Just a final point on the whole Eze and Xavi Simons as LW stuff. First off neither are LW and if it ever appeared like that on a team sheet that's all it looked like. At palace Eze played on the inside with overlapping fullbacks and Xavi Simons for better or worse basically had a free role behind two strikers at Leipzig. Now at Arsenal we don't play with overlapping fullbacks we play with inverted ones (awful I know) so something's got to give there either it pushes Eze wider which isn't natural for him or we end up with more sideways passing in front of a low block not hurting teams. And as for Xavi Simons he wouldn't be afforded a free role here and playing on the left he'd have to do things he's not used to.
Said from day one.Palace won’t budge on the figure.They didn’t with Zaha & they won’t with Eze.Cough up or forget & move on.They will accept instalments.Unless I’m missing something it couldn’t be easier. No f** ng about reqd.
Agree with that. The whole wait to the end of window for a better deal was never going to happen. Palace dont need to sell and Eze seems fine to stay there.
So if we don't get Eze, as now seems likely and we end up with the average Madueke, I'm sure all the Artetaknowswsbest brigade will come on here and defend the indefensible. You know who, the people who cannot allow any questioning, let alone challenging our transfer policy, but will meekly say "it is what it is, and label people as Les Misérables, bedwetters or any other pathetic attempt to defray attention away from the poor signing of another Chelsea cast-off. Who would they rather have? Madueke or Eze?! Says it all, bunch of losers.
Or maybe you could just get behind our new players and let them at least try and prove themselves before having a temper tantrum.
Whatever your thoughts are on Arteta, the likes of Noni aren’t in charge of our transfer policy, and so taking out your ire on him is both unfair and counterproductive.
Why is it always “Arteta knows best” or “Arteta knows nothing”? This place is like a playground
Because people like you will accommodate any crap signing when it was not the priority. This site is a discussion arena. We all have prats here that think they know everything, who predict things, who see YouTube videos and then label anyone who does not agree with them miserable or bedwetters for example.. Nothing about players "proving themselves" ffs. Its about an idiotic transfer policy that some people lie down and accept. Quite pathetic.
It really annoys me when people shoe horn a player in to one position. Players have their natural positions. But to me, it is about understanding what managers want and what they are trying to execute. There is no one right way to play football.
I have seen Conte turn Victor Mosses in to a RWB, I have seen Pep turn Stones in to a CDM by inverting him to midfield, I have seen Trent and Robertson play a Beckham role as if it was a 442. I have even seen Del Bosque play with Cesc fabregas as a CF. Arshavin and Nasri were our best players at times playing wide even though they look nothing like the wingers we have had.
This is especially true for attacking mids and wingers. Foden and Bernardo Silva the clearest examples. Even Grealish isn't a natural LW for pep. But they have played wide for the greatest manager of all time.
So I don't care who we bring in on the left as long as they have the required technical quality and ability. Good footballers always find solutions. Especially against teams that sit back. This is part of the reason why Nwaneri performed much better than Trossard and Martinelli even though he isn't a natural winger. I want Rodrygo, Eze or Simons to come in. I didn't want Nico Williams, Rafael Leao because I see the same type of crap decision making I see in other players.
The old square pegs in round holes approach still eh like that's been working out for us. Here's a wild thought but why not just buy a player and play him in his best position? Or address a need with a player who plays said position? Crazy take I know
Yes in what little senior minutes Nwaneri has gotten he has shown that he's more winger/attacker than creative midfielder. I think he's shown he's got the skill set to take on people and the desire for goals over the guile and technical ability of a CAM. He's an attacker not a creative. For me anyhow and technical speaking for Mikel too since he never really played him CAM
I disagree with this. Nwaneri's off the ball movement is almost non existent if we are seeing him as a winger. He doesn't run in behind the fullback off the ball. He also lacks at times in tracking back and covering his fullback. Also when he goes on the outside his accuracy of cutting the ball back or getting in a good cross with his right is ineffective.
He is just a CAM who also happens to be fantastic at beating players and shooting. And I have seen his more of creative side with the crosses, reverse passes than I have winger qualities. His best goals all have come from going in to central areas.
The kid is just elite. That is why he makes it work. Not because he is a natural winger. But give me the better player even if he doesn't do winger things at time. Because you will benefit from his creative side even out wide.
In the first paragraph you talk about poor cutbacks and crosses from the wings and the second paragraph is talking about how good his crosses and reverse passing is...I suppose it depends on what your argument is really. But yeah no he's been far better in one position than the other. It's only now become an argument because a certain player was signed
I said "with his right". There is a step over he does and then crosses it with his right and it rarely ends up as a goal. And he doesn't go beyond his fullback like a natural winger. There were times last season where timber or Odegaard were waiting for him to make the run and he doesn't because it isn't natural to him.
When he cuts in on his left, he delivers. Merino's goal at Leicester, Martinelli's goal at Brentford from the top of my head, from situations he created cutting inside.
He has also scored goals playing Centrally while Sterling was playing RW. Especially in the league cup.
His goal against City is going inside. Against Girona he took it very central to find the space. The PSV goal was him running in to a central area.
The only goal I remember from him that screams winger was the Brighton goal.
He is like Foden. He is a central player that has the technical ability to play wide.
"Weren't you the guy who was screaming for Eze for two years? This is all about your obsession over Odegaard."
I had not make a single remark towards him until now he decided to say how annoyed he is at people (like me). I'm literally the only guy here who doesn't like Eze at LW. It's obvious it's addressed at me and potentially others.
You've been pretty hard on me lately. I might start agreeing with others how you're policing the blog when I've defended you the whole time.
I do sometimes when I realise I'm spending too much of my time on here and I find myself butting heads with posters. I've cut out directly responding to a whole list of people who get angry too easily and take it out on anybody who picks them up for being consistently negative about all things Arsenal.
It's obviously their right to be the way they want to be on an anonymous blog stream and I'm wasting my time. I get accused of 'policing' the blog. Ironically by accusing me of policing they are in their way policing the blog from those posters like me, who find their views generally repetitive, negative and uninteresting.
Especially the “good footballers always find solutions” line.
Versatile players like Eze and Simons will always be more productive in that position(LW) than a winger like Trossard because they are better footballers. More than Martinelli too at this point because his game seems to be too one dimensional. He’s young enough to improve but the clocks ticking.
Leao and Nico are more traditional wingers but with better physical ability to be more of a threat than our current wingers but I’d still prefer Eze to them.
Rodrygo I think would give us Saka like output if he comes in but again is also versatile enough to play right or even up front.
I would have preferred Rodrygo or Kvaratskhelia in Jan. And I even think Barcola is a fantastic player. These players give you 1 vs 1 ability as well as incisive passes. Like having Saka on the opposite flank.
But I prefere Eze or Simons because they are adequate in beating players but have superior creativity. I don't think Leao's and Williams's decision making/Passing and crossing ability was enough for me.
EXCL: Granit Xhaka informs Bayer Leverkusen he only wants to join Sunderland as club-to-club talks continue. Agreement now in place between 32yo & #SAFC. #Bayer04 asked by Switzerland midfielder to close deal rapidly. Negotiations ongoing.
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Would be a shocking transfer. Left Arsenal to play for Sunderland... Not that he didn't have an unbelievable season with Leverkusen but still.
That's what you want from your AM. Menace everywhere across the pitch. And high versatility to play in any position in attack. KDB is a unicorn but Ozil fits that description and heat map well.
Both direct decisive upgrades on Odegaard.
I don't have a similar heat map of Simons to make a direct comparison.
Both of those are amazing players, and I agree that last season Odegaard was far from his best, but I'm not sure how heatmaps prove anything if those players aren't being utilised by their managers in the same way. One hope with Zubimendi is that we can get the ball up the pitch quicker, and then MO hopefully won't need to spend half his time running the entire length of the pitch back towards our goal to get the ball and try to move forward.
