Moving in a forward direction by Konstantin Mitov
Welcome lovely Arsenal people! Our positive trajectory on the pitch is being replicated off the pitch where we’re looking like making some decent business. Ozil will soon officially vacate the number 10 shirt, Kolasinac is out on loan, Sokratis’ contract was terminated and we’ve added a backup goalkeeper on loan in Mat Ryan.
Can’t complain with the business so far, and if the rumours are true and we’re getting Martin Odegaard on loan, I’d be happy. Backup for Smith-Rowe would be welcome as we really have no alternative right now. Last season Odegaard had like 7 goals and 9 assists for Sociedad. I’d welcome those kinds of stats on our side, because we need to find more sources of goals.
Our over reliance on Aubameyang showed this season when he hit a drought. It’s not all his fault as the side didn’t really create much, so all and all Odegard is a potential signing making perfect sense. That said, we’ve cleared out a little bit of the wage bill, and with Mustafi also finally going in the summer we will have gotten rid of a large portion of the players we don’t even play, and we can start actually upgrading certain positions. We just need to avoid making another expensive mistake like Pepe or Willian.
We’ve managed to put together some decent results in the last 6 league games, but the opposition will become much tougher. Southampton twice are next and although they’ve only won 1 of their last 5 league games, it was against Liverpool and we don’t have a great record at St. Marys in the league recently.
The two games will be very different. I suspect the likes of Pepe and WIllian might get a rare chance to prove a point in the cup game. We could also see Ryan if we opt to rotate Leno there as I don’t think we’ll give the flappy hands of Runarsson another chance. In the FA cup we’ve actually done very well against the Saints including a 5-0 victory a few years back.
I think squad wise, we have enough to win both games, but even on a good run I can’t say which Arsenal will turn up. There will be expectations put on our shoulders, and I don’t think we’ve handled this well recently. Still a win in the league means we’ll leapfrog Southampton and Chelsea and go up to 8th.
All in all, we’ve managed to steady the ship and lay a foundation that puts hope for the future. Even though the damage from the first half of the season was very big, the league is very unpredictable. The games from now on represent not only a chance to climb up to a more respectable position, but also a measure of how much of the rebuilding job is still left to be done.
Konstantin
7 goals and 9 assists last season, far better than 1 goal and 2 assists from the so called “assist king of Europe”. One stat going against Ole is that all who joined from RM in the recent pass have been failures at Arsenal.
1 goal and 2 assists from how many matches? People and hatred
18 games
George 18games sir, I just checked for you now.
He has already left.
Maybe Arteta would like to play Odegaard and Smith-Rowe as half-wingers in 4-3-3, like what David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne previously did at Man City:
……………………… Leno
Bellerin . Holding . Mari . Tierney
…………………….. Partey
………… Smith-Rowe …………. Odegaard
Saka ………………………………….. Aubameyang
……………………… Lacazette
It’d be exciting to see, but we’d have to bench Xhaka, Ceballos, Willock and Elneny
I’d bench them for this starting line-up in a heartbeat mate.
If I were Arteta, I’d never bench combative midfielders like Xhaka and Ceballos
Xhaka is a combative midfielder?
Looks like a 4132 formation, I think spurs tried that one season and it failed miserably
Guardiola used a diamond formation before switching to 4-3-3 three seasons ago, but I think Arteta would never do that
That the best lineup bt due to injuries from partey & mari I will hope xhaka to be used on the lineup partey to come as the best sub………………Leno
Bellerin Gabriel Holding Tierney
…………………..Xhaka
……….smith rowe……..Odegaard
Saka………………………………Aubameyang
………………Lacazette
Yep, Xhaka must be sold too. Cebalos must go back to his team.
Good business so far off field, there are still few issue to sort out like Willian, mustafi and the young keeper should be loaned out
Half-wingers…..lol.
Declan let me guess youve never heard of half wingers before?
You contradict yourself Konstantin
You say you would be happy with someone with 7 goals -9 assists in our team then go on to call Pepe a flop ….I’m pretty sure his stats was the same last season for us .
dan kit, So you are keen on Pepe playing for us then? As you don;t actually say this but only criticise Konstsantin, unfairly IMO, I thought I’d just find out what YOU REALLY think about Pepe. CARE TO TELL US ALL PLEASE?
CARE TO ANSWER THE QUESTION I ASKED AND NOT SPEAK LIKE A POLITICIAN, BY TRYING TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT?
Haha
Good one 👍
How can you single out Willian as a ‘mistake’? He’s at least been a trier since the day he got here, yet you conspicuously do not mention Ozil, who has become an enemy of the club, and was a lazy free loader from the beginning. We got goal hangers out of the game donkey’s years ago, by introducing the off-side rule, yet we laud the lazy Ozil, who simply loiters around all the game, waiting for someone to give him the ball in a position where he can make an eye catching assist?
Ozil is Fenerbahce player.
Peter, A tryer? Oh my goodness , THAT is preceisely what he has NOT been and is why he is so much criticised! An odd left field view I must say! Another Ozil in thee making IMO , only difference is his laziness has only lasted half a season so far.
On the field we have not yet improved because after 19games, we sitting in mid-table. But Arteta has signed Partey, Mari, Suares, Willian, Runasson, Ryan, Gabriel, and Ceballos. He also called. Nketiah and Elneny from their loan spells. Any coach will do better with 10 players of his choice. By sitting in mid-table do you call that ‘moving forward’. Thats the reason Arsenal won’t process, because we give credit where’s not due