good. he should be getting game time and not collect splinters on his ass with the hope for an occasional league cup and euro group stage games. super happy they were able to get a spot for him in the championship. patino is not really a problem vs tielemans, though. right now, that spot has xhaka (who, if he's breathing, arteta is playing him), lokonga, zinchenko, and vieira all in line for that spot.
bryant's final years were not stellar because he tore an achilles tendon and his game pushed heavily on his athleticism (unlike, say, durant). he also had a much weaker team to work with and he doesn't really elevate his teammates if they are not already excellent. c.ronaldo had his accusation in 2009. have you heard anything recently? ben roethlisberger had accusations in both 2009 and 2010. his suspension of 6-reduced-to-4 is probably one of the precedents judge robinson used for watson's 6-game suspension. he just retired this past offseason - 1 year past his sell-by, frankly - to much celebration. any negative reactions from his teammates is likely more from the he seems like a douchenozzle more than the allegations. as can be seen by his teammates' lack of fucksgiving about bauer.
Yeah I just don’t get how many center mids we are supposed to have according to that line of thinking, especially given how many positionally versatile players we’ve been signing.
fair. i don't know that he efforts as hard as xhaka on defense. xhaka has many faults but he efforts. he's just . . . garbage at it sometimes and his physical limitations hinders him others. like, he was the one guy tracking jota on that red card, he just doesn't have the footspeed to keep up with him so he tried to gamble (and failed). i sort of think he might be a better in the attacking half than xhaka whereas xhaka's offensive strength lies in distribution from deeper where he has more time. but, with the introduction of the 5 subs, i think arteta wants versatility to be able to adapt mid-game and i don't know that you have that with tielemans.
Tielemans is not what we need. Xhaka's biggest fault is his lack of mobility, and Tielemans is one of the few midfielders even less mobile than Xhaka. A guy who can move around less, and do less defensive work in midfield is the last thing we need, even before taking into account that the guy in our midfield who carries the defensive side of things is likely to become unavailable for an extended period of time.
Welp. Looks like Pepe isn’t leaving before his contract ends… Nicolas Pepe is now expected to stay at Arsenal this summer.Arsenal won’t stand in his way if a suitable offers arrives in the last month of the window. However as it stands right now, there’s no clubs interested in paying the fee Arsenal want, which is £25m-£30m.— now.arsenal (@now_arsenaI) August 2, 2022
Pepe getting that money. Well Mikel has to reintegrate him. I dislike his blocking and dismissal of players sometimes . His fee was ridiculous. Mislintat and Raul were signing funny players. We got Auba and Duzi but the rest were awful. Lichtensteiner really.
I’ve come fully around on Arteta at this point and I’m on board, but it’s his job to get the players to do what he wants. We’ve watched Pepe score goals and cause problems for our opponents, and we’ve watched him work and track and harass his opponent. That’s not to say he’s great at the latter but I really don’t see a lack of willingness on his part. So is he refusing to do what’s asked of him? Or has Arteta thrown him in the bin like certain others (Maitland-Niles) for reasons that are more personality driven?
the key is that Pepe can’t *consistently* follow Arteta’s instructions. Clearly he’s shown he can follow them in spurts, but with limited subs, that’s a huge risk. Now that I think of it, having 5 subs could help Pepe see more time. If we’re in the lead by a couple goals, it makes sense to sub Pepe for Saka to keep Saka fresh.
I don't think it's a lack of effort with Pepe, by all reports Arteta is happy with what he does in training. I think his natural talents and natural instincts are all just counter to what Arteta wants from this position. The problem is that if no one is offering £25m-£30m this summer, Arteta isn't going to play him enough this season such that he will be worth £25m-£30m next summer. The club either need to take what they can get or loan him out somewhere that he will play and convince other clubs that he has value.
We have? I honestly don’t remember being impressed by Pepe’s defensive work for more than one game in a row. But besides that, dude is basically useless outside of the final third when we’re in possession. He can’t do ball progression of any kind. He’s the last of a line of luxury players that Arsenal have employed—and as the Jesus transfer proves, there isn’t space anywhere on the pitch for that kind of player in Arteta’s system.
C'mon He may not be elite, but he is a much more modern midfielder than xhaka, and mobile enough for pressing and vertical systems
that was my thought originally. if we have a lead, put in pepe so we can defend and he can be that counter threat while running with the ball. but i agree with mangan and mchnicholas who put forth the thought that it doesn't end up working that way with him after he had the great game while we were chasing and ended up being terrible in the two subsequent games when we needed him to see out the game. (in his defense, he likely was immensely tired for at least one since it was just after the birth of his child.) i don't remember the specific games other than one of the bad games being the 2nd wolves game.
i agree with this. his value isn't going up next year after (yet) another year of no or minimal playing. we might as well clear the space and help payroll for whatever we can get.
Me trying to run away after a supervillain kills my family https://t.co/BQVkDOZQZQ pic.twitter.com/lAx3G4i4va— Arham (@LazyArham) September 4, 2021
Media in Uruguay reporting that Torreira has agreed terms with Galatasaray but he is stalling because his first choice is to play for Gatusso at Valencia. Supposedly Valencia has freed up enough salary to pay Torreira but they are asking Arsenal to terminate his contract so they can sign him on a free.
Really getting tired of having to cancel all of these contracts. I get that many of them are our fault but in the case of Bellerin & Torreira the problem is that they are being picky (seen claims that several teams have expressed interest in both) and the teams they want supposedly have no money. Think we ought to atleast be demanding a player swap and take one of their top youth prospects in exchange. Snagging an 18yo each from Betis & Valencia atleast gives us some youth squad depth that we can either develop into a really good HG player or sell in a couple years and get something out of the deal.
When we were looking at a striker a lot of people including myself wanted DCL but anytime I spoke to people about him I always threw in the "if he can stay healthy" line. Glad we got Jesus because DCL just did a knee ligament and will miss 3 months.
A big issue with Tielemans is he isn’t that athletic and he has a lot of mileage on him, despite his age. That concerns me greatly.
I’m not saying we should execute Torreira, but I am hearing a lot of really smart people who I often agree with say it
Actually the final third is where he frustrates me the most. Last season, especially, he seemed to slow down and even stop when he approached the box. His dribbling and passing decision making in and around the box was slow. I don’t know if this is attributable to a lack of confidence and playing time or a natural characteristic of his game. As far as his performance in the middle third of the pitch is concerned, the one thing he seemed to do better than any other Arsenal forward last season was provide an effective target for Ramsdale’s long clearances and goal kicks. Statistically it isn’t true, he may not progress the ball as quickly as Arsenal’s other wings, but per FBref Saka’s progressive passing plus carrying distance per 90 minutes was 241 yards, while Pepe’s was 240 yards. They were the top two.
A midfield of Xhaka, Tielemans, and Zinchenko certainly isn’t going to win many foot races, or defensive awards.