Yes he was far from his best last season, and it was frustrating when he didn't pull the trigger and took too many touches, but in general our entire attacking play last season was turgid and I don't think you can solely point the finger at him. I do not agree that he's been bad the entire time though, and I think we should stop applying recency bias and making out he's some sort of shit player. And, as I've just said, we need to factor in how much is down to a player underperforming, and how much is down to players following instructions.
Either way, he's not going anywhere this season, we get it, you don't like him and you want him sold, but it's not happening this season, so not sure why this needs to be a discussion every day. If he has another season like last, then fair enough it's probably time to move on. And best of all you can spend all of next summer telling us you told us so multiple times a day every single day.
Also - even if we wanted to flog him and replace him with one of those two, there is no way on earth we'd be able to buy Palmer and I doubt Villa would sell to us either as for some reason they think we're a direct rival, so it's all a moot point. Might as well start dropping Lamine Yamal heatmaps and show how we want Trossard to play like him.
I have no idea if he would be good on the left (if we sign him), but all you’re demonstrating is that Crystal Palace were not playing him on the LW in a 433 - no one is disputing this, the idea is that he *could* play there. Fine if you don’t agree, but showing heatmaps of him playing for a different manager in a different system proves nothing
We're talking about a 27 yo, worth nearly 60-70m and if we're going to change his position from now on and hope it clicks, I don't know what we're doing.
We did that with a 24 yo Declan who had already demonstrated physicality good enough to be a box-to-box midfielder and the DM role was limiting his unbelievable potential.
But Eze's physicality would not allow him to go up and down the flank, that's why he's never played there as a typical winger.
He could possibly play LW but it wouldn't really be a LW more of a left sided playmaker/advanced midfielder/forward. And for that we would need a rampaging full back able to provide the much needed width. We don't have such a full back. And it wouldn't be ideal either any way I look at it.
Like I said I’m not making a case for or against, just that pointing how CP have utilised him isn’t definitive proof of anything.
Ive not watched enough of him to know whether he could play on the left, and I know he has had some bad injuries and I don’t know anything about his physicality, so you may have a point I don’t know, but yeah all I’m saying is those heatmaps only show how he was being used at CP and don’t prove that we would be signing him solely to play as a left 8.
I’ve read some stuff that suggests we were sounding him out in case Ethan didn’t sign da ting which makes sense, but if our interest is genuine and separate from that, maybe we’re just trying to have a bigger squad of excellent players…
Arteta is shit at rotating because he’s by nature risk averse and clearly doesn’t have full confidence in the tier b players - maybe this would be an effort to have a squad where there is no significant drop off, where a player like Eze could play on the left AND in the middle? Obviously this is all conjecture, but our season got derailed by Christmas because of, among other things, we lost Martin and then Bukayo for extended periods, and subsequently Kai and others. It could be that trying to stack our squad with versatile high quality players we are trying to mitigate this and so discussing whether player X is an ideal candidate to play position Y 65 times in a year is irrelevant to our approach.
Anyway this is all theoretical, and as Mikel has shown no tendency to rotate at all up to now I hold my hands up and admit I could be chatting pure shit here (especially if it turns out interest in him was just a contingency plan in case we lost Ethan), but yeah our business thus far (Zubi and, if he signs, VG aside) seems to be more about raising the floor rather than the ceiling of the squad. Whether that’s the right approach we’ll have to wait and see, because I feel there are going to be a few more twist & turns yet
How do Eze and Ode heat maps look identical just on two different flanks?
Eze doesn't provide width like to receive the ball on the wing. He is playing like an advanced midfielder even closer to a second striker than a winger.
It doesnt mean Timber for example, cannot provide width(while left sided forward stays narrow), it means, Transactional wants majority of our play to be on the right flank.( He has reasons)
Sorry mate.Wrong blog for virtue signaling.They are a bunch of low life ,theiving arabs.Who don’t have any principles or an ounce of honour. They have shifted the goalposts multiple times.And that’s not me saying it.Hows that?
Nigel 100% right.And am surprised at Pedro,if true,pulling him on an entity outside of this forum.Really surprised.😳
I'll make a wild guess, put me on record and let's see if I get it right.
I don't see a future where we sell Tross and get Eze. To me that's impossible.
If we're selling Tross to add Eze that would mean Eze is considered an actual, real option for the LW. I don't see Eze as a left winger, not at all.
In a team with Martinelli, Trossard and Madueke all able to play LW, I don't see how Eze starts at LW ahead of them.
We won't start the season with Martinelli/Eze as our LW options, Madueke will always be played ahead of Eze there so you're basically buying a third AM.
Even if he's played at LW sometimes, we would need an offensive full back willing to stretch the attack at will and run non stop up and down the wing. We don't have such a full back.
Eze is a left sided version of Odegaard, he isn't a LW.
That's why it should be - sell Ode, buy Eze even if they occupy different sides, something can be tweaked to make it work.
Or the better option - get Rogers or Simons who are able to play 4-5 different positions in attack and are VASTLY more versatile than Eze.
Why have you decided that he can't play as a left winger? He has far more pace and power than Ode, and is happy to beat a man on the outside. I completely agree that he's most effective drifting inside. But the width doesn't have to come from a full-back. All three of the major strikers on the market this summer, like to pull wide left and would dove-tail nicely with him. Ekitike has obviously already moved, so he's out. Sesko would have been my preference. But a Gyökeres heatmap shows that he spends a good part of most games floating around the left touchline. He'd work well with Eze, I just don't see the club spending circa £120m on two 27 year olds.
I don't think he works much defensively although he's excellent in pressing and stealing balls.
I don't think he has a huge engine on him to go up and down the flank (not that Tross does).
I don't think he ever goes close to the sideline or the goal line.
His heat map is identical to the heat map of Odegaard but on the left side.
He absolutely wouldn't provide width to our attacks.
I think he's slower than Trossard, much slower than Marti and Saka, he's slower than even Odegaard although a much better dribbler and trickier.
I don't see how he provides much versatility to us at all.
At what he does, I absolutely love the player. But he is not versatile (imo) and if we're going to play him in some weird ass positions, might as well not get him at all.
To me, Eze would be our best AM if he joined even if his position is weird but getting him just to play AM wouldn't make sense if we're not selling another AM.
If Eze joined today, I highly doubt he would start at LW ahead of Marti, Tross and Noni.
Appreciate the candid whinge Pedro, tho I do think Gyokores will be an automatic starter and a banger up front if we finally sign the guy
I’ve always wondered why Arsenal don’t put more focus on poaching the people who oversee sales and outgoings at Chelsea, Brighton etc?
Why is it that these clubs (and several others) can routinely ship off players to anyone for great fees whilst for us it’s the biggest ask in the world? Edu had started to improve on that last summer with balogun nketiah and smith Rowe collectively bringing in some solid (not exceptional) money
But honestly speaking we’ve spent the best part of 90m so far this window on squad fillers (Zubimendi excluded from that cost) - how much would it cost to poach some of the staff from other clubs who are so good are selling? In the old days Chelsea had that woman marina something or other and she was a fucking monster saleswoman time and again. I bet for 5m a year she’d have come to Arsenal and we’d be 200m better off over the last 5 years without impacting the quality of our squad at all.
That 200m over 5 years reinvested in the team would’ve probably led to a couple of titles and a CL given the quality of the rest of the squad
Wenger, whilst he often (not always) sold well under market rate, was also a beast at drumming up interest in players. Every summer big teams were banging on our door enquiring about half our squad, including the kids. Now nobody gives a shit apart from a few exceptions like Saliba. It’s weird
- His future was linked to Ethan’s hence my statement “until a formal approach is made, proceed with caution”
- Since the talks / glowing references from Arsenal players Arteta is obsessed and directly communicated this to the board.
