Riyad Mahrez

[Barbara 15,149]

1 hour ago, Styles said:

In terms of importance, how do you rank our needs for the 16-17 season?

CB=LB>CB2>ST>MD(AM/DM). That's the short answer. But I can't stop here, objectiveness is boring. 

we need someone to replace Ivanovic more than we need air. While I think Conte will keep Aina training with the main team, I don't think he'll throw him there now.

Then we desperately need CBs. We are a Terry injury away of being left with a partnership between Cahill and Iva himself (at this point Iva just ruins everything). Zouma will take around six more weeks to recover, we don't have a clue of how he'll come back and it's very, very, very usual for players that have his injury to be way too cautious when they come back and while sometimes it lasts a little while, I've seen players that were never the same simply because they don't seem to trust their knees anymore and feel scared of another ligament injury. Being as big as he is, I think Happy will take a little while to feel comfortable on his knees again. So we might have a way-too-cautious Zouma, a slow Terry and two awful backups. It could jeopardize all our plans in all honesty.

If we're playing with two strikers, we definitely need one more. Costa and Barb'shuayi are nailed starters imo and Remy while a very good striker, had way too many injury problems with us, started an affair (or is it a marriage) with the offside line and as much as I love Traoré and I want him to stay, Costa is also prone to injury, so we could be left with Barb'shuayi and Traoré at any point, which isn't bad per say, but Barb's is going to be new at the league and having more strikers is never a bad idea. I don't know why these guys seem to get more injured than the other position.

After we address all that, I think we could reinforce our attacking midfield. Hazard is probably going to be on his best. Mourinho's passive-aggressiveness, hot-cold treatment of him and completely lack of training, drilling and guiding leaving the kid to do his thing hit Hazard badly. Of course, Eden is to blame too, but I expect him to have a good season. I'm positive Willian will pick up from where he left off last season, and with this we have both wings covered with backups that aren't my favorite, but Kenedy (if he stays), Pedro and RCL can do some work there. Pedro improved towards the end of the season, so maybe he's better adapted. And there's Cesc. I don't know where Conte is going to use him, but he's our most creative player (I know you don't like him, but he can be useful at certain kinds of games). One between Moses and Cuadrado - for my complete despair - is probably staying too.

Finally, I expect Matic and Kanté to have great seasons. Matic is probably fresh and Oscar and RLC could be replacements, and even Mikel (unbelievable) as I don't think he's going anywhere.

If we were willing to spend, spend, spend I think we could get Kalidou, and then one between Manolas/Lindelof, some striker (I don't like any of the names we're linked to), than Mahrez, Witsel, Naingolan (although that ship sailed) and why not Griezmann lol lol lol. Kidding on the last part.

It's not that I think we should settle for our attacking from last season, it's just I truly believe the lads will be on their best version again under Conte and maybe even improve further more. Hazard and Willian at their bests and Cesc being used as a creative man in some sort of matches, serves us well imo.

Edited July 24, 2016 by Barbara
LB, we need a LB so Azpili can learn again how to be a RB

[Barbara 15,149]

2 hours ago, Tomo said:

How many have we heard this? "The final piece in the Arsenal puzzle".

If they get their first post Wenger appointment right then yeah they will be a serious threat home and abroad, but as long as Wenger's about the title is not happening.

And they were all true, mate. Have they or have they not ended in their beloved 4th position? Without us to steal it from them and Spurs doing what they do best, they even went further than usual last season. But they're right on track. They're consistent, they always bring what they need to reach their goals. You can argue many things about Arsenal, but their ability to reach their goals season after season ain't one of them. They're perfect on this. Look their record at that 4th place. They just keep bringing the key pieces to finish their puzzle season after season.

2 hours ago, Blue_Fox_ said:

I'd rather have a defensively solid team that scores 1-2 goals per game and doesn't concede than a disorganized, lazy team that scores 2-3 goals and concedes 2 per game.
Luckily Antonio didn't start watching football yesterday, played at the highest level and knows how it's done properly.

