Arsenal opinion: The deadwood’s gone but now the balance is wrong

Deadwood gone but balance is wrong!

So my fellow Arsenal fans, here we are in month two of an already disappointing start to the New Year for our beloved club.

And as if it wasn’t bad enough we then had to sit through a whole transfer window watching clubs around us, namely our north London rivals Spurs, raid Juventus and sign a couple of decent players in Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur, while we sat back and enjoyed the show.

There is no denying those two would have been a good fit to our side, but yet again Arsenal spent all of their time and attention on letting players go, getting rid of the deadwood and reducing the wage bill.

Which is all well and good and by all means I am all for that as it is about time, however there is no balance.

You let players go and have a better looking squad wage bill wise, yet you have not replaced any of the players that have left and we know our luck with injuries and more recently suspensions too, so it doesn’t bode well!

The long running saga with Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang is finally over too after he belatedly joined Barcelona on a free transfer, but this is where you begin to see the mental and tactical ability and lack of it, of Edu.

A FREE transfer for a player that surely still has some life in him, I am sorry but that doesn’t make sense.

Any other club, in letting their ex club captain and one of their key strikers -(because let’s be honest he was a key striker long before his disciplinary problems) – go, would always ensure they have a backup coming in before the player even stepped foot on a plane to another club.

Arsenal could have been smart and swapped out Auba for Ousmane Dembele just so we had a temporary back up until summer.

But the fact that Edu and the board think that the likes of Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli and Alex Lacazette, to name a few, will be enough to fire us to the top four is just absolute nonsense in my eyes. And as much as I hope they are right I am struggling to see it happen right now!

Yes it can be argued we did well without Auba but the issue here is not his absence, it is the fact we have no replacement for him and zero additions to an already short squad.

Either way we are stuck with this current squad from now until the end of the season and will have to do what we can.

Let’s just hope the summer window is a lot busier with incomings then outgoings seeing as the deadwood has been sent away!

Here’s hoping hey Gooners!

Shenel Osman

@sh3n3l_

Tags Auba deadwood January transfer window

36 Comments

  1. Players leaving for the most part was correct, timing was horrific + not bringing in to bulk the squad.

    1-3 injuries, depending on the player, has the potential to ruin our whole season now.

    1. The deadwood have not all gone.
      Lacazette Nketia Niles Nelson Elneny Holding Bellerin Cedric Mari Mavropanos Torreira Guendouzie are still to be released.
      Most of the 20 man squad we have left at the Emirates are decent players. Just shy a CB a CM and a striker. So we are as lean a mean machine we have had for years

    2. Even a one red card or short-term injury for Laca screws us, because Nketiah is the only other striker! Even if Laca misses no games, he barely scores anyway!! We’re kind of in trouble whatever happens.

      For me, I’d start with ESR, and Saka on the wings, with Martinelli upfront. That would still leave us firepower on the bench with Laca and Pepe.

  2. Our biggest concern should be that no decent player wants to come and play for us.
    1. We are no longer a team that competes for trophies.
    2. Our owners are only concerned with making a profit.
    3. Nobody in their right mind would want to play under Arteta even if the first two obstacles didn’t exist.

    1. I think your 3rd point is spot on as we saw with our past summer recruiting, 6 players bought in with potential and out of those 6 I would say only Ramsdale and tomi have been consistent all season ,would any of those players get a start at our rivals im not so sure apart from the 2 mentioned .
      We even had an article this week describing Odegaard as the play maker we have been missing🤔
      These are the types of players we will have to come accustomed to as like you pointed out the top players will not be landing on our shores anytime soon .
      Arteta does not have that pull and his dreary tactics will be a turn off even if he could pull them off .
      Also what top player would even come here after the way players are just froze out and with no explanations to why .
      I predict for the foreseeable the same old same old seasons where we fight for 4th-8th until something changes from management to the board .

      1. You can’t expect young players to be resilient, but you can expect them to develop into the best version of themselves. And to become an asset for our club as player and market prospect. Now we have the youngest squad in the league with lots of exciting players. They have definitely potential to get better year by year.