- My understanding is personal terms have never been an issue. Once source said, he would sign a 5 year deal tomorrow.
- Furthermore, I also understand he has told Chelsea and Bayern his preference is Arsenal but how long can a player wait?
- Informal dialogue has taken place with Palace but nothing further as of today.
- Arsenal will focus on sales and hopefully the sale of Trossard opens the door?
The hope is Andrea makes sales and picks up the phone to Steve Parish. If anything develops further I will be sure to update you.
It is well known in the industry Parish is honourable and straight forward. He would use the money to re-invest into Selhurst Park and other club matters. There is a deal there to be done.
That is all I have on Eze specifically.
Let me be clear… WE HAVE TO SIGN EZE.
We cant go into the season short again.
The fans are not asking for €200m signings like Yamal or Mbappe.. they are asking for a Hale End boy who directly fits a massive hole in our squad.
The facts laid bare.
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If we don't sign him, they better win with whatever they got. Because they chose to spend the money on Madueke.
He literally got what gunnerblog said today and made a 200 words essay on it. Zero information we didn't know. Basically what Orny did with Manure earlier - a lot of words, zero meaning.
Then, my opinion. A third AM makes less sense than a winger that can play on both wings. Eze is a left sided Odegaard when we already play Rice there. If we're not selling Ode and now that we renewed Nwaneri, it makes little sense to go after Eze.
He would be a 60-68m problem, not a problem solver.
He doesn't fit our current system, he would play far from Saka, who is our best player and we need a connection between our most talented players.
The only way he fits is if we either move Rice to the right side and having Rice next to Saka would be far from ideal, or we would have to move Rice to a deeper role somewhere next to Zubi so Eze could play centrally, which could be a thing but yeah... a big change.
We already have a good system, we need better performers. We have 2 LWs and 2 AMs.
Need a better LW? Sell a left winger and get a new one.
Need an AM upgrade? Sell an AM and get a new one.
Same way we had 1 RW and we added Madueke - that made sense.
I'd rather we get a LW upgrade - Rodrygo, but if that's not possible, attack Rogers or Simons - both can provide cover across 4-5 positions in attack.
Dude you literally posted the quotes from Arteta about the new mentality around squad building and rotation and the fact there's big chat about Madueke getting minutes on the left as well as the right, sounds like Arteta is really thinking about mixing things up going forward.
Don't know why you're thinking so rigidly about Eze. He will play in 2 or 3 positions so will get plenty of starts and minutes overall.
We know Rice likes to drift out to the touchline at times to link with Martinelli Imagine him doing that with Eze, with Eze being able to run riot through the middle. Or Eze starting in more transitional games at the left 8 with Madueke/Martinelli outside.
He'll give us more flexibility, more unpredictability as opponents will often be second guessing our lineups.
Nothing wrong with having a wildcard in the squad.
Well Raptora is correct. if we are signing Eze to play left wing, then tross or Martinelli needs to be sold. If he's to play AM then odegard needs to be sold. We can't have all of them in the same squad.
If we didn't sign Zubimendi then we would have been able to do a little shuffle around and fit in everyone. Rice at 6, ode as a RCM and Eze as LCM/LAM with still adequate cover in Merino and Noorgard.
So I don't know but Eze or anybody LW/CAM option depends on sales at the moment
Of course, he's better than them. I don't know if Arsenal are ruthless enough to have informed either of Martinelli and Trossad that they would be upgraded so can look for new clubs.
Arsenal fans may have previously heard Mikel Arteta referring to players as being in “Tier One”.
Last season, he hypothesised about the difficulty of accommodating “five full-backs that all feel that they are tier one”. This summer, Arsenal have internally described both Martin Zubimendi and Noni Madueke as “Tier One” signings.
Speaking to reporters during Arsenal’s tour of Singapore, Arteta confirmed: “‘Tier One’ means that they have the capacity to be starters basically.”
Previously, Arsenal categorised their squad in terms of tiers — Tier One, Tier Two, and Tier Three – but Arteta suggested that system may be evolving.
“The Tier One, Two, Three system I don’t believe in that much now,” he explained. “The way the game’s evolving, the demands we put in with 70, 75 games per season.
“At the end we want to build a team, like other clubs already have, where you look at the squad and you cannot really identify who is going to play tomorrow. If we get to that point, and that competitiveness has as well the right level of co-operation between the players, that’s what we want.”
As Arsenal look to move to a squad model with a wider distribution of top talent, the tier system is already becoming outdated.
“Now I’ll change it,” said Arteta. “Because that’s going to mould, and now we’re going to have the capacity as well to decide who is in the best condition to play this game hopefully. Because last year? No.
“Last year the line up was done, ‘Give me five players who can finish 90 minutes.’ Those five? Ok, those I have to play. ‘Now give me another five who can do this and then…’ and we played like this for seven months.”
“We need to get away from that, because those restrictions have limited our capacity to perform and then have the freshness that we need at the end of the season.
“Hopefully this season is going to be very different, and we can decide what is the best team with the best players to play against this opponent today, and then we want to change the game, the team — whatever the context is, winning, drawing or losing — we can change it immediately and have those players that can impact the result.”
The reshaping of the Arsenal squad is just one of the adaptations Arteta is making in his quest to end Arsenal’s wait for silverware.
“The only thing that (the players) were talking about at the end of last season and the first day through the door is, ‘OK, how are we going to be better? How are we going to do more?’,” he said.
“We know that we are so close now in two big competitions and we just want to make the next step. There are going to be a lot of details and moments that have to go our way. We have to push for that to happen.”
Arteta believes that, after this summer’s transfer window, Arsenal will be closer than ever.
“Every year we have to see how things develop but I see the right balance in terms of maturity, experience, youth, hunger — and all these ingredients are there,” he said.
“The thing is there are another six, seven, eight clubs in the league that have the right ingredients to win and there is only going to be one winner. So we have to focus a lot on the things that we can control, that we can do, to achieve what we want at the end of the season.”
We can imagine that signings like Kepa Arrizabalaga or Christian Norgaard were categorised as “tier two” additions: players with the experience and quality to play a supporting role in the squad, and step into the first eleven when required.
It’s interesting that Madueke, like Zubimendi, has been described as a “tier one” signing. That makes sense, given the size of the fee — Arsenal could pay a total of £52million for the 23-year-old winger. It suggests Arteta wants more than two wide players he considers of ‘starting’ quality, affording him the ability to rest and rotate.
Having lost Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli to hamstring injuries in the second half of last season, Arteta and Arsenal appear to be mitigating against that kind of risk.
This reads great but it’s only meaningful if he’s brave enough to actually do it and rotate
That means when you’re second in the table and your best players are on a great run of form that you are brave enough to rest a couple of key players despite being desperate for points.
The words are easy to say but the proof will be in the pudding if he dares to have a fully fit Rice/Saka/Ode/Saliba/Gabriel on the bench to manage their load even for a big game sometimes. I’ll believe it when I see it
It's more of a head scratcher really than interesting cos this means that Arteta sees Noni as a starting 11 player. I mean the talent ID of Arteta has always been in question but this really rubber stamps it for me.
Trossard and Martinelli maybe tier 1 in our squad and basically Noni is their equal so can rotate with them but the Tier we need to be worried about isn't our squad tier but the league tier cos obviously with what we have, we haven't won the league with it so it can't be League tier 1.
Liverpool, city, Newcastle all have league tier 1 wingers and if we are being honest, our bunch is a level below and needs to be improved upon if we want to do anything if note.
We have league tier 1 defence, DM and CM are ok, AM is debatable. We don't have league tier 1 left winger and strikers. That's what we need to win..