 

2 hours ago, Styles said:

Why can't we aspire to play well on both sides? Defending well and attacking well are not mutually exclusive.

I really don't like this kind of assessment Blue_Fox and I totally agree with Styles, although I respect it because I know about the difficulty to achieve it, but I think that we can and should aim for much more than we produced offensively. Conceding a couple more goals in the odd match is completely acceptable (key word is odd, not the routine we became), but a team that doesn't know how to attack in an expertly way can't get too far. Not anymore. We were in a complete and desperate drought of attacking effectiveness. We all know Mourinho left the attacking players do whatever they wanted. Hazard using his talent, Costa his strength and heart, Willian his pace and work rate and using Cesc as a creative outlet. We relied upon their natural abilities and efforts to create anything. That's just too little, too shy and even unacceptable. The way Mourinho overlooked the need of drilling, organizing and training our offensive phase properly, leaving it to players' individuality was terrible and Guus couldn't make any magic arriving at the middle of such a terrible season (don't think he was the guy to have changed that intrinsic mentality around either).

Now we have a manager that is clearly bothered about how we 'attack' and approach games. We need solidness in the back, so we can play and dare in the attack. That's why I'm saying we need strong names to build our defense, but that definitely isn't because I'd rather score one-two goals and concede none, absolutely not. Because we need this solidness so the guys up there can do their thing and execute Conte's attacking ideas. When was the last time we looked to Chelsea and could see the manager's attacking ideas exposed there in a tactical way? I honestly can't remember. FSW had some ideas, and I don't like them much better than I liked Mourinho relying on players' individual talent either as I think the Mata-centered team exposed us too much and unnecessarily, but we could see patterns of movements then, players knowing exactly where and what they were supposed to be and do. That's four seasons ago and even then, a poor choice that still was better than we had in recent years simply because there was a plan, not matter how badly thought the plan was.

So, I've been  very disappointed on our attacking approaches and tactics for the last few years (the only time it wasn't bad was the first few months when we won the league, when Mourinho actually had a good plan, that was mainly helped by having all stars aligned in the universe and our players shining in ways they haven't before, but the first sign of defense fragility, he preferred to give up on his attacking plans and go back to his comfort zone of drilling exhaustively the defensive aspect. He - and we - never looked back after that) .

The only reason why I'm not overly concerned about this now is 1 - Conte has a completely different view of football and you can say it's giving him the creeps to see how our players mechanically behave in a defensive way - although they defend pretty badly, 2 - I see our attacking players flourishing under a manager with a different view 3 - I really have faith in Conte, Eden, Willian, Cesc, Diego, Barb'shuayi, Traoré, RLC to have a great season., but we need to fix our attack even more desperately than we need to fix our defensive problems, the difference is that I believe we have the minimum human material to fix the attack, while we are very needing of defensive players to fix our defensive moves.

[Styles 9,790]

42 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Don't get me wrong I'm not advocating Conte going down that route full time far from it, but if he has to grind out the games to start with while our new signings gel and last season's players get their confidence back, it won't be the end of the world.

I think no CL might be a hindrance at the start, I remember Pep saying once that two games a week helps build motivation and momentum, however at the business end is were the extra break could work in our favour.

One advantage Conte has got is after last season the pining for Mou and Hiddink if things are going wrong will be a thing of the past, also all the old guard apart from Terry are gone, so Antonio has almost got a blank canvas.

Trust me, I get what you're saying: use this season a platform to build on for next season, get back to basics etc. I wouldn't be averse to that if it ultimately does come down to just that, but we have a rare opportunity.

With no European football we can speed up the transition process somewhat. If we make the right signings, Conte has an entire season to figure things out. Whole weeks, uninterrupted, to really drill and coach players must be a manager's dream.