        1. But the players will only get “better” if the manager is capable of getting the best or better out of them. The style of football we play and the conditions we play under, with the manager we have, do not suggest that wil happen. A manager can make a team and a player and also be detrimental.

          1. You should listen to people close to ManCity and Arsenal they don’t share your opinion. Did you expect the rebuild process to be finished? Nothing is perfect with us but it will be better. I have never seen anything that is getting better by being negative, I have chosen a different approach to life.

  3. We can still play with a false 9 and make top 4 provided our games are played at a high tempo…not the sideways and back passes we’ve seen lately. This means Lacazette will have to play deeper in midfield to give it some spine at least while pushing the younger players on in attack
    ——————–Ramsdale——————
    Tomiyasu——-White——Gabriel——-Tierney
    —————Partey——-Lacazzette————
    Odegaard————-Saka————-MartinellI
    —————————Pepe————————
    OR
    ———————–Ramsdale————–
    Tomiyasu——-White——Gabriel——-Tierney
    —————-Partey——-Lacazzette————
    Saka—————–Smith-Rowe——–MartinellI
    ———————Pepe/Nketiah—————–

    OR 4-4-2

    ————————Ramsdale———————-
    Tomiyasu——-White——Gabriel——-Tierney
    -Saka———Partey—–Lacazzette—-Smith-Rowe
    ———————Pepe——MartinellI—————

  4. Classifying Auba in the Title of Deadwood is complete insult to what he has done for us.
    In case you need to be reminded Auba have given us so much more than Arteta have ever done as both arsenal player and coach to manager
    I wanted Auba gone but to disrespectfully castigate him as he is been done is embarrassing, under Wenger and Emery we didn’t have issues with Auba, immediately he started struggling then he became troublesome and then became a virus to the team. This is now becoming a constant reoccurring theme.
    Who is next on this pathway maybe Pepe and then what is that how to protect the clubs assets or manage a situation?
    This club is becoming a joke
    Would Emery or most other manager be allowed to run the club this way..
    Or is this the reason why Arteta was sold to us because they knew that he would always devide opinion

  5. Tbh the obvious aim was to get players off the books for the summer spend. But it has left us short of experienced players not short on players. If you look at it January is a very silly window to invest in unless a player is running his contract down and you can get him cheap.

    We did try and sign Tammy Abraham in the summer, the problem there was why would Chelsea want to strengthen Arsanal. Then we went for Vlahovic this window. But his agents were looking for to run his contract down, leave La Viola for free to get a bigger payday from Juve at the end of the season. But that kicked us into action with little hope and forced Juve to sign him now.

    Look there 2 things we needed to sort out:

    1. discipline in the squad and no matter how we Guendouzi does in a micky mouse league. He was a consistent offender worse the Auba and was also constantly late to training and disruptive in team meetings. That isn’t something we need in our culture and does not breed success.

    Look at all the promising talents who have never reached their heights because of I’ll discipline. Adrian Mutu, Joey Barton, Niklas Bendtner, Pennant, Nile Ranger, Mario Balotelli, Adam Johnson, Robinoh and now Mason Greewood potentially. All destined to be far better than what there were. But their attitudes, habits and/or lack of discipline got in their way.

    2. A culture shift and remove the under achieving achieving aspect from the squad. As a stated yesterday about Aubamyang, ever since he joined us on the 31st January 2018 our goals per season has dropped considerably and coincided with us missing out on top 4. From the season he joined mid way through in Jan, we finished with a goal tally of 77 for the season. The following seasons it started to decline, 74 the season after, 57 after that, then 55, this season were currently on 36. Whats in black and white doesn’t lie and the fact you had a guy who yes could score 20+ goals per season but how many would we have scored if he could create.

    Now that’s not down to Auba being a shit player, nothing further from the truth. Its due to the fact we went from players who could create and score to and out and out finisher. A player who would rarely link up and bring players into the game. Allowing more goals to come from other areas of the squad which is key to any challenge. Our invincibles team didn’t solely rely on Thierry, he also created so many goals for his team mates like Reyes, Ljunberg, Reyes and Co through linking with them. We’re looking for that again and I completely agree with that strategy.