Marti could be a tier 1 if he is used properly and he hasn't been which should be on the agenda really.
Arteta getting Noni basically says - "I rate the player that Chelsea don't rate as highly" and it isn't something new as he already did that with Havertz. Back then I said Arteta is putting his name on the line and he won that bet when a lot of our supporters doubted it.
City don't have better wingers than Arsenal - Grealish? Doku? Savinho? Who of them is better than Saka and even Martinelli? They are at the current Madueke level.
Newcastle have who? Gordon and Elanga? I don't even consider Gordon a worthy upgrade on Marti. Marti could be better if we use him properly and I wouldn't drop a fortune for Gordon just so we can get a marginal upgrade. Saka is levels above any of them.
Liverpool have Salah and Diaz also Gakpo, yes, they are fantastic.
As you say, we have tier 1 defence and DM, CM. The AM position is an issue. The CF needs another player able to play there but our starter is tier 1.
Savinho, foden, marmoush, are wing options that are better than what we have. City have won the league with foden the star of it and I know you don't rate him but facts are facts.
Doku is their only winger that's same level with ours. I know all about ceilings and coulda woulda shoulda but fact is Martinelli has been really poor for 2 seasons and we need to upgrade his position.
We haven't moved the starting 11 at all. Of all the players signed, only Zubimendi is likely to be a starter and his quality is not better than Partey (at least not until after 3 months bedding in period).
On paper, we have moved the squad but what use is it when they won't get to play much or influence important matches? It's just a head scratcher how we choose to do business.
I'd think that a serious club that wants to win (not compete) would have told Martinelli and Trossad that they are both up for sale as an upgrade would be coming in. Hopefully that's what's happened behind the scene. Sign a fucking left winger and complete Gyo so we can at least have a first 11 that can rival our competition
Arsenal admire left-wingers Rodrygo (Real Madrid) and Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United). The futures of existing wide options Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard may determine whether that interest develops further.
They have also explored a move for Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze. A new long-term contract for 18-year-old Ethan Nwaneri — which Arsenal are in the process of finalising — may make a deal for Eze less of a priority.
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Re left wingers, it's rehashing of the same old "news". Basically, nothing at all. That position is not a priority as of now.
Re Eze, obviously it makes little sense to pay 60+m for a THIRD attacking midfielder when we already have 2 other highly rated players in that position. We need an upgrade on Ode, not a THIRD player in his position. Our mistake is not trying to actively sell him but if we've decided to go with him and after renewing Ethan, we cannot be adding a third expensive AM, it would make no sense. If we're keeping Ode it would make more sense to go for someone like Simons or Rogers that can provide better versatility across our front line than Eze who is literally a left sided version of Ode and nothing more. I'm not even sure Eze fits our team unless we make a switch in formation since Rice plays the left sided midfielder for us.
Eze is a different player to Ode and Nwaneri. Eze plays in the left half space, Ode and Nwaneri in the right half space. Eze is a perfect signing as we can start him as a left winger in some games - and in games against smaller teams where we are pushing for a goal, Rice can be dropped back to the 6 and Eze come on to play left 8, with Ode still on the pitch as the right 8. Eze is also prem ready and so we know that there won't be an adaption period.
What is frustrating is that from a squad building perspective, I can't see the club signing two 27 year olds. Sesko and Eze would have been two dream signings. With Gyokeres being prioritised, the chances of signing Eze diminish in my opinion.
"What is frustrating is that from a squad building perspective, I can't see the club signing two 27 year olds. Sesko and Eze would have been two dream signings. With Gyokeres being prioritised, the chances of signing Eze diminish in my opinion."
Absolutely agree.
"Eze plays in the left half space, Ode and Nwaneri in the right half space."
I already said that but I see that more of an issue than of help.
"Rice can be dropped back to the 6 and Eze come on to play left 8, with Ode still on the pitch as the right 8."
Zubi is here to start 90%+ of our games. Rice is here to play 90%+ of our games. Eze wouldn't join us to play 20% of our games.
"we can start him as a left winger in some games"
Not really unless both Marti, Tross and Madueke are injured.
You didn't say that Eze and Ode operate in different spaces. You said they play the same position. But now that you are in agreement with the first part, how is having the opportunity to have increased creativity in our team more of an issue than a help? We drew too many games last year and failed to create enough chances.
Re the left wing. Firstly, I would say that if Eze is signed, Tross should be sold. Madueke never should have been signed. And Eze would offer something very different to Marti on the left wing. I see no reason why he wouldn't start plenty of games ahead of him.
New post.
Just a final point on the whole Eze and Xavi Simons as LW stuff. First off neither are LW and if it ever appeared like that on a team sheet that's all it looked like. At palace Eze played on the inside with overlapping fullbacks and Xavi Simons for better or worse basically had a free role behind two strikers at Leipzig. Now at Arsenal we don't play with overlapping fullbacks we play with inverted ones (awful I know) so something's got to give there either it pushes Eze wider which isn't natural for him or we end up with more sideways passing in front of a low block not hurting teams. And as for Xavi Simons he wouldn't be afforded a free role here and playing on the left he'd have to do things he's not used to.
This is awfully true
Guinness now at The Arsenal
I mean that's the biggest signing we've made this summer.
I mean with how Arsenal aided and abated Partey on his heinous crime you'd think we'll be losing sponsors instead of making new ones
Guinness is god tier.
lol😂
Bobby Manzi
Crystal Palace have no intention of negotiating below Eberechi Eze’s release clause, despite interest from Arsenal.
The valuation is firm, with a clear payment structure, and the club are unlikely to compromise.
Eze, 27, is under contract at #CPFC until 2027.
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Alex Crook
Alexander Isak wants £300k-a-week to sign a new contract at Newcastle.
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Marca
All Real Madrid first-team players have been informed of their roles for the upcoming season.
Players are currently on holiday but are reflecting on whether to stay or seek a move.
Rodrygo will find it difficult to get playing time.
Said from day one.Palace won’t budge on the figure.They didn’t with Zaha & they won’t with Eze.Cough up or forget & move on.They will accept instalments.Unless I’m missing something it couldn’t be easier. No f** ng about reqd.
Agree with that. The whole wait to the end of window for a better deal was never going to happen. Palace dont need to sell and Eze seems fine to stay there.
So if we don't get Eze, as now seems likely and we end up with the average Madueke, I'm sure all the Artetaknowswsbest brigade will come on here and defend the indefensible. You know who, the people who cannot allow any questioning, let alone challenging our transfer policy, but will meekly say "it is what it is, and label people as Les Misérables, bedwetters or any other pathetic attempt to defray attention away from the poor signing of another Chelsea cast-off. Who would they rather have? Madueke or Eze?! Says it all, bunch of losers.
Or maybe you could just get behind our new players and let them at least try and prove themselves before having a temper tantrum.
Whatever your thoughts are on Arteta, the likes of Noni aren’t in charge of our transfer policy, and so taking out your ire on him is both unfair and counterproductive.
Why is it always “Arteta knows best” or “Arteta knows nothing”? This place is like a playground
Because people like you will accommodate any crap signing when it was not the priority. This site is a discussion arena. We all have prats here that think they know everything, who predict things, who see YouTube videos and then label anyone who does not agree with them miserable or bedwetters for example.. Nothing about players "proving themselves" ffs. Its about an idiotic transfer policy that some people lie down and accept. Quite pathetic.
🥱
Super 🥱
It really annoys me when people shoe horn a player in to one position. Players have their natural positions. But to me, it is about understanding what managers want and what they are trying to execute. There is no one right way to play football.