8 minutes ago, Barbara said:

CB=RB>CB2>ST>MD(AM/DM). That's the short answer. But I can't stop here, objectiveness is boring. 

we need someone to replace Ivanovic more than we need air. While I think Conte will keep Aina training with the main team, I don't think he'll throw him there now.

Then we desperately need CBs. We are a Terry injury away of being left with a partnership between Cahill and Iva himself (at this point Iva just ruins everything). Zouma will take around six more weeks to recover, we don't have a clue of how he'll come back and it's very, very, very usual for players that have his injury to be way too cautious when they come back and while sometimes it lasts a little while, I've seen players that were never the same simply because they don't seem to trust their knees anymore and feel scared of another ligament injury. Being as big as he is, I think Happy will take a little while to feel comfortable on his knees again. So we might have a way-too-cautious Zouma, a slow Terry and two awful backups. It could jeopardize all our plans in all honesty.

If we're playing with two strikers, we definitely need one more. Costa and Barb'shuayi are nailed starters imo and Remy while a very good striker, had way too many injury problems with us, started an affair (or is it a marriage) with the offside line and as much as I love Traoré and I want him to stay, Costa is also prone to injury, so we could be left with Barb'shuayi and Traoré at any point, which isn't bad per say, but Barb's is going to be new at the league and having more strikers is never a bad idea. I don't know why these guys seem to get more injured than the other position.

After we address all that, I think we could reinforce our attacking midfield. Hazard is probably going to be on his best. Mourinho's passive-aggressiveness, hot-cold treatment of him and completely lack of training, drilling and guiding leaving the kid to do his thing hit Hazard badly. Of course, Eden is to blame too, but I expect him to have a good season. I'm positive Willian will pick up from where he left off last season, and with this we have both wings covered with backups that aren't my favorite, but Kenedy (if he stays), Pedro and RCL can do some work there. Pedro improved towards the end of the season, so maybe he's better adapted. And there's Cesc. I don't know where Conte is going to use him, but he's our most creative player (I know you don't like him, but he can be useful at certain kinds of games). One between Moses and Cuadrado - for my complete despair - is probably staying too.

Finally, I expect Matic and Kanté to have great seasons. Matic is probably fresh and Oscar and RLC could be replacements, and even Mikel (unbelievable) as I don't think he's going anywhere.

If we were willing to spend, spend, spend I think we could get Kalidou, and then one between Manolas/Lindelof, some striker (I don't like any of the names we're linked to), than Mahrez, Witsel, Naingolan (although that ship sailed) and why not Griezmann lol lol lol. Kidding on the last part.

It's not that I think we should settle for our attacking from last season, it's just I truly believe the lads will be on their best version again under Conte and maybe even improve further more. Hazard and Willian at their bests and Cesc being used as a creative man in some sort of matches, serves us well imo.

Agree with most of that. Is Zouma only really 6 weeks away? I thought he'd be out until at least November. I hope and pray Zouma doesn't take too long to trust his body again because I don't want to see his development cut short; these are prime education years for him.

 I do agree that CB is our most important need. We can't start the 2016 season with a Terry and Cahill partnership. Absolute nightmare and a joke for a club with our ambitions and resources. As for RB, I want to see Azpi move back to his natural position and for Baba to be given a chance. What is the point of buying players and not giving them a chance to develop? Managers need to do some coaching, you can't just keep having ready made players all the time. Coaching and player development is part of the the job. And if he doesn't take his chance then that opens the door for an Aina or or somebody else.

If we signed a new CB we would be able to go into next season with new CB, Zouma, Christensen and ideally a young player promoted or somebody back from loan.

I absolutely agree with the last part though; I think Conte will get the best out of some of the players who underperformed last year. I have had this feeling from the stuff he says and how hards they seem to be training during pre-season.

[Barbara 15,149]

9 minutes ago, Styles said:

Trust me, I get what you're saying: use this season a platform to build on for next season, get back to basics etc. I wouldn't be averse to that if it ultimately does come down to just that, but we have a rare opportunity.

