indy23 wrote:Lacazette and Kolsanic. Thats a realistic summer for us so im not surprised.
Anymore would be a bonus.
The spine of our team is not good enough to win the league. We have an ailing Cech in goal. And our defence?
Mertesacker - coming back off a year out and retiring anyway
Kos - declining, dodgy long passing, weak in the air and makes boneheaded decisions in one-on-one situations
Holding - very young, inexperienced and unproven over consistent period
Chambers - also inexperienced & very young with only 1 season of first team football
Mustafi - still finding his feet, dives in too much and erratic
Gabriel - see above without the 'finding his feet' part. Also regularly injured
6 centre backs none of whom are world class IMO.
Then there's our centre midfield options.
Coquelin - tactically naïve and technically lacking. Went off the boil last season
Ramsey - useless defensively and slow to release the ball offensively. His only purpose is scoring goals.
Xhaka - Much better in a 3-5-2 but runs in quicksand and needs a mobile partner. Guaranteed to miss games through suspension
Cazorla - Nobody knows whether he'll return to his level or if he'll return at all. Questionable if he can play with Xhaka
Ox - Capable but inconsistent. Largely down to being used in so many different positions
Elneny - Jack of all trades but master of none. Carbon copy of Flamini
Wilshere - Talented but perennially injured, and will probably be sold. Hasn't developed
Maitland-Niles - Looks raw and not yet ready. Joe Willock looking more deserving of a first team squad place. Both inexperienced at this level
Again nobody remotely close to world class.
We have a lot of average players in critical positions, so to me Lemar, as talented as he is, is not going to take us to the next level. We conceded 44 goals last season, and a large part of that is we need to use numbers to defend because we don't have enough individual defensive quality and physicality.