25 May 2018 20:16:49
Only Nacho really from usual defence going to World Cup! Am interested to see if Unai is happy to improve what we have in defence particularly with one or two DMs in front of them or buy new centre backs. If we assume Hector and Monreal good enough surely one or two from Kos Mustafi Holding Mav and Chambers will impress new boss in new system?
25 May 2018 23:31:29
Thats why we let so many goals in.
26 May 2018 02:08:50
Question is are they all as bad as they have shown or will more protection better coaching etc improve them or will he just buy? COYG.
26 May 2018 08:13:45
I'm certain Emery will improve our defence from a tactical point of view. Under Wenger in recent seasons we were all over the place defensively.
With a properly marshalled back four and midfield, Cech will get protection opposed to being continually exposed.
GK: Keep Cech for th final year of his contract, sell Ospina and sign Leno.
RB: Reports of signing Lichtsteiner on a free emerging. Although he is 34, he is fit as a fiddle and is a proper RB, unlike Bellerin, who cannot tackle and has no defensive positional sense. If we can achieve £40m, I would sell him and bring in Lichsteiner and a new young RB. I also like Southampton's Soares.
CB: We need to sign 2 CB's. Perhaps, Papastathopoulos and Diallo. We have Mavropanos and Holding as cover. I would sell Chambers and Mustafi. Koscielny won't be back until next year.
LB: I would keep Monreal and Kolasinac
DM: Xhaka will improve under Emeryi. Nzonzi would be a signing. I would love to see us sign Verratti. Maitland-Niles must be played in his true position as a DM.
To fund purchases we should sell: Ospina, Chambers, Mustafi, Akpom, Campbell, Bellerin (if £40m+ can be achieved) and Perez.
I don't believe we only have the reported £50-70m, plus sales to spend. Arsenal went about their business of appointing the new manager in a professional way and I am sure, unless it is for tactical purposes, they would not give details of the amount they have to spend. The club has substantial funds at their disposal and barely had a net spend last season, with Sanchez swopped for Mkhitaryan. Aubamayang came in, but we sold Oxlade, Coquelin, Szczesny, etc.
I can't wait for the new season to see a different style of play, with the defensive side of the game upgraded.
26 May 2018 10:33:40
I'm confident mustafi has more than he's shown and think he will do well with emery. In defence I would keep monreal kolasinic mustafi holding and the Greek lad. I love kos the boss but I feel we have abused him by making him the only reliable cb and it has caught up with him.
26 May 2018 10:54:23
I agree Kos is done unfortunately Kin mate, he's been absolutely outstanding for us but covering first everyone else and playing through injury have taken their toll on him.
What a waste of a very very good player who in my opinion deserved to play in a much better Arsenal team than he ever did.
26 May 2018 11:00:28
Kinloch - I think you are correct. In Wenger's team of last season we had no true experienced DM players and the defence was often played too high, allowing teams to get in behind, which made the defence and keeper look poor.
If we sign the Greek CB from Dortmundt and play: Bellerin, Mustafi, Greek CB from Dortmundt and Monreal, with Maitland-Niles and say Nzonzi as DM's, then the defence will improve enormously with proper defensive coaching and DM's. In addition, away from home play Mkhirayan, Ramsey and Xhaka as the 3 midfield in front of the 2 DM's, we will become secure at the back and stop conceding weak goals. Possibly replace Ramsey with Seri.
26 May 2018 12:17:55
The two I am interested in seeing how well they play the most are Xhaka and Mustafi. Neither have impressed overall but also am convinced aren't as bad as some may have us believe. I believe they are both decent just haven't shown it yet and further believe this change of manager system attitude will prove that COYG ps happy Anfield '89 day it's also my sons birthday 😀.
26 May 2018 16:01:33
61 - our mid year accounts show a drop in revenue due to ticket price fall as well as broadcasting fall due to Champ league failure. Our profit increased but due to property profits and player sales. Our footballing costs actually increased despite reduced bonuses following champ league failure.
We do have 160m in cash which is good but we owe 60m in player transfer fees plus we don’t have access to the full 160m due to debt covenants.
We have a healthy cash position but EL is costing us dearly and without external money coming in - how will long will it take to burn through the remaining 80m. Once we spend 70m this window p, us player Sales - it doesn’t leave much for future windows. I doubt we have much more than the reported 70m plus sales from players to be honest unless the owners fund it or we start leveraging the club more like Manu.
Our commercial deals are getting better - shirt sleeve sponsorship etc but it’s a drop in the ocean compared to what City can draw down on with their ownership structure.
FFP was the saving grace for the soul of football until then it’s the play ground of the mega rich who play with EPL clubs like normal people play on PS or Xbox.
