Made this comment after watching that game.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/s/mnNWkoEy53

Such a lazy ass player.

I swear Haaland slots home atleast one of those 2 chances against any other team and probably both against us.Not.complaining though;City dropping points is good.

While I agree with what you said about Martinelli needing to work on his crossing,part of the blame has to go our CFs as well.For example,in our last UCL game Martinelli was rinsing that RB and putting in crosses; while some of them weren’t that great they were made to look even worse from by the lack of movement in the box.Even in our last match,I remember Martinelli looking up and then putting in a cross and no one in the box made any particular movement at all,which made the cross look really bad while it was a pretty good one.I even remember Martinelli giving a perplexed," the fuck you guys doing" kind of look after that.I’m not sure about the timing of this but think it was in the first half.

None of our attackers aren’t that tall except Havertz,but there has to be better movement imo.I saw Kai saying in his post match interview how Ode and Saka are always looking for him with their crosses from the right( don’t remember the exact words,but it was something along these lines).While Saka is better at crossing than Martinelli is,he has the added advantage that his natural arc/area of crossing generally has someone like Kai on the receiving end,who has natural height advantage,and at the same time has much better movement as compared to Jesus/Eddie.If Martinelli is going to keep spamming crosses from the left,we need better movement from from our forwards to make the most of them.Kai given his position cannot possibly get on the end of Martinelli"s crosses,but maybe White can make some late runs/get into those areas a bit more to create more threats.

TLDR: Martinelli has to improve his crossing,but his crossing is made to look even worse by the lack of good movement from the forwards.

Ex- Arsenal 11 still playing in England

Leno/Martinez

Chambers Holding Mavropanos Ayling

Kamara Dasilva

Willian Willock Iwobi

Welbeck

Manager- Unai Emery.

Ayling isn’t really a LB and I don’t think he has played a senior game for us,but couldn’t think of anyone better to play LB.Decent team tbh.

According to Spurs fans,terrorist Arteta playing coward football vs revolutionary mate playing never seen before attacking football giving Spuds their best ever start. But somehow we are 1st in the league,with the best defensive record while they sit 4th having scored less and conceded more than us.Make it make sense.

Osimhen’s finishing is somewhat overrated imo and its kind of understandable if you don’t watch Serie A and judge his finishing purely based on stats/highlights.

I don’t exactly know how to put this into words but Osimhen is the kind of player who would miss 2/3 chances in the first 80 minutes and then parry 2 back to back chances in the next ten minutes.His numbers look good over the course of a season and he is obviously a fantastic player,but I wouldn’t call him a clinical finisher( atleast not in the same level as say a Kane/peak RVP).I think he is a great player,with great physical and technical qualities, capable of some fantastic finishing but at the same time can be a bit erratic with his finishing as well.

For a team like Napoli who create a fair bit,he is wonderful to have but I don’t know if he would be worth the price we would have to pay, playing in our system.We don’t create as much from open play(read somewhere that we are something like 11th in the league for chances created from open play and I would imagine Napoli are a lot better at creating just from watching their games, although I haven’t checked the numbers),we don’t go Gung-ho on the counter and there is barely any space to run in behind given the low blocks we face every week.There are obviously other qualities to him that we could absolutely use like his strength,arial ability and movement in the box etc and I absolutely wouldn’t complain if we sign him,but at the end of the day,I just don’t think its worth the 120m or whatever we would have to pay Napoli.

My man Osimhen is going to cost us a lot of money,which I don’t know if we can afford.

I watch a fair bit of Serie just to watch the likes of Kvaradona, Osimhen and Leao in action and while Osimhen is one of my favourite players,I don’t think we play a system that would maximize Osimhen’s abilities.More often than not we play against low blocks,meaning there is barely any space to run into and we don’t necessarily counter as fast a lot of other teams,which takes away a lot of Osimhen’s strength imo.

At the same time,I think he is really good in the air(kind of an underrated aspect of his game) and he has this tendency to drift out wide to the right which could lead to some exciting interplay with Saka/Jesus so there is that as well.

While I love Osimhen,I think if we are spending 100m+ on a player it should be on Evan Ferguson imo.He obviously isn’t on Osimhen’s level yet,but I think his profile/potential is exactly what I would want in a big signing.He has also shown his ability in the premier league as well,so there is that too.But this is just my preference;if we end up signing Osimhen,I wouldn’t be complaining lol.

