The dilemma in reviewing the squad for this strangest of past season is whether to review the performance of the squad throughout the season describing chronologically an arc of progress, regress or oscillations in between, or to review the squad for its full potential as an abstraction where the last season is only an input to that analysis and not the whole of the analysis.
George Bernard Shaw I believe had once remarked: “Both optimists and pessimists contribute to the society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.” As the ever optimist let me choose to imagine Arsenal’s attacking force in its full flight – only a glimpse of which we had seen now and then — and review the squad in all their thrilling possibilities, and I would request the patrons of this august bar to identify the glaring flaws in the design of my imaginary aircraft, and think of the parachutes that may be needed.
This also helps me avoid spending many (or any) words on the Unai Emery era when dysfunction reigned so supreme watching Arsenal play had turned into a singularly unappetising experience. I just cannot muster enough emotional fortitude to go back and relive those days through this review.
The best teams in modern football – including many incarnations of our own Arsenal – exhibit a fluidity and imagination in attack that mix individual abilities with collective nous in various tactical modes and can switch between those modes with a high degree of unpredictability. Instead of focusing on individuals on their own I felt reviewing how well equipped the attacking force can be in the context of those tactical modalities will be a more cogent way of imagining their flight, so to speak.
I am also choosing to eschew a review based on statistical analysis of individuals or the team, simply due to the fact that those have been done already in few other places (including the excellent statistical analysis that are regularly published in Arseblog) and there wouldn’t be much for me to add to.
Build-up through the middle of the pitch:
Undoubtedly the weakest aspect of this team’s attacking abilities. The problem starts with lack of creativity in the midfield and extends all the way to absence of high-quality passers in the attack. Aubameyang is one of the very best in European football in scoring goals, but his passing range is neither incisive nor decisive. Lacazette, especially under Arteta, has often been asked to drop deep and drag opposition central defenders with him which allows his friend on the left to drift in and attack the space down the middle – our first goal in the FA Cup final was a great example where Laca took his central defender with him down to the middle of the pitch allowing Auba to have a clear run to the goal leading to the penalty. But in that deep-lying position when he receives the ball he doesn’t always make the right pass either to Auba or to Pepe, either to their feet or to the channel behind the defenders for them to run into. A similar problem plagues Pepe’s game – whereas he delivers excellent cross from the right on his left foot (more about that later) and the best dribbler in the team, he fails to release the ball early enough or choose the wrong pass after the beating the first couple of defenders.
Nelson, Saka and Martinelli are all quite good – and they will only get better – in driving down to the byline and provide precise cutbacks but none of them are yet consistently good passers to create a series of fluid short triangles through the opposition midfield and defence to move the ball forward and dominate the area near the opposition penalty box, and to move a deep lying opposition defence around fast enough to create opportunities. The kind of movement that was once the trademark of Arsenal. Hopefully Arteta and his coaching team will help these very promising young players to develop this aspect of their game in the coming seasons. Eddie, particularly, for all his qualities and flawless attitude needs to significantly improve his passing abilities to enjoy a sustained success at the top.
This may partially explain the acquisition of Willian (and more I think about the values he will bring in, more convinced I have started to become about the astuteness of this move) who brings with him, along with his pace and dribbles, a consistently good passing ability.
Counter-attack:
In my opinion the best aspect of this current Arsenal team. Even in the worst days in the first half of the season we were capable of scoring from lighting fast counter attacks. Aubameyang is of course often the focal point of such counter attacks because of his pace, the timing of his runs, the precision of his movements and his mostly unerring finishing abilities. But in his short time with the club Martinelli has shown himself to be an immensely promising player in that respect, the high point being his solo run straight through the middle – with a prostrate Kante left memorably flailing in his trail – to score our goal of the season away at Chelsea.
