2018-19 Squad Analysis and Tactics

[Santi]

Who’s bailey the CB?

The Irish one. Looks like chocolate, fantastic spirit to help the team out, something you can count on in many situations, and can be included in multiple combinations without being out of place.

More like Mustafi's pre-game drink, bottle of Bailey's.

[Sims]

I’m presuming when Banega comes in

Leno
Bellerin - Mustafi - Sokratis - Nacho/Kola
Xhaka
Torreira - Banega
??? - Laca - Auba

Is gonna be the go to

[Yago]

you just know ??? = Iwobi.

[ESR10]

you just know ??? = Iwobi.

Yeah

Would rather call back Nelson or play ESR

[Sims]

you just know ??? = Iwobi.

Could be worse

Mkhitaryan is fit after the new year

[coolaa]

I reckon we can have a starting 11 that is as good as other top teams in premier league.

Leno
Sokratis Mavropanos Holding
Bellerin Torreira Iwobi(or AMN) Kolasinac
Ozil
Aubameyang Lacazette

But injury at the back and lack of a big physically strong CM, have forced us to use second tier players to start.

1) lack of height at the back(no marvropanos and holding), we are forced to start Xhaka because the manager wanted some height, otherwise we could have played AMN or Iwobi, these are players who are mobile, solid, and have skills to hold the ball.

2) that lack of hard running CM, led us not able to play ozil. Otherwise the players around ozil can compromise his laziness.

3) both bellerin and kolasinac are good at going forward, even if they can't defend, the 3 strong and tall CBs, plus the two hard working DM, can cover the WBs.

4) ozil, aubameyang, mhkitaryan, welbeck, guendouzi, lacazette are all players either can score or create goals.

So i think our starting 11 is just as good as the other top teams in the league, it is unfortunate that we have so many injuries. It is more down to injuries, rather than quality of the 1st team.

If we really have to buy more players, I think we need 2 more tall CBs, 1 RWB and 1 athletic DM.

Kos, jenkinson, Mustafi, Xhaka, Ramsey can all be sold. I used to think Welbeck would be a good 3rd striker for us, but since he is out of contract, we should not renew him.

[swipe right]

We need the entire back line to be redone.
- CBs: sell Kos and Mus. Bring in two starting CBs as we develop Holding and use Sokratis as a backup.
- FBs: bring in FBs on both flanks who can challenge Bellerin and Kola.
- GK: bring in a top keeper who can push Leno to improve or down to number two.

This is a 100-120 mil undertaking at the least. Which of course we won’t make.

[ESR10]

We need the entire back line to be redone.
- CBs: sell Kos and Mus. Bring in two starting CBs as we develop Holding and use Sokratis as a backup.
- FBs: bring in FBs on both flanks who can challenge Bellerin and Kola.
- GK: bring in a top keeper who can push Leno to improve or down to number two.

This is a 100-120 mil undertaking at the least. Which of course we won’t make.

The first game Sokratis did look shaky in was against Liverpool. Can happen to any defender. He's fine to start. He could use a better partner for sure. I agree with the rest. Would rather just buy one CB, one LB though for now and put the rest of the budget in buying a CM to partner Torreira and a wide forward for obvious reasons.

[swipe right]

We need the entire back line to be redone.
- CBs: sell Kos and Mus. Bring in two starting CBs as we develop Holding and use Sokratis as a backup.
- FBs: bring in FBs on both flanks who can challenge Bellerin and Kola.
- GK: bring in a top keeper who can push Leno to improve or down to number two.

This is a 100-120 mil undertaking at the least. Which of course we won’t make.

The first game Sokratis did look shaky in was against Liverpool. Can happen to any defender. He's fine to start. He could use a better partner for sure. I agree with the rest. Would rather just buy one CB, one LB though for now and put the rest of the budget in buying a CM to partner Torreira and a wide forward for obvious reasons.

Sokratis is a decent player but nothing more than that. Look at the way Salah ran him ragged while Virgil had Auba in his pocket. We need a Virgil level CB.

[Rockape]

I reckon we can have a starting 11 that is as good as other top teams in premier league.

Lol....it was all going so well until you mentioned Iwobi, and Kola!

[PairyGrows]

It has to be said very little effort has been put in building our squad. Not only does it lack depth and quality in various areas (such as the right back and winger departments), but our wage structure is a big mess too.

Our four highest earners are (predictably) Ozil, Aubameyang, Lacazette and Mkhitaryan. Together, they take up a whopping 33 percent of our weekly wage bill. Keep in mind that these four players don't fit well in the lineup at the same time, which means we're necessarily either benching one or two of them, or we're playing some of them out of position. Either way, the outcome is far from optimal. No other top six club is in a comparable position.

Another problem arises with the fifth-best earner at the club - Sead Kolasinac. He earns a whopping 119,500 per week. Even if your his most loyal supporter, you cannot argue Kolasinac has ever performed up to his wages. Seeing how much Kolasinac makes, Aaron Ramsey's demands for £200,000 per week, while ridiculous in their own right, seem reasonable. Bad contracts drive up wages across the board.

Without a signficant increase in revenue, the inevitable expansion of the wage bill will eat away our competitiveness in the transfer market. Our contract and transfer fee offers will be far lower than those of our rivals, which means we'll have to look for cheap talent and hope for the best. Essentially, our aspiration is to be a bigger Leicester (which is something Gazidis hinted two years ago).

Of course there's another way, but it requires radical moves and big risks in the transfer market. Are we ready to do that?

[ESR10]

We need the entire back line to be redone.
- CBs: sell Kos and Mus. Bring in two starting CBs as we develop Holding and use Sokratis as a backup.
- FBs: bring in FBs on both flanks who can challenge Bellerin and Kola.
- GK: bring in a top keeper who can push Leno to improve or down to number two.

This is a 100-120 mil undertaking at the least. Which of course we won’t make.

The first game Sokratis did look shaky in was against Liverpool. Can happen to any defender. He's fine to start. He could use a better partner for sure. I agree with the rest. Would rather just buy one CB, one LB though for now and put the rest of the budget in buying a CM to partner Torreira and a wide forward for obvious reasons.

Sokratis is a decent player but nothing more than that. Look at the way Salah ran him ragged while Virgil had Auba in his pocket. We need a Virgil level CB.

Don't disagree with that. A Virgil level Cb partnered with Sokratis is good enough. Papa isn't worse than Lovren.

[Rockape]

Yeah but first of all you need to find a player who is on VVD’s level, then get him to leave his club to join ours, then fight off the oppo to land him at say £90m. Easy huh

Oh...and seeing as VVD is now being touted as the best defender in Da World...the problem has become possibly unsolvable!

[Rockape]

I think we are deluding ourselves if we truly believe a couple of decent signings will allow us to challenge for the title. UE needs time to do what he needs to do to get rid of the dead wood and bring in players that will gel as a strong team. He’s got a mountain to climb!

[swipe right]

Yeah but first of all you need to find a player who is on VVD’s level, then get him to leave his club to join ours, then fight off the oppo to land him at say £90m. Easy huh

Oh...and seeing as VVD is now being touted as the best defender in Da World...the problem has become possibly unsolvable!

Kalidou Koulibaly