Would Arsenal’s new manager need (or be allowed) to make wholesale changes?

Arsenal:Looking on the bright side by Goonerboy

Since Arsene Wenger’s announcement to step down, I still can’t bring myself together to pay my tribute as i don’t know where to start from, and although I have got what I wanted in his exit, it still feels kinda awkward and strange to imagine an Arsenal without Arsene.

I only take solace in the fact that, even though i strongly believe his time is up and he should have gone, i still try as much as possible to respect him and not be overly aggressive in the Wenger-out campaign- not just because of what he has done for Arsenal but for the league and the football world as a whole. He remains a living legend to all and the only regret i will have is if he fails to leave on a high by winning the EL which is looking ever so likely.

Now, looking ahead to an exciting, unpredictable and hopefully trophy-laden years ahead, i want us to critically examine and try to, like a new manager, identify the problem(s) of this team while being objective, realistic and prudent about it.

I want to put forward the following cases according to people’s opinion on the team;

1)Good team, average manager
2)Average manager, average team
3)Bad manager, too many average players

Judging by most posts on here and other social media platforms, many believe the 3rd case is what is affecting our performance but in my opinion it is case 1 and i will therefore base my arguement on that.

Before i proceed, this is our team when everyone is fit;

……………….Cech……………….

Bellerin……..Kos………Mustafi……Monreal

Xhaka…..Ramsey

Mkhitaryan……Ozil………Aubameyang…….

…………….Lacazette……….

For me, this team has the foundation and is quite good enough even though it can be better in the centre. Lets say we dont have money for more than two players, just get a DM and a CB and
with a good tactician we are good to go…

Any manager coming in should at least for next season be willing to work with this current crop to be able to really ascertain their quality based on his style of play. He just need a DM and a CB.

With the rumours of Enrique demanding a war chest in excess of 200m to sign, it is obvious he wants to do a mini-overhaul. I don’t want him to be honest due to reasons known to most of us, i prefer a manager in the mould of Klopp, who does not heavily rely on war chest and also plays fantastic football. Well, lets save that discussion for now.

For those that believe we have so many average players, (case 2) i want us to give them another chance under a new manager to see if they are truly bad, guys like Iwobi, Xhaka, Bellerin and Ramsey may still come good under a new manager, i personally believe in their quality.

So, an icing on the cake for those that stand for the 3rd case, below is your dream line-up

………………….Oblak…………..

Janmaat……..Manolas…….Koulibally……Monreal

……………….Fabinho……Ramsey……

…………Gelson martins…….Isco………Pavon……….

…………………Aubameyang………….

All in all, an exciting future awaits us all…cant wait!

Onwards and upwards…

Goonerboy

19 Comments

    1. Arsenal will be going for a young manager. They can safely say they’re in transition now and have low investment for next 5 years .. !

  1. Yes let’s see how some of them do under a new manager but we still need to sell some to fund signing top players

  2. How is janmaat better than bellerin ???.

    but i agree with your oponion goonerboy

    our squad is good but we still need a coach who knows how to get the best out of average players.

    allegri,jardim

  3. Enrique won’t be coming especially if he’s demanded 200m, Stan will have nearly choked on his breakfast champagne

    I am hoping the board don’t f this appointment up. Personally I would like Julian Nagelsmann he’s young gets the best out of players and could be a long term solution who will compete with pep Klop
    He supposed to be a master tactician

    Players we need GK I think it will be Leno as he has a 17.5 m release clause

    We need a top CB
    Top Dm
    Then decent wing back/defender As a minimum this summer
    Which will cost around 120-140m
    When you offload Xhaka, mustafi, and a couple of fringe players we should recoup 45-60 m

    So outlay approx 75-90m

    Even with Scrooge that’s possible

    1. Id sell Mustafi so problem & promote young Mavropanos, though keep Xhaka as a squad player/bench as we could be shy in midfield for numbers of Jack leaves & Aaron plays about in the summer being in his last year of his contract.

      1. I know what u mean, however, IMO he’s shocking he shouldn’t get anywhere need the team. AMN is far better so is Ramsey and even elneny

      2. I had a thought about Mustafi and one which I haven’t been able to dismiss…

        Mustafi can tackle well, he can show some strength and he can play some nice balls forward. He is at risk to errors and a bit rash at times, CB highlights these issues…

        Another CB was like this and he got moved to DM, David Luiz.

        Urghhh don’t like this thought but I can’t shake it.

  4. Really, your post was a good read up until you started naming the starting 11 & most of them are either out of our money range or not good enough.

    Arsenal are a smart business unit atm & we will be looking for a few bargains with one big signing in the summer and Leno GK Bayer Leverukusen release clause 17.5m would be a great start along with a CB and we have been touted as buying Socratis from Dortmund also with a release clause of 18.5m & our new scout is doing all this with his ties to the dortmund, Auba & Mhyk both here since hes came in is no coincidence. We apparantly only have 50m along with whatever Cash we can gather up in player sales etc for the summer budget.

    Last would be DM & i agree with your pick of Fabinho from Monaco, would be a shrewed piece of business of we could get him in but in any case any real good DM is a bonus as we really have missed this type of player.