I have seen Conte turn Victor Mosses in to a RWB, I have seen Pep turn Stones in to a CDM by inverting him to midfield, I have seen Trent and Robertson play a Beckham role as if it was a 442. I have even seen Del Bosque play with Cesc fabregas as a CF. Arshavin and Nasri were our best players at times playing wide even though they look nothing like the wingers we have had.
This is especially true for attacking mids and wingers. Foden and Bernardo Silva the clearest examples. Even Grealish isn't a natural LW for pep. But they have played wide for the greatest manager of all time.
So I don't care who we bring in on the left as long as they have the required technical quality and ability. Good footballers always find solutions. Especially against teams that sit back. This is part of the reason why Nwaneri performed much better than Trossard and Martinelli even though he isn't a natural winger. I want Rodrygo, Eze or Simons to come in. I didn't want Nico Williams, Rafael Leao because I see the same type of crap decision making I see in other players.
Get quality that is it.
The old square pegs in round holes approach still eh like that's been working out for us. Here's a wild thought but why not just buy a player and play him in his best position? Or address a need with a player who plays said position? Crazy take I know
I am okay with that. Just don't want an okay winger when we already got two of those right now. Give me Rodrygo and I will take him over Eze.
Otherwise, give me the better footballer even if he was out of position.
And you saying that after arguing for who knows how long about Nwaneri to play RW is hilarious.
Yes in what little senior minutes Nwaneri has gotten he has shown that he's more winger/attacker than creative midfielder. I think he's shown he's got the skill set to take on people and the desire for goals over the guile and technical ability of a CAM. He's an attacker not a creative. For me anyhow and technical speaking for Mikel too since he never really played him CAM
I disagree with this. Nwaneri's off the ball movement is almost non existent if we are seeing him as a winger. He doesn't run in behind the fullback off the ball. He also lacks at times in tracking back and covering his fullback. Also when he goes on the outside his accuracy of cutting the ball back or getting in a good cross with his right is ineffective.
He is just a CAM who also happens to be fantastic at beating players and shooting. And I have seen his more of creative side with the crosses, reverse passes than I have winger qualities. His best goals all have come from going in to central areas.
The kid is just elite. That is why he makes it work. Not because he is a natural winger. But give me the better player even if he doesn't do winger things at time. Because you will benefit from his creative side even out wide.
In the first paragraph you talk about poor cutbacks and crosses from the wings and the second paragraph is talking about how good his crosses and reverse passing is...I suppose it depends on what your argument is really. But yeah no he's been far better in one position than the other. It's only now become an argument because a certain player was signed
I said "with his right". There is a step over he does and then crosses it with his right and it rarely ends up as a goal. And he doesn't go beyond his fullback like a natural winger. There were times last season where timber or Odegaard were waiting for him to make the run and he doesn't because it isn't natural to him.
When he cuts in on his left, he delivers. Merino's goal at Leicester, Martinelli's goal at Brentford from the top of my head, from situations he created cutting inside.
He has also scored goals playing Centrally while Sterling was playing RW. Especially in the league cup.
His goal against City is going inside. Against Girona he took it very central to find the space. The PSV goal was him running in to a central area.
The only goal I remember from him that screams winger was the Brighton goal.
He is like Foden. He is a central player that has the technical ability to play wide.
Bro would prefer Eze at LW than Nico Williams.
I don't wanna be rude but Jesus Christ...
You could have answered me in the posts we're talking about it but decided to make a new post just to say how annoyed he is at people (like me).
This is the same guy that was adamant how Havertz is Xhaka's successor (LOL)!
I bet Madueke is considered ahead of Eze for the left wing of the English NT. Making a case how you'd prefer Eze to Nico W...
Nico W, the starting LW of probably the best NT currently.
The fact that your think your ideas about football are superior is always hilarious to me.
Yes, I would rather Eze or Simons over Williams any day.
Habesha didn’t make it about you, you did. I think you might want to consider how personally you are taking this stream!
I take his point. Eze could play 8, 10 or LW( at a push). He would provide quality, creativity and depth in various positions.
"Lol, this tells me you don't watch Eze much."
"Weren't you the guy who was screaming for Eze for two years? This is all about your obsession over Odegaard."
I had not make a single remark towards him until now he decided to say how annoyed he is at people (like me). I'm literally the only guy here who doesn't like Eze at LW. It's obvious it's addressed at me and potentially others.
You've been pretty hard on me lately. I might start agreeing with others how you're policing the blog when I've defended you the whole time.
Maybe take a break.
I do sometimes when I realise I'm spending too much of my time on here and I find myself butting heads with posters. I've cut out directly responding to a whole list of people who get angry too easily and take it out on anybody who picks them up for being consistently negative about all things Arsenal.
It's obviously their right to be the way they want to be on an anonymous blog stream and I'm wasting my time. I get accused of 'policing' the blog. Ironically by accusing me of policing they are in their way policing the blog from those posters like me, who find their views generally repetitive, negative and uninteresting.
I haven't told anyone to take a break or post less though.
I hope you're happy with yourself.
It's more a question of whether you're happy. Are you taking this stream too seriously? I won't say any more. I genuinely wish you well.
He isn’t policing the blog Rap-stop being a diva about it. You’re the one who dominates conversation on here-I don’t think you go to bed to be honest.
"You’re the one who dominates conversation on here"
If you want me to post less, just say so.
I would say talk less think more since you're taking on advice.
Post less. Get a job.
our very own Saka broke into the first team playing left back..i agree that technically gifted players always find a way to fit in the system
I agree with all of this!
Especially the “good footballers always find solutions” line.
Versatile players like Eze and Simons will always be more productive in that position(LW) than a winger like Trossard because they are better footballers. More than Martinelli too at this point because his game seems to be too one dimensional. He’s young enough to improve but the clocks ticking.
Leao and Nico are more traditional wingers but with better physical ability to be more of a threat than our current wingers but I’d still prefer Eze to them.
Rodrygo I think would give us Saka like output if he comes in but again is also versatile enough to play right or even up front.
Yep. Technical quality the requirement for me.
I would have preferred Rodrygo or Kvaratskhelia in Jan. And I even think Barcola is a fantastic player. These players give you 1 vs 1 ability as well as incisive passes. Like having Saka on the opposite flank.
But I prefere Eze or Simons because they are adequate in beating players but have superior creativity. I don't think Leao's and Williams's decision making/Passing and crossing ability was enough for me.
Agree with all of this - other than Nico Williams, who I think would have fit our system perfectly.
David Ornstein
EXCL: Granit Xhaka informs Bayer Leverkusen he only wants to join Sunderland as club-to-club talks continue. Agreement now in place between 32yo & #SAFC. #Bayer04 asked by Switzerland midfielder to close deal rapidly. Negotiations ongoing.
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Would be a shocking transfer. Left Arsenal to play for Sunderland... Not that he didn't have an unbelievable season with Leverkusen but still.
I’ve been hearing this rumor and it sounds crazy. Weeks ago it was Saudi, and now Sunderland?
Mad! But hey it’s his life
Morgan Rogers heat map
https://resources.premierleague.pulselive.com/photo-resources/2024/10/04/8fa7e071-b186-4a92-8dcb-15e052b1bbc7/player_full-pitch-vis-16x9.png?width=1400&height=800
Cole Palmer heat map
https://resources.premierleague.pulselive.com/photo-resources/2024/12/10/b095f227-790c-4d03-834d-89e092a96082/player_full-pitch-vis-badge-no-image-16x9-1-.png?width=1400&height=800
That's what you want from your AM. Menace everywhere across the pitch. And high versatility to play in any position in attack. KDB is a unicorn but Ozil fits that description and heat map well.
Both direct decisive upgrades on Odegaard.
I don't have a similar heat map of Simons to make a direct comparison.
