Does Arsenal have a squad good enough to be a top-four team?

The evidence is clear, Arsenal do have a squad good enough for the top-four.

When reading some of the comments on here I have to admit I do shake my head in disbelief. One of the comments I do read on a fairly regular basis is the Arsenal players are not good enough for top-four.

Give me a break, of course, the players are good enough.

Last season Arsenal finished fifth, no ifs or buts that was the final position. Therefore they are not good enough. Problem with that is that is far too black and white and does not take into consideration the circumstances.

Arsenal should have finished top-four, they had it in their hands and blew it. Why that happened is up for debate. Some no doubt will blame the manager, some will blame Xhaka for the penalty against Brighton, some will even blame Aubameyang for the penalty miss against Tottenham. Trust me on this, everyone has been blamed at some point. Again that is the feedback I get from comments on this site.

It is easy to just close your ears and say you we never finished top-four, end of the debate. But to ignore why and then just say the players are not good enough is not what I would regard as a sensible position to take.

I do find it interesting that a poster on here will say the players are not good enough and that very same poster will put up a comment at a later date and say if so and so was manager we would have finished top-four.

In my opinion, this Arsenal squad is strong. Yes, there are some weak areas but no team is perfect in every single area, not even Liverpool. I mean Jordan Henderson and James Milner do an effective job for the Reds but they are hardly world-class.

What actual areas are that weak for Arsenal? Maybe central defence but for me, that is it. In Bellerin and Tierney we have two very good full-backs, better than a lot of teams.

The midfield is all over the place but Torreira is a bloody good player when played in the right position. Guendouzi is being recognised as a massive talent. Willock is coming through fast, Xhaka is a very good player, he has shown that many times in an Arsenal shirt. Ozil is divisive but few doubt his talents. Maitland-Niles could be anything, we just do not know because he has never really been given a chance.

Of course, some of you will argue every point with me but let me give you another sort of comparison.

Let’s take Tottenham, is Dier better than Torreira? Winks better than Guendouzi? Eriksen better than Ozil at this minute in time? Lamela better than Xhaka and so on?

Maybe some of them are but that is very questionable in my opinion. The difference is how they are set up, instructed and managed, and let me tell you this, we have not been humiliated at home this season like Spurs have, who for the record, are below us.

Then there are the forwards. Do I really need to convince anyone that our forward line is formidable?

Is Arsenal in a mess? Yes of course they are, but please do not tell me that they are not top-four quality.

Is it the manager? Confidence? Motivation? I do not know the full answer why Arsenal are where they are today, which is above Man Utd and Tottenham, but I do know that these players are good enough for top-four.

24 Comments

  1. They are good enough, as long as they play with Gegenpressing

    The players need to win the ball back high up the pitch, then we can capitalize on counter-pressing situations

    Lacazette, Martinelli and Guendouzi have that level of work ethics. The others just need to follow them

    1. I think that is to much of a simple view gotanidea. I don’t think just gengenpressing will fix everything. It is the whole setup lately. The midfield isn’t really clicking not defending, not moving play forwards fast enough. I think there are a lots of things to do, to improve and that isn’t just one thing.

      1. It’s more than the defence Idrissa. Even if the defence was solid there are problems running through the whole team.

  2. On paper we have the third best team after city and pool But tune in for a single game and witness us struggling against any side whether top middle or bottom of the table

  3. We have the squad but we do not have a coach to use them properly.

    GENGENPRESS OR WHATEVER ITS BEEN CALL. THATS NOT THE PROBLEM. THE PROBLEM IS USING THE PLAYERS WRONGLY.

  4. No

    We need:
    2 better CB
    A replacement for Ceballos
    A Top quality CAM
    A better LW

    These are the only players deserving to start for a Top 4 team:
    Leno
    Bellerin (even though he isn’t great at defending)
    Tierney
    Torreira
    Guendouzi
    Aubameyang
    Lacazette
    Martinelli maybe. Need to see more

    Our Defence is a MESS

  5. No!

    I looked at the best starting XI of Leicester/Arsenal combined, and it made for depressing reading.

    Forgetting form, and more importantly, looking at ability, this is what I came up with in a 4-3-3 formation.

    Schmeichel
    Pereira Evans Soyuncu Chilwell
    Tielemans Ndidi Maddison
    Pepe Vardy Aubameyang

    I could only get two Arsenal players in on ability.

  6. @Innit you are very right about the current deserving starting players in the team.

    There are 8 players you mentioned so remaining 3 positions goes to the CB positions and 1 winger.

    I think Chambers, Luiz, Pepe should complete the first 11.

    Aubameyang…

    Martinelli, Lacazette, Pepe…

    Guendouzi, Torreira…

    Tierney, Luiz, Chambers, Bellerin…

    Leno.