  5. Dear author, I think currently Arsenal have a bad manager and too many average players

    I don’t like your team selection, because an Arsenal team should be dominated by English players, as an English team (like the Invicibles era). It is useless to have world class mercenaries if Arsenal cannot be have more local players like the other big teams (e.g. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Muenchen)

    My team selection for the next season, with a false nine formation:

    ……………………Fraser Forster
    Maitland-Niles . Koulibaly . Gimenez . Bertrand
    …………………….Wilfred Ndidi
    …………Aaron Ramsey . Denis Suarez
    ……………………..Lacazette
    ………Adama Traore ……. Aubameyang

  6. To Me we should do all to buy Oblok, I know that if we do that we may not able to buy in other areas. But If we get this gut, we know that one area we are safe for a decade and no need investment.
    Obblok should be our no Priority ,
    We are less unlikely to move to Final of Europa League is be not because of our strikers clinical edge, its because of this Guy,
    Spend 75 Million on him…. Its worth.
    Then Buy a Central Defender for 20 to 25 Million… Total 100 Million,
    Sell Ospina for 10 million
    We can not built a title winning team in one summer… We need to built slowly

  7. I would hope that the prospective manager is already casting his eye over the Arsenal squad and assessing which players will suit his style of play, those to be sold or loaned and which players he has identified to bring in to strengthen the squad. Given Sven Mislattat’s past record, he is already putting together a list of potential players to address squad weaknesses, as he sees them.
    All current members of Arsenal’s squad are playing for their futures.

  8. I think we fall under the 1st option, good team with average manager.

    Get a top manager and spend big on a FEW areas and we could be a massive force for years to come.

    Think about the CB issue we currently have, how much of it is down to our players and how much of it is down to Wenger?

    Holding came in and looked like the bargain of the decade and then Wenger football kinda failed to develop the def aspects.
    Mavrop looked awesome against UTD and Chambers was a solid partner for him. Against UTD they wasn’t at fault for the goals and UTD are 2nd in the EPL, we actually went at them and made spaces which I feel is also partially credit to how well the CBs was to build from.

    Xhaka was the weak link but we all moan about him being the DM, he isn’t internationally and who thinks a manager like Enrique would play him as a DM? We all know he isn’t a DM and surprise surprise, the goalS we conceded was both avoidable if the DM had done a good enough job. I feel both the goals was more Wengers fault than Xhaka but it doesn’t stop me being upset at him for schoolboy errors.

    We have 2 of the deadliest strikers in the world, I may be talking with pride oozing out of me but Auba and Laca are proven goalscorers and they look like they could play well together. Imagine if they can get their goalscoring form consistently for next season, each of them capable of 30+ goals if the team performs.

    If we wish to think about assist kings then we can count ourselves lucky with both Ozil and Mkhi, at times they have both been labeled an assist king, who else can boast about having such quality players setting up deadly strikers?

    Thinking about it, we don’t have a good team, we actually have a GREAT team.
    With a top manager then there is no reason why the current team can not compete for the title, throw in a couple hundred million to upgrade the starting 11 and we can compete for everything!

  9. If rumours and recent history are anything to go by, we are being linked with Sokratis (GBP 18 million) and Meyer (free agent).

    Defence: Sokratis is a good all round defender, who is physically strong and can play the ball as well. At 29 years of age, if he does come in, it will be as the new leader of our defence.

    Koscielny’s playing time would have to be managed with injuries taking his toll on him and because of this, he is no longer the player he used to be.

    Mustafi, still believe there’s a good player in there somewhere, perhaps in a team with better organization he could come good. Given his age, I don’t see the club selling him – especially with Koscielny fast on the decline.

    Chambers has had a few good performances this season (and also covers at right-back) while Mavropanos has us all purring. Perhaps it is Holding who will spend the season out on loan.

    Midfield: Releasing Wilshere and replacing him with Meyer would be a very Arsenal thing to do – don’t know enough about him to be sure if he would really be an upgrade on the other mid-fielders we have at the club.

    Goalkeeper: Would love for us to splash the cash, whatever it takes on Jan Oblak, it would be worth every penny. However, this would very much be a Raul Sanllehi signing – and i’m optimistic, the club will indulge him that. The more realistic option is Sven Mislintat’s recommended Bernd Leno (wouldn’t say he’s in the same league as Oblak – who is just behind De Gea and ahead of Courtois in my book). Leno is 3rd or 4th choice for Germany, albeit behind Neuer and ter Stegen. Both would be an improvement on Cech & Ospina.

    I believe, these are likely to be our “big” signings for the summer (regardless of who the new manager is) in addition to one or two relatively unknown Mislintat signings / gambles.

    With the right motivation, desire, tactics, game management and the crowd getting behind the manager and the team – the squad below would be strong enough to challenge Liverpool and Tottenham for 4th place – and if we miss out, well thats what the board are already planning for with the GBP 50 million “war chest”.

    GK: Oblak / Leno, Cech
    CBs: Sokratis, Koscielny, Mustafi, Chambers, Mavropanos
    Full backs: Monreal, Kolasinac, Bellerin
    Mid-fielders: Cazorla (one can pray), Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Ramsey, Meyer, Xhaka, Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Nelson
    Strikers: Aubameyang, Lacazette, Welbeck

    PS – Europa League is also likely to become more lucrative and “important” with three English teams in it, especially if two of them are clubs of the stature of Chelsea and Arsenal (both very popular globally) and a third team possibly of the level of Everton – though obviously it will be Burnley this season.

    1. An excellent post – might I add, with a Top 6 (in terms of support / profile, not success) – the FA Cup (again) and the EFL will also become sought after trophies.

    2. I would also like to add, one of the briefs for the new manager is to bring through talent from the youth ranks, and hopefully develop youngsters already in / around the first team; Bellerin, Chambers, Holding, Mavropanos, Maitland-Niles, Iwobi, Nelson.

      If the new manager can develop even two or three of these youngsters into top level players over the next two seasons – that would be a huge bonus, and save us the trouble of bringing in new players at exorbitant costs.

      Unfortunately, while he always gave youth a chance, in the last few years, Wenger failed to really develop the aforementioned youngsters at the club – maybe it was the toxic atmosphere around the club?

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