Both of those are amazing players, and I agree that last season Odegaard was far from his best, but I'm not sure how heatmaps prove anything if those players aren't being utilised by their managers in the same way. One hope with Zubimendi is that we can get the ball up the pitch quicker, and then MO hopefully won't need to spend half his time running the entire length of the pitch back towards our goal to get the ball and try to move forward.
Yes he was far from his best last season, and it was frustrating when he didn't pull the trigger and took too many touches, but in general our entire attacking play last season was turgid and I don't think you can solely point the finger at him. I do not agree that he's been bad the entire time though, and I think we should stop applying recency bias and making out he's some sort of shit player. And, as I've just said, we need to factor in how much is down to a player underperforming, and how much is down to players following instructions.
Either way, he's not going anywhere this season, we get it, you don't like him and you want him sold, but it's not happening this season, so not sure why this needs to be a discussion every day. If he has another season like last, then fair enough it's probably time to move on. And best of all you can spend all of next summer telling us you told us so multiple times a day every single day.
Also - even if we wanted to flog him and replace him with one of those two, there is no way on earth we'd be able to buy Palmer and I doubt Villa would sell to us either as for some reason they think we're a direct rival, so it's all a moot point. Might as well start dropping Lamine Yamal heatmaps and show how we want Trossard to play like him.
Eze heat map 24/25 being deployed SUPPOSEDLY as left winger (lmao) in comparison to Tross and Marti
https://e0.365dm.com/25/06/1600x900/skysports-graphic-eberechi-eze_6952015.png
Odegaard heat map 24/25
https://resources.premierleague.pulselive.com/photo-resources/2025/03/14/d0003c76-e5b8-44f5-a0f9-9267c7d3428a/player_full-pitch-vis-badge-no-image-16x9-2-.png?width=1400&height=800
I have no idea if he would be good on the left (if we sign him), but all you’re demonstrating is that Crystal Palace were not playing him on the LW in a 433 - no one is disputing this, the idea is that he *could* play there. Fine if you don’t agree, but showing heatmaps of him playing for a different manager in a different system proves nothing
I was just about to write exactly the same thing. Agree with everything you’ve said.
It really does though.
We're talking about a 27 yo, worth nearly 60-70m and if we're going to change his position from now on and hope it clicks, I don't know what we're doing.
We did that with a 24 yo Declan who had already demonstrated physicality good enough to be a box-to-box midfielder and the DM role was limiting his unbelievable potential.
But Eze's physicality would not allow him to go up and down the flank, that's why he's never played there as a typical winger.
He could possibly play LW but it wouldn't really be a LW more of a left sided playmaker/advanced midfielder/forward. And for that we would need a rampaging full back able to provide the much needed width. We don't have such a full back. And it wouldn't be ideal either any way I look at it.
Like I said I’m not making a case for or against, just that pointing how CP have utilised him isn’t definitive proof of anything.
Ive not watched enough of him to know whether he could play on the left, and I know he has had some bad injuries and I don’t know anything about his physicality, so you may have a point I don’t know, but yeah all I’m saying is those heatmaps only show how he was being used at CP and don’t prove that we would be signing him solely to play as a left 8.
I’ve read some stuff that suggests we were sounding him out in case Ethan didn’t sign da ting which makes sense, but if our interest is genuine and separate from that, maybe we’re just trying to have a bigger squad of excellent players…
Arteta is shit at rotating because he’s by nature risk averse and clearly doesn’t have full confidence in the tier b players - maybe this would be an effort to have a squad where there is no significant drop off, where a player like Eze could play on the left AND in the middle? Obviously this is all conjecture, but our season got derailed by Christmas because of, among other things, we lost Martin and then Bukayo for extended periods, and subsequently Kai and others. It could be that trying to stack our squad with versatile high quality players we are trying to mitigate this and so discussing whether player X is an ideal candidate to play position Y 65 times in a year is irrelevant to our approach.
Anyway this is all theoretical, and as Mikel has shown no tendency to rotate at all up to now I hold my hands up and admit I could be chatting pure shit here (especially if it turns out interest in him was just a contingency plan in case we lost Ethan), but yeah our business thus far (Zubi and, if he signs, VG aside) seems to be more about raising the floor rather than the ceiling of the squad. Whether that’s the right approach we’ll have to wait and see, because I feel there are going to be a few more twist & turns yet
This only tells us that he was playing as an inside forward in a 343. Nothing else.
Everyone knows he isn't a touch line winger. And we would have to adjust our game a bit to suit him.
These heatmaps tell us we play a high line vs CP who are a deep block
How do Eze and Ode heat maps look identical just on two different flanks?
Eze doesn't provide width like to receive the ball on the wing. He is playing like an advanced midfielder even closer to a second striker than a winger.
In Transactional football, the LB( inverted) occupies the areas Eze occupies.
If Eze is to play on our left side, the LB will have Martinelli/Trossard positions.
"the LB will have Martinelli/Trossard positions"
Spot on. And we don't have that type of LB at the club. All of our LBs naturally move centrally.
It doesnt mean Timber for example, cannot provide width(while left sided forward stays narrow), it means, Transactional wants majority of our play to be on the right flank.( He has reasons)
He can't really though.
All of that type of wingers need pace as an absolute necessity. You don't have pace, you're not fit for that role.
And Timber, Cala, MLS don't have nearly the pace of Nuno Mendes, Aphonso Davies, Hakimi etc. It's not even close.
What happens on our Right flank?Who provides width? Ode drifts towards Saka so that they combine.
It doesnt mean he cannot drift left and combine with the left foward while Timber inverts on the right. Its just what the manager prefers.
Sorry mate.Wrong blog for virtue signaling.They are a bunch of low life ,theiving arabs.Who don’t have any principles or an ounce of honour. They have shifted the goalposts multiple times.And that’s not me saying it.Hows that?
Nigel 100% right.And am surprised at Pedro,if true,pulling him on an entity outside of this forum.Really surprised.😳
What are you talking about?
I'll make a wild guess, put me on record and let's see if I get it right.
I don't see a future where we sell Tross and get Eze. To me that's impossible.
If we're selling Tross to add Eze that would mean Eze is considered an actual, real option for the LW. I don't see Eze as a left winger, not at all.
In a team with Martinelli, Trossard and Madueke all able to play LW, I don't see how Eze starts at LW ahead of them.
We won't start the season with Martinelli/Eze as our LW options, Madueke will always be played ahead of Eze there so you're basically buying a third AM.
Even if he's played at LW sometimes, we would need an offensive full back willing to stretch the attack at will and run non stop up and down the wing. We don't have such a full back.
Eze is a left sided version of Odegaard, he isn't a LW.
That's why it should be - sell Ode, buy Eze even if they occupy different sides, something can be tweaked to make it work.
Or the better option - get Rogers or Simons who are able to play 4-5 different positions in attack and are VASTLY more versatile than Eze.
I'll stand on this and let's see if I'm right.
Why have you decided that he can't play as a left winger? He has far more pace and power than Ode, and is happy to beat a man on the outside. I completely agree that he's most effective drifting inside. But the width doesn't have to come from a full-back. All three of the major strikers on the market this summer, like to pull wide left and would dove-tail nicely with him. Ekitike has obviously already moved, so he's out. Sesko would have been my preference. But a Gyökeres heatmap shows that he spends a good part of most games floating around the left touchline. He'd work well with Eze, I just don't see the club spending circa £120m on two 27 year olds.
I don't think he works much defensively although he's excellent in pressing and stealing balls.
I don't think he has a huge engine on him to go up and down the flank (not that Tross does).
I don't think he ever goes close to the sideline or the goal line.
His heat map is identical to the heat map of Odegaard but on the left side.
He absolutely wouldn't provide width to our attacks.