Saka, Nelson, Eddie all are fast and capable of good movements, and all are competent finishers and as finishing being one of those aspects of a youngster’s game that gets significantly better with experience, we can only expect their counter-attacking threats to grow over the course of the next season and beyond. Before Martinelli got injured in training, he had struck up an effective partnership with Saka on the left. Even if and when we choose to play Auba in his more favoured position down the middle, I think a left sided trio of Tierney-Saka-Martinelli can hurt any opposition and they will only get better over time. Let us just hope we keep them fit and firing.
On the right side Pepe in his first season with us hasn’t delivered fully on the promise of his counter-attacking threats. The problem has been partly with the team as he hasn’t often been released with the rightly timed pass from midfield, but he himself needs to improve the directness of his game to ensure that he doesn’t try to dribble more than he has to and has more confidence in his passing and shooting abilities. Whenever he attacked the space or the ball more instinctively, he has looked threatening. Of the few memorable moments he has produced – including a few sumptuous goals from the open play – the disallowed goal at the end of a precise counter attack against Chelsea in the FA cup final is the kind of magic I hope he will be producing more regularly.
Pressing from the front:
Before Mikel took over our pressing looked disjointed and hence largely ineffective. It took Arteta a little while to get the organisation and timing of the press right, something I suspect the team worked on a lot in practice especially at the break before the season resumed. After the restart we started to see a considerable improvement as concerted pressing from the front led to forced turnovers that we were able to score from. Eddie particularly pressed well and helped to set up the tempo. He himself and Auba scored from goalkeeping mistakes forced by intelligent pressing, but the two best moments came in our home match against Liverpool where we forced two of the most consummate experts in playing out from the back – Van Dijk and Allisson – into errors that we scored from – Laca and Nelson being the respective scorers — to help us to a memorable 2-1 win, which in hindsight must have had helped the team to build some much needed confidence before the two wins at Wembley.
Martinelli I think can become a significant threat in this part of the game as well. His relentless directness, snapping constantly at defenders’ heels, is a perfect fit for aggressive pressing.
Finishing:
Assuming our talismanic captain chooses to remain with us towards making it a habit to juggle trophies at the end of the seasons, we have one of the best finishers in all of European football: the clever movements in the penalty box, the well-honed instinct to be at the right place at the right time, the mostly unerring final touch — he does have that occasional “how did he miss that?” moment in him which fortunately for him and us never gets him down – and more and more a sparkle of inventive genius. The first goal of the FA Cup semi with that outside of the right boot finish, the goal against Watford where he bounced the ball on the floor from a long throw in the penalty box to create enough elevation to manufacture a bicycle kick from nowhere, the second goal in FA cup final where the feint to send the entire Chelsea defence wrong way for a sumptuous finish with his less favoured left foot … he is undoubtedly the key to our attack.
In terms of goalscoring numbers Lacazette had his poorest season ever in the senior football. One suspects the lack of cohesion in our football eventually got to him. He worked hard but there was a noticeable loss of pace and decisiveness. He was no longer the automatic starter but was alternating with Eddie to play down the middle. Towards the end there were signs of return to form with a thunderbolt from outside the box in the North London derby and a cleverly taken goal against Liverpool. We can only hope that he starts the next season at his best. There are some rumours floating around about we potentially selling him instead of offering him a new contract now or at the end of the next season as he has only two years left, but I think he offers the kind of quality, experience, and tactical maturity that will not be easy to replace by Eddie. Especially with our participation in Europa we should have both of them in the squad.
Other than the FA Cup win, and the overall positivity generated by noticeable progress under Arteta, the most pleasing aspect of last season for me was the emergence of two excellent youngsters who I hope will continue to excel with us for years to come. Whereas the talent and promise of Bukayo Saka were known to us in the fan base based on his rising reputation through the academy and junior teams, Gabriel Martinelli was a discovery as he was coming from a lower division team in regional Brazilian league. In the pre-season he had briefly caught the eye because of his speed and vibrancy, but once introduced in the first team in the cups he impressed everyone not just by the directness and attitude of his game, but also by his excellent finishing, including a few surprisingly powerful and well-taken headed goals. He built a good understanding with Saka down the left, a partnership that has all the promise of becoming a most potent one. Despite finishing his season unfortunately truncated in the middle because of the serious injury he picked up in training, he was our second highest scorer after Auba.