Going to make a somewhat bold ( and maybe even unpopular) prediction for the next window.We are going to move on from the whole false 9 thing(atleast against some teams) and are going to bring in a more traditional CF, someone who may not be as good on the ball as Jesus is,but someone who is better in the air,with better movement in the box,more clinical etc.Not necessarily a better player overall,but a completely different profile to Jesus.

We play a very conservative brand of football which gives us control,but at the same time we also don’t create too many chances.We also seem to rely a lot on crosses and setpieces for our goals.I think having a traditional 9 would make things easier for us, given the current way we play.

A big advantage of playing a false 9 is that it affords more space to other attackers and allows them to get into good positions to score, something that worked really well for us last season.Ode and Martinelli benefitted a lot from Jesus dropping wide/deep thus creating space and they managed to get into good positions and score 30 league goals between them.This season however neither player seem to get into the same kind of positions as last season ( atleast not as often) which takes away a lot of the purpose of the false 9.I have seen a lot of people say all of this is down to injury issues,which I don’t fully agree with.Obviosly Ode and Jesus having niggles hasn’t let them play at their absolute best,but more than that the change in tactics is the reason imo.

This isn’t me saying we should move on from Jesus.He is a top player and we could still play with a false 9 against a lot of teams( especially in the UCL,and against teams that afford us space in the league like Brighton).But it would be great to have a traditional 9 as an alternative option against teams like Brentford, if the game plan is to spam crosses into the box.Ideally Nketiah would step up and take that role but I think we should go for someone like Toney who would fit the profile I mentioned, if it is financially viable.There is also a case to be made for Havertz to play that role given his physical profile,but I think Arteta sees him as a left sided 8 in the long term.Moreover,I don’t think he is necessarily more clinical than Jesus with his finishing.

Even if you don’t agree with us needing a different profile of striker to Jesus,there is definitely a case to be made for upgrading on Nketiah.If Jesus was an always available striker like say Kane who is barely ever injured,then maybe Eddie would’ve sufficed as a backup.But given Jesus’s history with injuries,we should be looking at replacing Eddie with a better player, someone who is a different profile to Jesus.

I have been very impressed with Evan Ferguson and would be my ideal signing,given his profile and potential but Brighton would probably want half of North London in return so that isn’t exactly viable.

Toney would have just one year left come the end of the season and should be an option we should consider at the right price.He may not be a better player than Jesus,but his profile would most certainly be useful against teams like Brentford who we are going to come up against a lot in the league.

Who would you start instead of Odegaard?

If we are looking to bring in a similar profile to Jesus,Lautaro would be my pick.I watch a fair bit of Serie A on the side and I have been really impressed with him in the last 18 months or so.Some strikers step up their game around 25-27 and he seems to be in that phase and I wouldn’t be surprised if Madrid or even Chelsea snap him up next year.

He would offer the same kind of pressing,hold up play and defensive contributions as Jesus.His passing and dribbling may not be as good as Jesus,but its still good enough.I also rate his finishing higher than Jesus.He also has a bullet header and a very good shot from range.

Bringing in Lautaro would mean Jesus having to play out wide when the two of them play together (when one of Sakanelli is rotated/rested) which I don’t have a problem with,( I actually rate Jesus as wide player very highly)but I’m not sure something Jesus would be fond of( remember seeing something about him wanting to play through the middle as his reason for moving here).

He will have 2 years left on his contract come the end of the season and he could be tempted by a move to the EPL.

I am not an expert by any means and I have no stats to back up my claim,but purely from watching him play for the last couple of years,I can see him take the next step in the near future.He is already very good( think he has scored 20+ in the last 2 years),but I genuinely believe he is going to become even better very soon.

This is how we could line up in City’s formation if everyone was fit and available ( and KT wasn’t on loan).

Raya (Ramsdale)

Tomi - Saliba - Gabriel ( Timber- Kiwior- Tierney)

White (Partey)

Saka-Ode- Rice -Martinelli (Nelson-Zinchenko-Viera/Jorginho-ESR)

Havertz -Jesus (Trossard - Eddie)

Some changes that could be made

1)You could pair Martinelli with Jesus by taking out Havertz and playing Trossard/ESR/Nelson on the left.