I think he's slower than Trossard, much slower than Marti and Saka, he's slower than even Odegaard although a much better dribbler and trickier.
I don't see how he provides much versatility to us at all.
At what he does, I absolutely love the player. But he is not versatile (imo) and if we're going to play him in some weird ass positions, might as well not get him at all.
Lol, this tells me you don't watch Eze much.
He works more than Trossard defensively. He is a much better ball carrier than both.
People see the way he slows down and then accelerates and say he doesn't have the speed. But he does have enough. He is much faster than Trossard.
"He is much faster than Trossard"
Nope.
"He works more than Trossard defensively"
That was more of a comparison with Martinelli.
To me, Eze would be our best AM if he joined even if his position is weird but getting him just to play AM wouldn't make sense if we're not selling another AM.
If Eze joined today, I highly doubt he would start at LW ahead of Marti, Tross and Noni.
Appreciate the candid whinge Pedro, tho I do think Gyokores will be an automatic starter and a banger up front if we finally sign the guy
I’ve always wondered why Arsenal don’t put more focus on poaching the people who oversee sales and outgoings at Chelsea, Brighton etc?
Why is it that these clubs (and several others) can routinely ship off players to anyone for great fees whilst for us it’s the biggest ask in the world? Edu had started to improve on that last summer with balogun nketiah and smith Rowe collectively bringing in some solid (not exceptional) money
But honestly speaking we’ve spent the best part of 90m so far this window on squad fillers (Zubimendi excluded from that cost) - how much would it cost to poach some of the staff from other clubs who are so good are selling? In the old days Chelsea had that woman marina something or other and she was a fucking monster saleswoman time and again. I bet for 5m a year she’d have come to Arsenal and we’d be 200m better off over the last 5 years without impacting the quality of our squad at all.
That 200m over 5 years reinvested in the team would’ve probably led to a couple of titles and a CL given the quality of the rest of the squad
Wenger, whilst he often (not always) sold well under market rate, was also a beast at drumming up interest in players. Every summer big teams were banging on our door enquiring about half our squad, including the kids. Now nobody gives a shit apart from a few exceptions like Saliba. It’s weird
HandöfArsenal
@HandofArsenal
Eberechi Eze Current State of Play
- His future was linked to Ethan’s hence my statement “until a formal approach is made, proceed with caution”
- Since the talks / glowing references from Arsenal players Arteta is obsessed and directly communicated this to the board.
- My understanding is personal terms have never been an issue. Once source said, he would sign a 5 year deal tomorrow.
- Furthermore, I also understand he has told Chelsea and Bayern his preference is Arsenal but how long can a player wait?
- Informal dialogue has taken place with Palace but nothing further as of today.
- Arsenal will focus on sales and hopefully the sale of Trossard opens the door?
The hope is Andrea makes sales and picks up the phone to Steve Parish. If anything develops further I will be sure to update you.
It is well known in the industry Parish is honourable and straight forward. He would use the money to re-invest into Selhurst Park and other club matters. There is a deal there to be done.
That is all I have on Eze specifically.
Let me be clear… WE HAVE TO SIGN EZE.
We cant go into the season short again.
The fans are not asking for €200m signings like Yamal or Mbappe.. they are asking for a Hale End boy who directly fits a massive hole in our squad.
The facts laid bare.
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If we don't sign him, they better win with whatever they got. Because they chose to spend the money on Madueke.
First, that report is crap.
He literally got what gunnerblog said today and made a 200 words essay on it. Zero information we didn't know. Basically what Orny did with Manure earlier - a lot of words, zero meaning.
Then, my opinion. A third AM makes less sense than a winger that can play on both wings. Eze is a left sided Odegaard when we already play Rice there. If we're not selling Ode and now that we renewed Nwaneri, it makes little sense to go after Eze.
He would be a 60-68m problem, not a problem solver.
He doesn't fit our current system, he would play far from Saka, who is our best player and we need a connection between our most talented players.
The only way he fits is if we either move Rice to the right side and having Rice next to Saka would be far from ideal, or we would have to move Rice to a deeper role somewhere next to Zubi so Eze could play centrally, which could be a thing but yeah... a big change.
We already have a good system, we need better performers. We have 2 LWs and 2 AMs.
Need a better LW? Sell a left winger and get a new one.
Need an AM upgrade? Sell an AM and get a new one.
Same way we had 1 RW and we added Madueke - that made sense.
I'd rather we get a LW upgrade - Rodrygo, but if that's not possible, attack Rogers or Simons - both can provide cover across 4-5 positions in attack.
Dude you literally posted the quotes from Arteta about the new mentality around squad building and rotation and the fact there's big chat about Madueke getting minutes on the left as well as the right, sounds like Arteta is really thinking about mixing things up going forward.
Don't know why you're thinking so rigidly about Eze. He will play in 2 or 3 positions so will get plenty of starts and minutes overall.
We know Rice likes to drift out to the touchline at times to link with Martinelli Imagine him doing that with Eze, with Eze being able to run riot through the middle. Or Eze starting in more transitional games at the left 8 with Madueke/Martinelli outside.
He'll give us more flexibility, more unpredictability as opponents will often be second guessing our lineups.
Nothing wrong with having a wildcard in the squad.
May be all of them have the same info because it is true.
Weren't you the guy who was screaming for Eze for two years? This is all about your obsession over Odegaard.
And it isn't like Trossard is a real Winger in a sense of the word either. Everything Trossard is capable of, Eze can also do and more.
And we aren't getting Rodrygo if we are sell to buy already.
Well Raptora is correct. if we are signing Eze to play left wing, then tross or Martinelli needs to be sold. If he's to play AM then odegard needs to be sold. We can't have all of them in the same squad.
If we didn't sign Zubimendi then we would have been able to do a little shuffle around and fit in everyone. Rice at 6, ode as a RCM and Eze as LCM/LAM with still adequate cover in Merino and Noorgard.
So I don't know but Eze or anybody LW/CAM option depends on sales at the moment
I didn't say one of Martinelli or Trossard didn't need to go. They do. It will probably be Trossard if we get Eze.
I am just saying he is a better player than both of them. So it would make sense to replace them with him.
Of course, he's better than them. I don't know if Arsenal are ruthless enough to have informed either of Martinelli and Trossad that they would be upgraded so can look for new clubs.
Arsenal fans may have previously heard Mikel Arteta referring to players as being in “Tier One”.
Last season, he hypothesised about the difficulty of accommodating “five full-backs that all feel that they are tier one”. This summer, Arsenal have internally described both Martin Zubimendi and Noni Madueke as “Tier One” signings.
Speaking to reporters during Arsenal’s tour of Singapore, Arteta confirmed: “‘Tier One’ means that they have the capacity to be starters basically.”
Previously, Arsenal categorised their squad in terms of tiers — Tier One, Tier Two, and Tier Three – but Arteta suggested that system may be evolving.
“The Tier One, Two, Three system I don’t believe in that much now,” he explained. “The way the game’s evolving, the demands we put in with 70, 75 games per season.
“At the end we want to build a team, like other clubs already have, where you look at the squad and you cannot really identify who is going to play tomorrow. If we get to that point, and that competitiveness has as well the right level of co-operation between the players, that’s what we want.”
As Arsenal look to move to a squad model with a wider distribution of top talent, the tier system is already becoming outdated.
“Now I’ll change it,” said Arteta. “Because that’s going to mould, and now we’re going to have the capacity as well to decide who is in the best condition to play this game hopefully. Because last year? No.
“Last year the line up was done, ‘Give me five players who can finish 90 minutes.’ Those five? Ok, those I have to play. ‘Now give me another five who can do this and then…’ and we played like this for seven months.”
“We need to get away from that, because those restrictions have limited our capacity to perform and then have the freshness that we need at the end of the season.
