This is the part that seems strange with the stand off Ramsey seems to be trying to pull an Ozil. Arsenal obviously can't afford to allow him to do this. But if they can't reup him - they need to sell him - but is it clear if anyone wants him?
So...anyone in here concerned at all about Gazidis leaving? It really looks like this is happening. This may be the biggest blow yet as this is the start of an exciting operation and everything seems to be centered around him.
The stuff I'm seeing the last 24 hours says the club have offered a 5-year deal. I haven't heard anything about anyone else being interested in him. I'm probably in the minority here, but I'm not sure Ramsay is even in the new look Best XI with Auba-Lacazette-Mhki in the front line and Torreira-Xhaka behind Ozil in the middle.I suppose you could argue for Ramsay over Xhaka in that six, but you give up defense for more offense if you do that. Of course there are a ton of games and cups and such, so being deep is a good thing.
Move Ozil on the right wing, have Ramsey as the 10, Mkhi left wing and Auba striker. It's our best team and fits best with Emery's philosophy too.
You are probably right about that. He did start Auba and Lacazette both in that first friendly, but that doesn't mean much, obviously. Personally I think Ozil is not a wing player. Mkhi can do it, but isn't really one either. It's a team overloaded with central midfielders with only the fullbacks available for width. I imagine that will get sorted out over the next couple of years.
I think historically Ozil's actually been at his best playing on the right with a strong overlapping fullback behind him--like Lahm. Yeah, the team basically has no natural width beyond the fullbacks, but that's also the way Emery likes to play anyways so I don't see that changing. I just don't think Laca brings anything to the team that Auba doesn't already do, so our best team has Ramsey in it instead of him. Better defensively too as Mkhi does good work in defense as far as advanced midfielders go.
Arsene was obsessed with CMs. Personally, I think PEA and Laca work great together. The reality is that there are tons of games and the only way for them to be on the pitch a lot together is if Perez/danny/nketieh can hold the line in the cup and Europa league group stages. Based on what I’ve seen from Emery, I wouldn’t get too caught up on who plays where in the front 5. He emphasizes movement so players will interchange a lot.
I think Laca and PeA are quite different imho. If we are playing with a dedicated DM and a DLP, then Ramsey will basically be a forward. If I have to choose between him, Laca, ozil or miki in that role it’s a no brainer for me—he’s the odd man out. Now he could actually replace xhaka beside torreira and I’d be fine with that as well. Pea—-laca—-miki ———ozil Ramsey—-torreira Or Pea—-laca—-miki ———ozil Xhaka—-torreira Are our best two lineups in my opinion. As I said, Emery’s front 4/5 interchange a lot so I wouldn’t be too concerned who lines up where.
Could you tell me what Laca does that Auba doesn't do? Ramsey is a very different player than any of these other guys and well-suited to being positioned where his late runs into the box are meshing with PEA's world-class off-ball movement. IMO it's the best use of our squad to not have Laca playing on the wing, which he's not really that good at. He's not more creative than either Mkhi or Ozil and doesn't offer as much defensively as Mkhi. A midfield of Xhaka-Torreira with Ramsey ahead of them is miles more defensively solid than either of the formations you're offering, and it's probably about the same attacking-wise. That's just my personal opinion, but if we look at it through the lens of what Emery is likely to do, it seems pretty obvious that he'll have Ramsey in the middle. He wants to build the squad around Ramsey, and to get the most out of him the best place to put him is in the 10. And no, even in Emery's 4-2-3-1, that position is not "basically a forward." In Emery's formations the 10 is not much further advanced in the midfield than the other two central midfielders as linking play and maintaining possession is more heavily emphasized than direct attacks. He's above all a pragmatic manager and I think a formation with Ramsey in the middle is most representative of his predilections. I can see Laca being used on the wing situationally, but I really can't see how you can say, all things considered, that a front four of Laca-PEA-Mkhi with Ozil behind is better than Mkhi-PEA-Ozil with Ramsey behind. Ramsey is just a better player than Laca and he offers something unique that isn't in the squad otherwise.
Ramsey is a puzzler to me. If he's as good as some people think then why are there ZERO rumors about him being a target? Given the seeming lack of interest in him, does he think he can get more money from another team? The whole thing is confusing because he's a good player but maybe not a great player. He probably wants a lot of money (which is understandable) but probably isn't worth what he's asking from Arsenal. I also don't think he can get what he's asking for from any other club. He'd probably be best off signing a one year extension and hoping he kills it in Emery's system.