Saka is undoubtedly the most promising player to have come through the youth set-up at the club since Fabregas. Fast and with eye-catching technical abilities on the ball, tactically disciplined and ever learning, capable of exquisite crosses from the left wing, he is also a very accomplished finisher. He has been deployed as the left winger, left wing-back, left-sided midfield player, right winger, central midfielder – some one suspects as a part of education by Mikel – and even though he is much more effective as the left sided attacker in the front trio in no position he seemed out of depth. He was awarded the young player of the last season’s Europa League, had the highest number of assists in Europa league, signed a new contract with us, and promptly celebrated that with his first premier league goal – a lovely left-footed volley against Wolves.
Both Eddie and Nelson have goals in them. Eddie is a reliable finisher from close range and attacks the final third very well. Nelson’s last season was somewhat interrupted by injuries but there were glimpses of his abilities towards the end, including a calm and composed finish against Liverpool. Both of them are only expected to get better, more so under Arteta’s watchful tutelage.
Set-pieces:
In Auba, Pepe and Laca we have three excellent penalty takers. A penalty for us in the PL is a rarity – unlike some other teams who seem to get one each time any of their players tumble over – but I don’t remember us missing any this season.
Whereas Auba, Laza – and David Luiz for that matter – are all competent free-kick takers, Pepe I think will become the most reliable of them, especially if the angle favours his left foot. He scored a couple of memorable ones this season.
None of our attackers are good enough in the air to score consistently from corner kicks. Nelson and Pepe both are capable of delivering high quality balls in the box, as are Dani and Saka to a lesser extent. I think we should be able to build out a few well-practiced drills that better leverages the aerial prowess of the defenders – especially the newly acquired ones – to benefit from those deliveries.
Summary:
Along with the goalkeepers, the forward line in the squad are in least need of enhancements. If we can manage to improve our control in the midfield and bring more creative impetus from the middle of the pitch, we are well capable of becoming one of the most potent and efficient goal scoring teams in the league. Here is looking forward to 80+ premier league goals by the mighty Arsenal next season, driving us to a rightful return to the Champions League.
And Pierre juggling a trophy or two with that infectious smile.
Excellent piece, Dr F
COYG
Nicely arranged, Faustus. 80 sounds reasonable if Laca can find his shooting boots and we can find some goals in midfield. Willian, your cue. A full and fit season for Martinelli please.
Dr.F
Bravo!
This is an excellent and thought-provoking review and covers a huge amount of ground .
You are right in suggesting that relatively speaking, this is the area ( alongside the goalkeepers) that requires the least attention but I think we may well see Lacazette depart ( and probably be replaced by a younger striker ) to free some cash . The difficulty is if in modern alignment a player like Saka or Pepe or Nelson is an attacker or a midfielder? Our goals are not widely spread around and we don’t get much provision of assists from central midfield or no.10.
I remain optimistic about Nketiah but if we lost Aubameyang for a significant amount of time we are likely to struggle and with no Martinelli until the New Year we are vulnerable so any decision on Lacazette is difficult . I’d like us to celebrate Aubameyang and hopefully age will not wither him as he appears like Jimmy Anderson ( sorry a cricket analogy) t9 improve with age .
With a much stronger midfield and more experienced wide- men let us hope for better goal totals in the future .
Pangloss,
You are always first to review the pieces but I’m not getting a sense of your views on the season and the year ahead. Where do you stand?
TTG – My views on the season aren’t sufficiently out of the mainstream and have insufficient coherence to be worth pushing. However, since you insist…
I was pleasantly surprised at three of the team’s last few results but am worried by their lack of consistency. In a young player that would be attributed to youth; I hope the team’s inconsistencies will become less as they become better habituated to the consistent way in which they are asked to play. I am relieved that the club appears to have a competent hand on the tiller who is taking the playing staff with him. I’m concerned that optimism may get the better of my preferred scepticism.