  7. Aubaameyang – Vardy

    Lacazette – Maddison

    Martinelli – Barnes

    Pepe – Perez

    Guendouzi – Tielemans

    Torreira – Ndidi

    Tierney – Chilwell

    Bellerin – Perreira

    Luiz – Soyuncu

    Chambers – Evans

    Leno – Schmeichel

    I think this is a closely matched teams

  8. You have hit the nail on the head Third Man.We have glaring weaknesses at centre back and in midfield,and are far more fragile in these areas than Chelsea,Leicester ,Wolves and even Man utd..I doubt if any Manager on the planet could turn us into a top four side this season but hopefully it would not take him long to leave out mediocre players like Socratis,Luis,Xhaka and Kolasinac.I’m afraid Emery does not seem to recognise the lack of quality in the players mentioned and along with his lack of tactical awareness I have given up on him.

    1. Honestly, I don’t believe in top 4. Top 4 makes no sense. Target should be a team that can win the league. Every player can perform to the required level. It takes a manager with balls. That Liverpool midfield Play that way because of the manager. It is down to the Manager. The manager creates the system to get the best out of every player he has. We have the squad that can win the league. But we don’t have the right manager. My advise the board should sack Emery now. Get in one of Mou, Arteta and Enrique. And in January, go for both Rakitic and Thomas Partey. For now, Play a 433 system. Midfield 3 of Torrera Luiz/Chambers and Ceballos. Front 3 of Aubameyang, Pepe and Martinelli. Sack Emery now.

    2. Pls how many players have Emery improved since he came around? U mean all our players have suddenly turned bad, u mean Evans is now a better defender than luiz? Like seriously? Tortiera has suddenly turned average? U guys can’t cease to amaze me for me

      1. @Uchman

        You think Luiz is a good defender? Wow! He’s an excellent ball-playing CB, but in regards to out-and-out defending, he’s always been an average CB at best. I couldn’t care less if our CB is great at free-kicks, or bringing the ball out from the back, because a CB’s primary objective is to defend! I like Torreira, but do you think he’s honestly a better DM than Ndidi?

  9. The problem is and has been management. Our strike force is amazing. Auba could walk into any team let’s be honest. Lacca could also get into most teams maybe not as 1at choice. And pepe is a signing that everyone wanted.

    Midfield. Why are not playing attacking football like arsenal is known for. For me toriera and gundozi should battle it out for that defensive role and ozil willock and ceballos should be pushing forward. Willock has the work rate and ozil.and ceballos have the vision

    Defence. Tierney holding chambers bellerin. Everyone else should be reserve until saliba comes then he can fight for a starting position.

    We need a manager like pep who is willing to attack. I personally would like.

    1st choice Erik ten Hag
    2nd choice freddie L
    3rd Henry
    4th Arteta

    I think we need a young manager who will be willing to stay and want to replicate wengers success. We would have to give him time. However, he would have to play exciting football and be attacking.

    This season started going downhill for emry from the liverpool game. Where he got the set up all wrong and cost us a ass whooping that we didnt even try in. As a play you would have though sod this and become very demoralised.

    #Emryout

  10. I think if all the players put all their effort in to winning football matches and realise we have weaknesses and thats just life, yes i think we have got the players for top 4. I think if we got in matuidi and say kostas manolas in January it would sort the two glaring weaknesses short term and give us a better chance.

  11. Our problem is the manger and his “chameleon” philosophy. Think that’s code for no F-ing idea how to get the best out of his team.

    We’re an attacking team but the coach handbrakes the team to satisfy his urge for “tactics.”

    Sit Chambers in front of CB’s, try that for a change. Send Emery a memo; Torreria is a DM FFS, not an AM.

  12. If Emery coach Fifa best eleven that include Cristiano Ronaldo,messi with some other best players before 2 seasons he will still find a way to bring them down to his average level,he’s Spell at psg as said it all,first season he won the league which the players will even win with any coach in the world base on the types of players they have and the likes of the club competin with them but after that season,Boom!!! look at the way he Burst his first leg 4-0 lead against Barcelona and get defeated 6 – 1 in the second leg,he later lost his job when the club management found out that he was not fit for there team even back then at Sevilla where he won 3 Europa league he always Strugle in the league to compete for top 4 and when he won europa and Qualify for champions league Automaticaly he wont come out of the group stage and he will return to his Beloved europa league and Repeat the same story and that is what he’s trying to do at Arsenal if they give him that chance my point,Emery is not a top class Sack him!!

  13. I also believe we have the players for a top-4 league positiion. We don’t need to compare them player for player with the Foxes players. The players we have are being coached wrongly, if at all, they are being played out of position and the coach’s tactics, or lack thereof, is confusing the players.

    Fire Emery NOW!

  14. Apart from the central defence, we have got world class players in every position. Emery should go and see the change in our results. Even if Messi and Ronaldo play in Emery’s team, they will lose to Norridge/Watford. The players are not the problem, the Coach, his tactics and formation/selection is the biggest problem, and the sooner that changes the better.

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