With no European football we can speed up the transition process somewhat. If we make the right signings, Conte has an entire season to figure things out. Whole weeks, uninterrupted, to really drill and coach players must be a manager's dream.

Agree with most of that. Is Zouma only really 6 weeks away? I thought he'd be out until at least November. I hope and pray Zouma doesn't take too long to trust his body again because I don't want to see his development cut short; these are prime education years for him.

 I do agree that CB is our most important need. We can't start the 2016 season with a Terry and Cahill partnership. Absolute nightmare and a joke for a club with our ambitions and resources. As for RB, I want to see Azpi move back to his natural position and for Baba to be given a chance. What is the point of buying players and not giving them a chance to develop? Managers need to do some coaching, you can't just keep having ready made players all the time. Coaching and player development is part of the the job. And if he doesn't take his chance then that opens the door for an Aina or or somebody else.

If we signed a new CB we would be able to go into next season with new CB, Zouma, Christensen and ideally a young player promoted or somebody back from loan.

I absolutely agree with the last part though; I think Conte will get the best out of some of the players who underperformed last year. I have had this feeling from the stuff he says and how hards they seem to be training during pre-season.

Actually I meant we need a LB, we have a RB problem because IVa is stealing Azpi's position there. I don't think Baba is reliable at all at this point,maybe some day he will, but not yet imo. So we need a LB because I'm do damn tired of seeing Azpi limiting his crosses and link with attacking players even further because he's playing in the wrong side of the pitch. Damn it, at this point I don't even know if he knows how to properly attack as a LB, we've ruined his development and growth in the attacking aspect of his game by throwing him in the LB.

 

As for Zouma I read him and Conte talking about six weeks more, but then I don't know if that's for him to start training normally or to actually be cleared to play. So maybe you're right about the timeline.

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

Mahrez 2/1 to join Chelsea.

 

 

[Styles 9,790]

5 minutes ago, Barbara said:

Actually I meant we need a LB, we have a RB problem because IVa is stealing Azpi's position there. I don't think Baba is reliable at all at this point,maybe some day he will, but not yet imo. So we need a LB because I'm do damn tired of seeing Azpi limiting his crosses and link with attacking players even further because he's playing in the wrong side of the pitch. Damn it, at this point I don't even know if he knows how to properly attack as a LB, we've ruined his development and growth in the attacking aspect of his game by throwing him in the LB.

Mourinho sabotaged us. He tried to weaken us knowing he was going to Man Utd all along.

I even read a quote from Kennedy where he said Mourinho tried to play him at CB ffs.

[Tomo 21,751]

10 minutes ago, Styles said:

Trust me, I get what you're saying: use this season a platform to build on for next season, get back to basics etc. I wouldn't be averse to that if it ultimately does come down to just that, but we have a rare opportunity.

With no European football we can speed up the transition process somewhat. If we make the right signings, Conte has an entire season to figure things out. Whole weeks, uninterrupted, to really drill and coach players must be a manager's dream.

Agree with most of that. Is Zouma only really 6 weeks away? I thought he'd be out until at least November. I hope and pray Zouma doesn't take too long to trust his body again because I don't want to see his development cut short; these are prime education years for him.

 I do agree that CB is our most important need. We can't start the 2016 season with a Terry and Cahill partnership. Absolute nightmare and a joke for a club with our ambitions and resources. As for RB, I want to see Azpi move back to his natural position and for Baba to be given a chance. What is the point of buying players and not giving them a chance to develop? Managers need to do some coaching, you can't just keep having ready made players all the time. Coaching and player development is part of the the job. And if he doesn't take his chance then that opens the door for an Aina or or somebody else.

If we signed a new CB we would be able to go into next season with new CB, Zouma, Christensen and ideally a young player promoted or somebody back from loan.

I absolutely agree with the last part though; I think Conte will get the best out of some of the players who underperformed last year. I have had this feeling from the stuff he says and how hards they seem to be training during pre-season.