…I look forward, with some trepidation to reading your forensic dissection of the above.
COYG
Pangloss ,
Thanks, there is no need to be afeared of my thoughts I was just curious as you hadn’t said anything playingwise for a while. I think the consistency point is very germane. We will need to be much more consistently effective to make progress next season. A lot of our league performances were flat after the resumption- Brighton, Villa and Watford ( despite the win weren’t inspiring .
My belief is that we have no option but to trust Arteta and there is very good reason to do so.
Thanks for responding
An erudite and interesting review Dr F. I think we have great potential up front. If the midfield can supply the bullets ….
Very well balanced review, Dr F.
I agree with you that we may be better off selling Laca. I also noticed that he seemed to have lost a yard of pace and that worries me. I suspect if we do move him on, we will get a winger and push Auba to the middle permanently.
Pangloss, I agree with you about our worrying lack of consistency in the league. I trust it worries Arteta too and he will find a solution to it.
Disagree somewhat about our consistency because we seem to be consistently bad against Watford and Brighton. Otherwise I concede the point.
Great review Dr.F.
I think personally it would be
too big a gamble to sell Laca
unless we buy a proven goal-
scorer to replace him. Partly
because I’m not that optimistic
that Eddie is good enough.
Maybe in the January window
if Martinelli is ready to come
back. Willian does give us cover
in the wide positions but is
certainly not prolific so we
really need Pepe to have a
breakout 15 goal/15 assist
season if we are to seriously
improve our attacking output.
An interview with zillionaire
businessman Flamster
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/aug/24/mathieu-flamini-former-arsenal-midfielder-sustainability-athletes-positive-impact
It’s a bit bland but I like that he says
“we” when he talks about The Arsenal
OM
Could he bung us a quick billion for the transfer window?
An excellent piece, Dr F. It very nicely identifies our attacking strengths and the areas where we need to improve. It also underlines how dependent we were on Aubameyang last season hence the utter necessity to re-sign him.
I’m in the ‘Keep Lacazette’ camp this window unless we get an ‘equine head offer’ as his contribution to this team is far greater than simply his goal tally which I would hope would recover on the arrival of an effective ‘number 10’.
Encouraging though his performances have been, I too don’t think Nketiah is ready to take over the goal scoring duties should, perish the thought, Aubameyang be unavailable for an extended period. Only in the event of either a silly money bid that would facilitate both the addition of an otherwise unattainable key piece of the midfield jigsaw (we need a creator as well as a disruptor and there are precious few individuals who have both skills at the top level) and his replacement with a reliable goalscorer or if he became leverage for the Partey deal with Atletico Madrid would I let Lacazette go this summer.
Excellent piece on Saliba in the Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/08/25/making-william-saliba-talent-generation-ready-make-mark-arsenal/
The young Saliba always had his heart set on Arsenal
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2020/08/23/Saliba-pic2_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqt-EpgoPLm8WAfxfPsfXM__qjS4HUvWNKS5Rfi8F7U1s.jpeg?imwidth=1280
C 100
It’s obviously early days but we could have gone from a flakey defence to a top central defensive unit . Big mobile CBS like Upamecano and Van Dijk are the future . Let’s hope these boys help us to a huge future
Re: c100, the title of that article sounds very positive from an Arsenal point of view but The Telegraph’s new paywall prevents me from reading beyond the first paragraph. Thanks for posting that great picture, which I take it is worth at least 1000 words. Do we have a Saliba song yet? I have not heard his name pronounced as yet, but I am assuming it must not rhyme with saliva. It would be good if he proves not to be a diva, however.
Best of luck to Osei-Tutu who is
off to Cardiff on loan.
Though it seems MA doesn’t think
he’ll be required even as a back-up
this season so not sure it’s entirely
positive for Jordi.