“Hopefully this season is going to be very different, and we can decide what is the best team with the best players to play against this opponent today, and then we want to change the game, the team — whatever the context is, winning, drawing or losing — we can change it immediately and have those players that can impact the result.”
The reshaping of the Arsenal squad is just one of the adaptations Arteta is making in his quest to end Arsenal’s wait for silverware.
“The only thing that (the players) were talking about at the end of last season and the first day through the door is, ‘OK, how are we going to be better? How are we going to do more?’,” he said.
“We know that we are so close now in two big competitions and we just want to make the next step. There are going to be a lot of details and moments that have to go our way. We have to push for that to happen.”
Arteta believes that, after this summer’s transfer window, Arsenal will be closer than ever.
“Every year we have to see how things develop but I see the right balance in terms of maturity, experience, youth, hunger — and all these ingredients are there,” he said.
“The thing is there are another six, seven, eight clubs in the league that have the right ingredients to win and there is only going to be one winner. So we have to focus a lot on the things that we can control, that we can do, to achieve what we want at the end of the season.”
We can imagine that signings like Kepa Arrizabalaga or Christian Norgaard were categorised as “tier two” additions: players with the experience and quality to play a supporting role in the squad, and step into the first eleven when required.
It’s interesting that Madueke, like Zubimendi, has been described as a “tier one” signing. That makes sense, given the size of the fee — Arsenal could pay a total of £52million for the 23-year-old winger. It suggests Arteta wants more than two wide players he considers of ‘starting’ quality, affording him the ability to rest and rotate.
Having lost Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli to hamstring injuries in the second half of last season, Arteta and Arsenal appear to be mitigating against that kind of risk.
This reads great but it’s only meaningful if he’s brave enough to actually do it and rotate
That means when you’re second in the table and your best players are on a great run of form that you are brave enough to rest a couple of key players despite being desperate for points.
The words are easy to say but the proof will be in the pudding if he dares to have a fully fit Rice/Saka/Ode/Saliba/Gabriel on the bench to manage their load even for a big game sometimes. I’ll believe it when I see it
He'll probably rest main players a bit more if the options are solid or that's the hope at least.
I could see Noni giving Saka some rest for sure.
Probably the same with Mosquera and Saliba.
Probably the same with Zubi and Norgaard.
It's more of a head scratcher really than interesting cos this means that Arteta sees Noni as a starting 11 player. I mean the talent ID of Arteta has always been in question but this really rubber stamps it for me.
Trossard and Martinelli maybe tier 1 in our squad and basically Noni is their equal so can rotate with them but the Tier we need to be worried about isn't our squad tier but the league tier cos obviously with what we have, we haven't won the league with it so it can't be League tier 1.
Liverpool, city, Newcastle all have league tier 1 wingers and if we are being honest, our bunch is a level below and needs to be improved upon if we want to do anything if note.
We have league tier 1 defence, DM and CM are ok, AM is debatable. We don't have league tier 1 left winger and strikers. That's what we need to win..
I agree with most of that.
Marti could be a tier 1 if he is used properly and he hasn't been which should be on the agenda really.
Arteta getting Noni basically says - "I rate the player that Chelsea don't rate as highly" and it isn't something new as he already did that with Havertz. Back then I said Arteta is putting his name on the line and he won that bet when a lot of our supporters doubted it.
City don't have better wingers than Arsenal - Grealish? Doku? Savinho? Who of them is better than Saka and even Martinelli? They are at the current Madueke level.
Newcastle have who? Gordon and Elanga? I don't even consider Gordon a worthy upgrade on Marti. Marti could be better if we use him properly and I wouldn't drop a fortune for Gordon just so we can get a marginal upgrade. Saka is levels above any of them.
Liverpool have Salah and Diaz also Gakpo, yes, they are fantastic.
As you say, we have tier 1 defence and DM, CM. The AM position is an issue. The CF needs another player able to play there but our starter is tier 1.
LW and AM are the most sensible upgrades we need.
Savinho, foden, marmoush, are wing options that are better than what we have. City have won the league with foden the star of it and I know you don't rate him but facts are facts.
Doku is their only winger that's same level with ours. I know all about ceilings and coulda woulda shoulda but fact is Martinelli has been really poor for 2 seasons and we need to upgrade his position.
Haverts is tier 1 at donkey work. That's all
We haven't moved the starting 11 at all. Of all the players signed, only Zubimendi is likely to be a starter and his quality is not better than Partey (at least not until after 3 months bedding in period).
On paper, we have moved the squad but what use is it when they won't get to play much or influence important matches? It's just a head scratcher how we choose to do business.
I'd think that a serious club that wants to win (not compete) would have told Martinelli and Trossad that they are both up for sale as an upgrade would be coming in. Hopefully that's what's happened behind the scene. Sign a fucking left winger and complete Gyo so we can at least have a first 11 that can rival our competition
I'm reading an interesting article on the topic from Arteta.
The Athletic
Arsenal admire left-wingers Rodrygo (Real Madrid) and Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United). The futures of existing wide options Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard may determine whether that interest develops further.
They have also explored a move for Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze. A new long-term contract for 18-year-old Ethan Nwaneri — which Arsenal are in the process of finalising — may make a deal for Eze less of a priority.
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Re left wingers, it's rehashing of the same old "news". Basically, nothing at all. That position is not a priority as of now.
Re Eze, obviously it makes little sense to pay 60+m for a THIRD attacking midfielder when we already have 2 other highly rated players in that position. We need an upgrade on Ode, not a THIRD player in his position. Our mistake is not trying to actively sell him but if we've decided to go with him and after renewing Ethan, we cannot be adding a third expensive AM, it would make no sense. If we're keeping Ode it would make more sense to go for someone like Simons or Rogers that can provide better versatility across our front line than Eze who is literally a left sided version of Ode and nothing more. I'm not even sure Eze fits our team unless we make a switch in formation since Rice plays the left sided midfielder for us.
Eze is a different player to Ode and Nwaneri. Eze plays in the left half space, Ode and Nwaneri in the right half space. Eze is a perfect signing as we can start him as a left winger in some games - and in games against smaller teams where we are pushing for a goal, Rice can be dropped back to the 6 and Eze come on to play left 8, with Ode still on the pitch as the right 8. Eze is also prem ready and so we know that there won't be an adaption period.
What is frustrating is that from a squad building perspective, I can't see the club signing two 27 year olds. Sesko and Eze would have been two dream signings. With Gyokeres being prioritised, the chances of signing Eze diminish in my opinion.
"What is frustrating is that from a squad building perspective, I can't see the club signing two 27 year olds. Sesko and Eze would have been two dream signings. With Gyokeres being prioritised, the chances of signing Eze diminish in my opinion."
Absolutely agree.
"Eze plays in the left half space, Ode and Nwaneri in the right half space."
I already said that but I see that more of an issue than of help.
"Rice can be dropped back to the 6 and Eze come on to play left 8, with Ode still on the pitch as the right 8."
Zubi is here to start 90%+ of our games. Rice is here to play 90%+ of our games. Eze wouldn't join us to play 20% of our games.
"we can start him as a left winger in some games"
Not really unless both Marti, Tross and Madueke are injured.
You didn't say that Eze and Ode operate in different spaces. You said they play the same position. But now that you are in agreement with the first part, how is having the opportunity to have increased creativity in our team more of an issue than a help? We drew too many games last year and failed to create enough chances.
Re the left wing. Firstly, I would say that if Eze is signed, Tross should be sold. Madueke never should have been signed. And Eze would offer something very different to Marti on the left wing. I see no reason why he wouldn't start plenty of games ahead of him.
https://x.com/tom_austin2000/status/1947562388770660396
A fan has spotted Mosquera in Heathrow waiting for a flight to Singapore.