2)You could start Zinchenko alongside Rice and pair Ode with Jesus by taking out Havertz.

3)You could pair Ode and Partey, with Rice behind instead of White,in which case the back 3 would be White-Saliba-Gabi.

Not advocating us to copy City’s system,just something that came randomly to my mind.But I’m ngl, I would love to see us pair Martinelli and Jesus up top like City do with Haaland and KDB/Alvarez.Obviously it isn’t the same,but that partnership through the middle could be fire.(that last UCL game gave us a small glimpse of this).

This sort of confirms the eye test.Our passing through the middle this season hasn’t been incisive enough.As good as Rice is,his passing isn’t as incisive as Partey ( not a slight at Rice,thats how good Partey is at this particular aspect), Havertz is a downgrade from Xhaka when it comes to buildup, through balls etc and Ode hasn’t been at his best( maybe its because of the change in tactics,maybe because of having to compensate for the lack of creativity from the other 8 or maybe due to the niggle he has been carrying or a sum total of all this).

On top of all this,when Jesus isn’t available and Eddie is preferred over Trossard in that 9 role,there is a further loss of creativity through the middle because Eddie cannot drop deep and help the attack like Jesus.

So basically the only real threat comes from Sakanelli and teams just put 2 guys on them and kick them around all game because the refs won’t do shit.

All of this leads me to wonder what Mikel’s vision for our midfield was with the summer signings.Was it

1)Rice-Partey-Ode

Or

2. Havertz -Rice -Ode

If it was 1,I don’t quite get what the point of spending 65m on Havertz was.You don’t go out and spend that kind of money on a project signing that too one that isn’t a starter.

If it was 2,I have to question the idea of essentially replacing 2/3 of our midfield from last season in one go.

In hindsight,I think we would have been better of spending big on a ready made partner for Rice in midfield.But whats done is done,and I trust Mikel so hopefully whatever Mikel’s vision is comes good and Havertz becomes a success.

There was a moment after he came on where he had a chance to burst upfield with the ball on the counter but somehow a Sevilla player managed to catch up with him without much fuss.One of the reasons for making subs at that point is to have fresh legs to carry the ball upfield and relieve pressure on the defenders.I was really disappointed with Nketiah there.

Do we make it to the 10 biggest European clubs of all time all things considered,like fanbase,trophies won etc?

Madrid,Barca,ManU, Liverpool,Bayern,Milan clubs,Juventus all make it imo given their exceptional success both domestically and in Europe and I would put us and Chelsea in there as well.But would clubs like Ajax despite their current condition edge us given their past success in the Champions league?

For that kind of money he would be an absolute steal for a team like Everton who play on the counter.But for the system we play and the kind of low blocks we face, don’t think he would be a good option.

What I will say though is some of the goals that he scored this season reminded me a bit of Auba.(obviously Auba was a whole different class).

I get your point,but the league isn’t what it was a few years back.We are yet to play Brighton,Villa,and Newcastle who aren’t part of the traditional big 6,but more dangerous than a team like ManU at the moment. We also have to play Liverpool,the second most difficult fixture after City.Also the games against the Manchester clubs and Spurs were all at home.

But City have a cheat code in KDB though(when fit).Someone who can create a chance out of nothing with one of his trademark crosses or through balls.As good as Ode is,he isn’t quite that level.We obviously have players who can create but not the same level as City imo.They can afford to play that kind of controlling game with 4 CBs and Rodri providing cover when you can rely on Daddy Debruyne or one of his minions to just put one on the plate for Haaland to tap home.

Also their strikers- Haaland and Alvarez are far more clinical than Eddie/Jesus which means City don’t have to create too much to score.

Another advantage City have is that they are ruthless on the counter,while for some reason we seem to slow down attacks.

All things considered,I don’t think we can afford to play like City.We may need to take few more risks and find some sort of balance, because the way we are getting points doesn’t seem sustainable.

Maybe Timber could be an option? Incredibly press resistant,can go past people,good passing,physicality and work rate.His long term future is probably in the Zinchenko role and occasionally rotating with White,but Timber as a 6 would be interesting.