Arsenal need to copy Man City’s blueprint this summer to make them true challengers

Arsenal have ambitions to be the best team in the Premier League. Their dominance this season has proven they have what it takes to conquer the English football scene. Not until long ago, they were in pole position to beat Manchester City to the PL title. But a four-game winless run before last night has seen them drop from favourites to a position where all they can do is hope the Citizens drop points.

While Arsenal has shown they’re yet to be at a level to sustain a title charge, Man City have shown their class and, with their top form, are in line for another PL title win unless something strange happens.

Arsenal needs to copy and do things the Man City way. Kevin Campbell feels the only way Arteta can do that is if he is supported in the summer transfer window with at least four key deals. The Arsenal legend wants a striker, two midfielders, and a center-back signed to give Arteta, like Guardiola has, the ability to have good options for squad rotation.

Campbell said via the Metro: “Arsenal have got to try to get to those levels [where a position has two quality players]. I’d like to see a new center-forward come in. A couple of central midfielders to help with rotation. At centre half, Arsenal don’t have the same depth as Man City.

“That’s the blueprint. Man City have two quality players who can start in every position. That’s got to be the blueprint I think Arsenal this season have been ahead of plan. Being a part of a title run-in has been incredible, but now we know our deficiencies.

“That’s an important thing to own up to and look and what you’ve got. There are holes in the squad. Are we good enough to go up against Manchester City? No, we are not good enough to go up against Manchester City.”

Notably, Campbell insinuates that Arsenal back in the Champions League can attract the finest players, but the Kroenkes must be willing to spend.

“That needs to be addressed, and the ownership know what the plan is. The summer window is very important, and being back in the Champions League will help as you can attract a better level of player, which Arsenal have not been able to do for a number of years.

“There’s a big picture, and now we are going to see how serious the ownership are, as they have to bridge that gap.”

Arsenal have made so much progress this season. The hope is that they can be better next term. Top players like Declan Rice, Dusan Vlahovic, and Marc Guehi are being linked with a switch to the Emirates.

I hope the 2023 summer transfer window is as significant for the Gunners as many hope it will be. Next season, Saka and co should be going for Manchester City’s crown.

COYG!

Sam P

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30 Comments

  1. A new CF should be the main priority, to make us escape from the opposition’s high press

    We’ve seen how Man City did it to Bayern Munich and us:

    – Stones sent a long ball to Haaland to counter Bayern

    – De Ligt couldn’t handle Haaland’s physicality and Upamecano got fooled by Halland’s tricks

    If both teams have similar technical qualities, one of the target men could be the deciding factor of the game. Ederson and Stones just need to bypass the opposition’s midfield by sending accurate long balls to their powerful front pivot

    1. The reason we wont be winning the league is our defence not the forward line. fix the diffence and the mid field we would be first already

      1. Our defense is good enough to handle mid and lower-table teams, as indicated by the number of goals we conceded

        But when we meet a big team with excellent high pressing system like Man City, we struggle to bypass it

        1. I have to agree with Grandad , it all comes down to MA flexibility.
          I could be wrong but an in form KT is better than an out of form Zinchenko.the same with Jorginho and TP but doesn’t seem to think so.That’s why I disagree when people keep using the lack in depth as an excuse.as I said before,we had enough options/quality to beat Southampton/West-Ham and probably Liverpool had MA dared to make few changes.why did he bring Jorginho and Trossard and trust/play them?I find it difficult to make a case for not starting Trossard.

      2. I think we’ve seen a bit of a collapse defensively because of (1) losing saliba, and the sudden loss of form from (2) partey and (3) Zinchenko to an extent.
        I think partey was the biggest factor because I think our system is so reliant on him, whereas I think zinchenko always had deficiencies defensively (so the goal we conceded yesterday could have happened at any time), however his passing has been less accurate recently and he’s given it away in dangerous areas more often, which has put us under more pressure, though he’s far from the only culprit there.
        As much as I’ve always said I prefer zinchenko, I agree with those who said we should have swapped him out for Tierney towards the end of the season – not because Tierney is a better defender (though he is), but because zinchenko has been off form.
        We need a player who can reliably replace partey, though – we don’t have one currently.