With Hector and Cedric at the club
that’s fair enough to me and I
wonder if it means Hector is
not leaving.
You never know in football but I’d be very surprised if Hector leaves. I imagine the most alluring thing about Paris is its fashion culture.
I agree with you about Hector GSD. Osei-Tutu’s loan might be worthwhile for him although Cardiff don’t play much football.
I think the story yesterday was mischievous and may even have been an agent approaching PSG with a cold call suggesting he might broker a deal. Hector has strong links in North London and must be pleased to have an old team- mate and a Spanish one in charge. It’s very gratifying to have such an enthusiastic manager selling the club to a very interesting level of player .
Yaya Sanogo will find life different under Warnock! Colin Wanker .
Wake me up
Yaya Sanogo
Hope you’re better
Than that c**t from Togo
On way to fetch coat ….
Arsenal vs MK Dons live on Arsenal.com now.
Leno is fully fit and turning out tonight. So the injury story was fallacious
Because of his age, Osei-Tutu would have had to be promoted to the first-team squad and given a spot on the Premier League roster (not happening as no 3 or 4 in the pecking order at right back and right wing back), played only U-23s football (unacceptable to him for his development) or go out on loan (inevitable, as his only viable option). Like Maprovanos, he probaly has a season to dazzle if he is to have an Arsenal career, but a sale in a year’s time seems the most likely outcome.
Dr F: top review. You have put your analytical finger on the area that the attack most needs to improve, the supply of chances for it to feast off. Your point about Willian’s passing range is well made. However, both ends of our midfield need serious reconstruction.
C100@14: If that Telegraph article is right that Saliba is a combination of Raphael Varane and Virgil van Dijk, then we have a diamond, and one that seems to have been a Gooner since boyhood.
Messi reportedly wants out of Barca now. And he hands in his transfer request just after we have signed a no 10…
Another busy day – Maguire a
common criminal, Messi on his
way and Jimmy to 600.
@24
Thanks for the clarification Ned. My own post
was just idle wondering about the implications
for Hector because we need 2 right backs in
the squad. We do need to sell to clear the way
for the arrival of Messi, er…..I mean Partey.
Who could actually afford Messi is the
question I suppose. Time to offer a straight
swap for Ozil, Willian and Guendouzi 🤔😃
I thought Maguire should at least
have got community service.
200 hours doing something useful
such as licking the local police
station clean would have been character-
building. And made everyone laugh
in these dark times – win/win.
Maguire got a “suspended sentence”; does that leave open the possibility of his having to lick the police station clean at a later time of Greek preference? Oh to be an international legal scholar at a time like this.
Let’s hope justice will prevail bt8 and
the station floor will feel the rough end of
Maguire’s lying tongue – I didn’t know
they were police officers my arse.
He did say he was appealing, though
I’ve never found him so, and perhaps
the higher court will share my own sense
of humour.
Saliba lapped good last night. Miguel Azeez looks like a talented lad.
Thank you, Dr F !
Clearly unlike you, I cannot remember Kante’s prostate flailing memorably in Martinelli’s trail … 😳
Trev @34, I have been led to understand that prostatic flailing is a very uplifting experience. 😉
Excellent stuff Doc. Typically thorough and erudite.
Spot on about the build up play. The individual attacking players are of the right quality but we need to bring them together in passing moves and create more chances for them. I think we really need another creative signing. I hope we get one, although I have no idea who it might be.
I do expect Willian to be an effective addition this year. ESR may also be a good long term prospect but it would require something special for him to make a significant league contribution this season. Obviously his opportunities will increase if we don’t sign anyone else.
Where is Gabriel?
Thanks everyone for the kind words.
Trev — ha ha ha! Great catch. Both myself and ATG missed that in our editorial reviews. 🙂 🙂
Let me try to fix it. Cannot believe … 🙂
Unsurprising move from that lot.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/53922147
Although it is one of those articles that nowhere expounds on its headline, as BBC articles now do as well as the Daily Star.
