aniym wrote:I haven't seen a single source bringing up this rumour. At this point I'm pretty sure it's Andre Gomes or no one. We won't be getting a winger in this window unfortunately.
Don't say that. We desperately need width.
I remember last season watching so many matches where the attack always stagnated. It wasn't even the usual cause of opponents parking the bus. Wenger clearly was still trying to play his typical narrow pass-pass-pass Arsenal attack which was so nice to watch when there were players like Cesc, Nasri, Hleb, RvP, etc. who had the technical ability and wherewithal to play in the middle of the pitch and breakdown defenses with surgical passes....but it's hell to watch when there are butchers like Elneny, Xhaka, and Ramsey who had zero cohesion and no ability to pass the ball in tight spaces. No cohesion summed up our midfield-centric attack.
Fortunately we were bailed out by Sanchez' magic for the 1st half of the season b/c he could actually break down defenses, creating space so he could either score himself or pass it to someone attempting to make a run into space like Xhaka who would bumble in towards the top of the box and shin kick the ball off his forehead then get a red card. After Sanchez was sold, the need for wingers was painfully obvious. Every match was like 20 central midfielders trying to mash the ball through to a completely surrounded striker. We didn't have any players with the technical ability to create space for themselves (exception would be Mika) and there was not enough cohesion in the team for players to make runs with incisive passes. Instead we just had a mass of humanity crammed together. It felt like watching pre-schoolers who chase the ball around in a herd like fashion until they give up and start looking for four leaf clovers. Jesus Christ what a congested mess the second half of the season was.
If we don't have technical players who are comfortable playing in tight spaces or have a white wizard like Sanchez (Mika is very good but he's only a grey wizard) then we can't play such narrow football. We need width. Please Emery, buy a winger or two. Sell one of our hundreds of central midfielders to raise the funds.