Sign Isak or Give Arteta The Sack - Summer 2025 Transfer Thread

To be fair Sp*rs don't have a Declan Rice. I also think Arteta isn't going to let the 10 be a passenger defensively.

 

Same

Five barely played when we were a lockdown team in 23/24.

We actually slipped last season.

I don't think was athleticism with Partey as much as he lacked awareness at times. He was also a bit more careless with the ball.

 

I think we are going to see more 10s in the game now. Bruno Fernandes is a 10. Florian Wirtz is a 10. Cole Palmer is a 10. Jamal Musiela is a 10.

 

Partey lost possession the most in the deep lying area of the pitch, compared to all other #6s. the best was El Nenny. Which in itself is hilarious

 

Odegaard is what some coaches call a shuttler, connecter in the middle third connecting from the 6 to the 10 imo. He should not bear the creative burden. That's my main gripe with the squad building, instead of adding a 10 and properly platforming Odegaard we leaned into Stoke South FC midfield ball. So here we are and everyone blaming Odegaard while not explaining to me where the rest of the midfield is in creating. Hope it works better this time around, innit?

 

Where is our increased chance creation coming from?

 

FACTS

It's why the fanbase obsession with a striker never made any sense. The role of the 9 is now borne by wide men cause that is where the ability to isolate, arguably the weakest point of the defense and attack from multiple angles to create g/a opportunities.

The function of the 10 can be done from a number of areas on the pitch so there's no real orthodoxy with the positioning. It's more about who does what, rather then where they do what they do.

 

He was, his real issues were on ball in deep areas.

 

Palmer and Wirtz above those other two. Bruno to me is empty calories but his team stinks so im probably being harsh. Musiala whenever I watch I don't see enough, but I'm a very harsh judge so there is that.

 

A number of people have talked about Partey losing the ball in dangerous areas, and that's a valid point, but a lot of that is because Partey was getting the ball in those areas to move the ball upfield: Rice wasn't able to do that.

 

That's a good point, because it's easy to blitz Partey when the other midfielder treats the ball like a bomb. BTW that PSG game the first goal was because he couldn't control the ball on the half turn, now i get that ain't his game, but that means you're playing 3v2 with the 2 being Odegaard and Partey or 2v1 with the one being Partey in possession at times. Another thing, many times Odegaard would have to drop ridiculously deep because the only thing Rice is very comfortable doing is passing without pressure, and or carrying the ball. The manager has to figure out how to get him either higher up the pitch to do broke man's lampard or something. Because he does seem to have a good shot.

 

That’s a different conversation altogether because that’s when we were in possession - not when we were defending.

I don’t even believe that he was bad in possession, but again, that’s a different conversation. I mean, Gabby had a spell of bad games two seasons ago, Saliba did last season, Timber looked like a rec player against PSG, and when we put Rice as a 6 in Partey’s absence, he looked bad.

I really don't get the Partey criticism. I really worry about our midfield this season without him. We really need Zubi to step up straightaway, which is a lot to ask.

 

I have no real beef with him, besides the off the field stuff. IF it wasn't for that I would have liked to have him around along with Zubimendi because that would have given the manager plenty of options in big games.

 

Completely off topic, but there is no good place to put this, and we are talking tactics.

Can someone explain to me (maybe the stat guys) why teams - possession-based teams - start kick-offs by passing it back to the keeper and then kicking it as far as they can upfield, which is a 50/50 chance of retaining possession, at best? These teams will pass the ball under pressure in their own 18 yard box, but they put possession up for grabs for no good reason (that I can understand) every kick-off.


What am I missing? There must be some analytics that support this nonsense, but it’s not intuitive. It drives me crazy.

 

Bruno Fernandes reminds me of Mitch Richmond for all hoopers out there .

 

Musiala is better than all of them, imo

I actually think Bruno is a baller but he should have left.

 

He is that team mudded his name

 

Don’t be so cruel to Mitch. He was part of Nelson’s Run TMC, exciting but not championship basketball.

 

Richmond could ball but he has limitations like fernandes

 

Bruno is a hero ball 8.

 

It’s about establishing territory.

 

For a while, i considered Odegaard our co-most important player. Certainly our most important outfield player. When he was injured we had no one who could reasonably fill his shoes. Kiwior did a good job in for Gabriel, Nwaneri for Saka. Partey out injured we had Jorginho and others who did a decent job. Havertz out we had Jesus. Both out Merino stepped up well enough. Odegaard though was a gaping hole that we simply didn't look the same. We got fortunate playing some sides that we could get pass.

Now, I think, god forbid, Odegaard is out, we'll be relatively okay I imagine. The other player who we couldn't have done without is Raya. Now we have a decent enough backup. Raya makes 1-3 goal saving saves a game and we had no one who could do that. Now we do.

We are pretty sorted. A left wing would be nice. The left side may up front may be our weak spot this season. Hopefully it won't come to fruition.

 

I didn’t follow him after he moved to Sacramento in the Billy Owen’s trade, but unlike Fernandes I don’t believe defense was one of his limitations. However I will admit that Nelson’s run and gun Warriors didn’t play a lot of defense.