@39 – “repeated bodily harm, bribery and assaulting the police (public workers) “
just the qualities that are so sought after in a Manchester United captain 🤪
The BBC has already changed the headline on that article. A few minutes ago it said
Man Utd expected to keep Maguire as captain
(or similar language, but now it says something totally different):
“Man Utd captain’s legal team lodges appeal against guilty verdict”
It is interesting also that the “suspended sentence” apparently will be invoked as an actual prison sentence after three years, pending appeal, and that the other two defendants received shorter sentences, clearly pointing to Maguire as the instigator.
Haven’t heard any transfer tattle involving our forwards in the last couple of days. Are we staying with what we have?
Celtic knocked out of the Champions League
@43 bt8
Still tittle tattle about Athletico’s
pursuit of Lacazette in various
rags. Apparently involving cash
plus players but not Partey.
Otherwise it’s the usual nearly
stuff – Gabriel has nearly joined
and Auba has nearly signed.
Turning down 15m from Wolves
for AMN seems the main bollocks
at the moment.
I guess most of us are waiting
for news of a CM. I saw Elneny
playing again (and scoring) in
the warm-up game against
MK Dons. I hope he will move
on as he isn’t bad but would
simply be a barrier to our
younger players if we keep him
as a squad option for the
midweek stuff.
Can’t say I’m entirely happy
that Nelson, Saka and Eddie
will be travelling to Austria and
Kosovo with England U21s in
the week before the Fulham
game. I suppose it is match
practice.
OM. Do we know if the under 21s will have to quarantine on their return?
That’s a pisstake if they won’t be available for us due to England duty. Surely that is not the case?
We’d better get in…
… a cheeky half ton!
GSD,
Nicely nicked half-ton sir.
You’d imagine there’d be some kind of
exemption but if not Kosovo is not on
the travel corridor list and Austria was
recently removed. So in the normal course
of things they’d have to isolate I suppose.
If so they shouldn’t go
GSD
I think they have an exemption. The FA wouldn’t want Liverpool players missing out would they?
A couple of weeks ago I heard that deals were in place for us to sign Willian and Sarr from Nice. Sarr has just signed for Chelsea but has been loaned out for a year . Apparently we dropped our Sarr deal when we signed Gabriel as he is a left- footed centre- back . I also heard today we have an interest in Edouard the Celtic striker . He did not play in their defeat last night . Last year Celtic were apparently expecting to get £50 m for him but that has dropped drastically . He may well head to us if we sell Lacazette .
Not forgetting that the Arsenal won the Cup, while Sp**s won f*ck all, Tony Atwood (obviously enjoying his summer) at Untold Arsenal put together this table of trophies won by the “big six” clubs over the last seven seasons:
Manchester City: 9
Chelsea: 5
Arsenal: 4
Manchester United: 3
Liverpool: 2
Tottenham Hots: 0
MA did a presser today and
masterfully said nothing.
Cheers Doc!
Masterfully saying nothing is a skill not be sneezed at, and all the more in the era of covid.
We’d better get Gabriel, now Malang Sarr has signed for Chelsea.
$1.72 million-a-week. Can that really be what Messi gets at Barca?
I read Messi was on 25m a year
with Barca, so 500k a week.
Maybe that’s basic.
Gabriel to be announced this week
is the latest report – as it’s Friday
that should mean today……
Any club wanting to sign Messi will have to pay about £90m a year to match his wages at Barcelona. is what the London Times said, OM, but then, as TTG has advised, not perhaps the most reliable source.
I always suspected there was something a bit malign about Malang. Don’t know why.
Ned,
After a quick check…..,
The Fail has him at 95m,
while Forbes say 54m and
Essentiallysports say 35m.
I expect the higher figures
include sponsorship, endorsements
etc.
In conclusion The Times may be
thundering misrepresentations
again 😱
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