        1. Some interesting points.
          The problem with much of this is that it assumes that results would have been a whole lot better if Tierney had played in several of these games instead of Zincheko.
          Tierney does not give us the kind of control of games that Zinchenko does.
          In a backs to wall type of game Tierney is probably better. If we had a more dynamic and athletic midfield I would also be more supportive of Tierney’s inclusion. In our current setup Zinchenko is still the better option most of the time.
          He clearly has defensive weaknesses- these will need to be worked on unless we can get a better player.
          It also worth noting that while Tierney is a good defender he is not an elite one. His status had been elevated by his absence.

          1. David I agree with that. I like Tierney but he is quite bog-standard even though he is a better defender than Zinchenko. We can not have Zinchenko playing LB on Sunday as Isak and co would very likely rip him to pieces. Tierney should play but ultimately I think we need to get someone better. Having said that, I don’t want him to leave either because he’s a useful squad player. It’s understandable that he deseves first team football and I can definitely see him at Newcastle.

  2. I envision simple business here, take Marcus thuram for free, rabiot free, grimaldo for free, and kante. These are free and experienced players that can take us to another level.

    Here add guehi, bring back trusty, and buy rice or zubimendi and I see we shall be good to go for next season.

  3. The “blueprint” is not just about buying success but utilising the players available to best advantage.Since the loan of Cancello to Bayern, Pep has effectively switched to a 3-4-3 system with no fewer than 5 centre backs/defensive minded players in the side.Akangi,Diaz, Akke,Stones and Rodri .The latter two are deployed as defensive midfielders where their physical presence has helped City overpower teams, including Arsenal.In addition, both Rodri and Stones are a real threat at set pieces as we have found to our cost.Gundegan and KDB who are also strong physically are able to support the front three because they have great engines and a high level of football intelligence.Tactically and physically the teams are poles apart as Arteta never changes his preferred 4-3-3 system not has he ever played with a back three.It would take too long to compare the relative merits of the player pools, but City have not suffered from many injuries to key players, which has afflicted us, the latest being Saliba.The point I want to make is that Arteta, who is still learning his trade, needs to be more flexible with his tactics and show more imagination in the way he used Martinelli and Saka in particular.Currently ,stuck out left and right they do not confuse or surprise the opposition which they could do with more interchanges.It’s a question of Arteta gaining experience and altering his tactics to suit the opposition if indeed that is appropriate.The tactic of deploying an inverted LB has been blown out of the water by some very average teams including Chelsea last night, and as far as that set is concerned, I hope it’s consigned to the bucket asap.Arteta and his support team have done very well this season, and I would hope they follow the example of the Man at the helm at Man City who is certainly not afraid to rotate and change tactics when necessary.

    1. I think you’re absolutely right about needing to be more flexible and less predictable, but we’ve seen MA employ different tactics on the past, notably when he first joined when he played 343, even getting mustafi to play really well for a period – so I don’t believe it’s a lack of imagination. Is it that he doesn’t trust his players to adapt to new systems so quickly? Or maybe he feels that would be adding more stress during a high pressure point in the season?
      AW had a tendancy to stick with something that wasn’t working for longer than many others would (be it a tactical system or an individual), and sometimes things would turn around – maybe that’s part of arteta’s thinking as well?

  4. Yes the pundit is spot on here , Arsenal must strengthen and strengthen well in specific areas to build the spine.

    Vlohovic
    Caicedo
    Onana
    Sotalol

    The four above are the real mockoy and would make us a force to reckon

    1. Ivan Toney > Vlahovic (Toney readily adapted to league)
      Rice > Caicedo (Rice more experienced)

      I’d give a shout for DCL if Everton get relegated. He can be a plan B striker and won’t take up too much of Jesus’ game time due to injuries.

  5. Central midfield is the main point of concern this summer. I would try and sign 2 in that area.

    RB cover for White, as it’s time to move on from Tomiyasu, and LB cover if Tierney goes.