I doubt he will play Laca on the wing. Auba will nominally start there I think when they both play. However they will interchange a lot in attack—see mbappe, cavani, neymar, so auba will have plenty of time to torture CBs. IMO Laca is stronger on the ball and his interplay and hold up play seems slightly better to me. Also, Auba did perfectly well from the left with Dortmund his first season beside lewa if I remember correctly. He has more space against a back three and can pin opponents fullbacks down in ways that playing laca, ozil or Ramsey there could not. Emery also likes to press up against the sideline rather than really high so a quicker player there is useful. In terms of scoring goals, I think that laca in the front four over Ramsey is better. Defensively, it’s worse but with a dedicated DM we should be fine against 90% of the competition. Ramsey can play his #8 beside either xhaka or DM depending on the competition and make his runs into the box. Anyway, it all may be moot if Ramsey doesn’t sign. But, from what I’ve seen so far I like the partnership that auba and laca have. If fit, Ozil is a must play for me and so is miki. Just my opinion. In reality, fitness and injury will make these decisions pretty easy I’m sure so it probably doesn’t matter.
It’s no secret I’m not Ramsey’s biggest fan, but I am a little shocked that there hasn’t been more rumors surrounding a move. At the very least I would expect agents to plant some rumors. Maybe most teams just don’t know how they’d use him. We’ve had the argument for 10 years here, so perhaps the same is playing out in directors offices across Europe. In any case, the club needs to not fall prey to sunken cost bias and hold on too tight or try too hard to recoup value. The ship has sailed on reupping Ramsey at a reasonable wage. If Emery wants him, then pay him his money. Even wages similar to auba would be 40m over four years. No way we sign a decent midfielder in his prime for fee+wages less than that. If he won’t take that or if Emery thinks the squad is good enough without him, then sell him at whatever fee we can get—however small. 10 million is much more than the nothing we will get next summer. A high earner is off the books and we can look to replace in Jan, next summer or if some tasty domino falls late summer.
I have absolutely no idea what Ramsey's value is either in terms of a transfer fee or on wages. I just hope that we don't pay him so much that it ties up flexibility to add somebody who may fit better into what Emery wants to do. I also have no idea if Ramsey will fit into what Emery wants to do. It's very odd to have such questions about a player that's been on the team for almost a decade.
I have to say I'm from the house-cleaning camp. I'm so glad Sanchez, Wilshere, Cazorla, Chamberlain, Walcott, Giroud, Coquelin, and Gibbs are gone. And won't cry if Ramsay, Welbeck, Jenkinson, Mustafi, Ospina, Cech and even Ozil follow them out the door. I'm ready to be completely rid of the failed group of players that got us where we are today.
While I agree with the bulk of that, a good manager could do some serious damage with guys like Ozil, Cazorla and Sanchez because they are elite players. Sadly one cracked the shits and left, and the other had the worst run with injuries. But we saw in the first match Ozils vision to feed PEA means that with more games under their belt, we are going to be a surprise this season.
Without a sugar daddy owner, how are would you replace all of those players. There is a sense of entitlement among Arsenal fans, but the fact is, unless Arsenal start spending the kind of money that City, United, and Chelsea are capable of spending the odds against Arsenal winning a title are pretty high. In that context I don't consider players that produced three FA Cup victories in five years and a second place finish in the 2015-16 season (that might have been a title if Santi doesn't miss more than half the season with a knee injury) to be failures.
I agree about the total cull being a bit drastic and likely expensive, but I will not shed a tear over any particular player departure at the momen. Also, while we don’t have a sugar daddy, Arsenal do presently spend a lot. Our wage bill is not too far behind the top spenders—about 10% less. Wages are usually a better indicator of league position bc even if you get a deal on the xfer, a quality player will quickly require top wages to keep (see kante). While not a huge failure, given we have spent top 3/4th resources the last 5-6 years I would have expected more of a challenge and definitely not two seasons out of the top 4. No # of FA cups can overcome that failure. Half full or half empty I guess, but losing the title to LCFC was arsenes biggest failure in my book.
I’m optimistic We have good forwards A new gk (could be good could be bad) Experienced defenders in positions of need (cb and rb) An actual ball winner in midfield who can recycle from deep and potentially another cm in homes on loan who is quite physical Our front line is good Plus we have no real World Cup fatigue Am I being overly optimistic? Europa league means resting guys too
This team doesn't finish above 4th. Still at least 2 years and a few quality signings from challenging for the title (assuming the other big players don't have good transfer windows in that time).