    For us to get where we need to be we need European football. Anything less than Europa League and it puts us in a very uncomfortable situation. If that doesn’t happen then both Edu and Arteta should have their P45’s. It’s obvious then that Arteta has the vision of what is needed but is unable to get it going on the pitch. The Edu it should be the final nail in the coffin. He’s messed up far too many times now. How he wasn’t sacked when the agent payments-gate happened along with Raul was beyond me. But he has to be put to blame for us being undercooked in the summer and leaving us undercooked now. Edu’s not a guy I want in charge of probably the most decisive transfer window of the last decade

    1. Let’s assume we didn’t have Auba and relied upon lacazette and Giroud
      I bet you we would have been a midtable club years back
      Keep spouting 🚮

      1. Also we had Laca and giroud for 2-3 Seasons and still scored into the 70goals + per season again check your facts before you chat shit and insult an opinion

        1. such baby soft skin…I knew you couldn’t resist recycling that week-a** info you dug up yesterday…btw you probably should be careful with your research methodology wikiJames, especially when discussing the Invincibles so statements like this don’t get posted, “he also created so many goals for his team mates like Reyes, Ljunberg, Reyes and Co”

  6. 1. How come he managed Laccazette, Xhaka situation but fell out with Ozil and Aubameyang ?
    2. Has Ozil been able to rediscover his form since he left Arsenal?
    3. Was Aubameyang not already getting Arsenal fans worried for his form and some fans questioning Arteta for not benching him ?
    4. Has Arsenal not played better and scored more goals in the first 5 matches we played without him ?
    5. When the disciplinary action was taken was he remorseful?
    6. Does his goals make up for his lack of good leadership that could have ruined the discipline and focus of the young core : Ramsdel , Gabreal ,Tomiyasu, Thierney, Lokonga, Saka ,Martnelli , Smith Rowe ,Ordeengaard , Tavares ,White . that is 80% of the first team.
    Conclusively , I am not in support that they could not replace him with another proven striker. To mention that the team is now very thin ,I agree 100% but to say there is no balanced squad ,I disagree .

  7. does anyone remember how much Barca was willing to pay for Auba 2 years ago before he signed his contract?
    I think it was 60 or 70 mill?

    1. In retrospect everything fits our opinions. Some ment we should sell and some not. He is 33 years old in June and he has declined. The PL is a challenging league and I don’t think he has more to offer here, but he could have success in a less challenging league.

  8. Arsenal have become a footballing soap opera a laughing stock in this country and it’s all done to the board as they got arteta and Edu and why hasn’t the pair come out and explained what the hell is going on in OUR club. I say our club because at the end of the season when arteta and edu are gone they wont invest anymore time in the club not like us the supporters. Imo we wont get cl football next season lucky to get 7th

    1. @Perry ames.
      Perry every club believes they are the laughing stock of the country. But in reality no club is the laughing stock because 99% of football actually fans don’t care a hoot about any other club but their own. 99% of non Arsenal fans don’t care about anything that happens at Arsenal. Only when we play them do they temporarily take an interest but an hour after the game we are forgotten. We way over rate our importance in the footballing millieu.

      1. I respect you views but would respectfully disagree as I have friends who are liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester city, spuds and also a Sheffield United fan and they are laughing at us and not each other because of the way the club is being run but I will support the club and wait to see what happens if we get top 4

      2. Fairfan , Sometimes, as in this post, you write such obvious and welcome sound sense, but at other times you have such truly left field views that leave me wondering quite what sort of person you really are.

  9. Bentancur is better than our midfeilders, spurs have not break the bank and he is young enough.

  10. Clever strategy by our club, first we give them big contracts then turn them into deadwood n trouble makers then boot them out so fans don’t turn on Edu & Arteta. We did same to ozil n now to Auba. I won’t say anything about fans we have a proud history of abusing/defaming our own players/managers Wenger, ozil, Auba, Kos etc list goes on and one.

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