    Another winger as well, unless we keep all of ESR, Trossard and Nelson.

  6. Kevin Campbell has a talent for stating the obvious. Of course we need to bring in top-class players, have a decent enough squad to rotate without any fall-off in quality, be as good as City, but we also need the hundreds of millions to achieve this.
    “Need to copy Man City’s blueprint”. “do things the Man City way”.
    I can just imagine how that would go down with whoever administers FFP, not to mention our real fans and the rest of the Premier League.
    On Just Arsenal, of course, they’ll love it.🤣

    1. Meedo I’m afraid they are just biding their time. It’s reminding me of their game at Palace when Olise gifted them a penalty late,late,late in that game. Bloody annoying.

        1. They will either score 6 against Leeds or tease us by only doing as little as possible to win. But win they will. Our best hope of them dropping points will be against Brighton, and that won’t be enough for us anyway. Ultimately we were our own worst enemy.

  7. MA should bring Vlahovic as we are heading to Champions league football and you need a striker who can utilize as many chances as possible(which is not the case with Jesus)because we are going to face teams with high level of intelligence. Midfield is an area which needs reinforcement also with top quality players .

  8. Yes, greater quality in depth is needed but more importantly “time” to develop style & tactical flexibility.
    Pep not only inherited a much better pool of players but didn’t have to undertake the radical surgery which often entailed massive scrutiny & criticism that Arteta did ( Ozil, Aubameyang,Pepe,Mustafi,Kolasinac, Luis,Pepe,Torreira,Guendouzi, Socrates,Bellerin ) before he could begin to establish his ideas and unity within the squad. Pep has been fine tuning an already title winning squad for 7 seasons.

    1. Nice, but try convincing the 885 brigade and they will happily give you a detailed course of how we won the “Top 4” err “Top6” Trophy

  9. We should not be copying anyone, that doesn’t work. It hasn’t this and when you copy, you end up being behind.

  10. The bias for city is nauseating, how do they not yellow for fouls everybody else gets.

  11. First of all, I haven’t read where and when Arsenal have said that they will sign some particular kinds of new players next summer transfer window. So therefore, incoming new transfers to Arsenal are looking to be insinuations insinuated by the transfer insinuators for Arsenal to do.
    For, Arsenal are still in this season’s title win run-in games still contesting to win the title.
    And with 4 games to play by them to end their campaign this season. I think Arsenal have not switched ON to next summer transfer window mode to bid for the signing, selling, loan in and out of any new players or Gunners.
    But they will eventually switched ON to next summer transfer window mode to do some transfers business after the season is closed.
    And of course the Kroenkes who have been supporting Arteta’s managed Arsenal with heavy transfer kitty since he came on board to sign some new top quality players, will not fail to support him. But will support him agains next summer window with some heavy transfer kitty to enable him put in place his Ucl Arsenal team next season.
    And I think Arteta will keep Folarin Balogun at Arsenal for the club’s next summer campaign. But will not have Arsenal sign a new striker if Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nkethia are still at Arsenal next summer.

  12. We’ll see this Summer if Arteta upgrades on players like Holding, ElNeny, Nketiah, to name a few.

    Talk is cheap let’s see the additions this Summer.

  13. The unexpected result to the favour of Arsenal could happen at the Etihad this Saturday, when Big Sam Alladyce the new Whites boss takes them to confront the Citizens. And the Whites could have a new manager bounce effect that may see them take all points surprisingly in the match. Or collect a point in it.
    Which prayerfully and hopefully coming from us Arsenal if it’s happened. Will slowdown Man City’s excesses from running away with this season’s Epl title win without a last run in challenge by Arsenal to stop them from achieving their aims.
    Nevertheless, Arsenal who are one match win away to make the Ucl next season MUST beat Newcaste United at away next Sunday night to qualify for the Ucl next season. And also remain in contention for the Epl title win this season.

  14. Man City 6 Leeds 0 (and PG will rest some players).
    Hasn’t Sam just been doing his landlord duties for the last two years. He’s a property magnate I think. Will he remember his game management skills in time for the game ?

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