tend to naturally drift inside. So I don't see where the width would come from when both Miki and Laca would drift inside at every opportunity. But maybe this is the best formation given the lack of wingers.
I've always liked Wilshere as well. He was overhyped but always had potential. The knock on him is obvious, he can't stay healthy for extended periods of time. Part of that is on him for not realizing that flying into tackles isn't a good idea when you're small and tend to come off worse for the wear every time.
He is probably our 2nd best player at ball retention in the final 3rd too. I don't believe he has received good coaching. As for Wilshere, he can stay and be a squad player but all the CMs need to be upgraded.