Fair enough, we will probably have more of an idea of how the first few months will go in August, the WHU game will be à really intreging.

About Zouma tho, I'm not going to lie i'm quite worried, he is not technically brilliant and his main aspects of his game are his pace and power, we have already seen with Essien, Torres and Falcao what can happen to players who's main attributes are pace/physical aspects when they hey a bad injury, although Zouma does have age on his side compared to those three at the time of injuries however.

[Barbara 15,149]

1 hour ago, Peace. said:

In a theoritical point of view I am agree with you : as long as we do not improve our defense and our central-midfield — both in terms of attack and defense —, buying quality attacking players will not change a lot of things.

Yet on a practical point of view, things might be more complicated. First, as I have mentioned it yesterday on this thread, we are seemingly not interested in buying a central playmaker. All central defenders of quality are unattainable for us — either they are too expensive, their club are not selling, they signed a new contract or are not interested in us. As for the full-back, we seem to be happy with what we have.

So indeed it would have been perfect if we could have bought Modric, Bonucci and Alaba (random names), but as of right now, it appears that it will be very, very difficult to dramatically improve our back line and our central midfield (at least for the short/med term).

Thus we have to think in terms of opportunities. The advanced-midfield is not the priority yet it still has to be improved — actually, all our departments, bar the goalkeeping position, need to be improved. Therefore, if very good defenders are not available but we have the opportunity the sign a very good attacking player, we should do it even if it is not the priority.

Furthermore, mediocrity all over the pitch — or "balance" if we want to be polite — should be avoided like the plague. Pep's Barcelona was that good because Xavi-Busquets-Iniesta was out of this world ; Enrique's Barcelona because Neymar-Suarez-Messi is out of this world. We have to take a clear stance a decide to overpower one of our departments, be it our defense, our midfield or our attack. Yet today all of them are mediocre.

Finally, our attacking department is not good enough and there is only Hazard that can make things happen. So having someone else that can share Hazard's burden would not be a lust but a necessity (I am waiting to hold judgment in regards to Batshuyia, but the more the merrier).

For all these reasons, if we have the opportunity to sign Mahrez — or any "very" good attacking player —, we should grab it. Of course if the choice is either Bonucci/Modric or Mahrez, we should take the former(s), but I doubt very much we will have this choice.

how did I miss this post? 

You're completely right, if we can't get the defenders we desperately need, we might as well get the attackers.

[Blue_Fox_ 2,086]

1 hour ago, Peace. said:

...

Agree with the whole thing, and, just to be clear, I'm not against the Mahrez buy, in fact, I would be very much ok with it.
However I would much rather see the club throwing the proverbial "kitchen sink" at someone like Mustafi, who, whilst not world class, would vastly improve our creaking defence ( after all doesn't take all that much to improve that defence); Joao Mario, whilst not yet world class would make our midfield a force to be reckoned with (I'd much prefer having an overpowered midfield than an attack.) Hell, even that swede kid if he can actually, and we know from the get go, take Ivanovic's spot.
If, and only when, we won't be able, for whatever reason, to acquire any of these targets, then yes, we could go all out on Mahrez while it's possible.
Or maybe become greedy and get them all, that would be ideal, but these things rarely happen.

In other news, Barbara extrapolating from my brief comments the meaning of life.  Second time she quotes me and write things in reply to something I've never said, she thinks I implied.
(I still think from time to time how the hell did one of my posts ever came across as if meaning "Conte's comments were ignorant".)
Yes, I said we should and I am certain we're aiming for good, fluent play on both sides of the pitch (maybe you missed it) and yet with all the work that needs to be done, right now, I prefer a defensively solid team that doesn't concede (and can translate on the pitch Antonio's ideas) to an attacking team who simply tries to outscore the opponent (and clearly can't translate Antonio's idea of football. Which without being disrespectful, it's just a fact, unless you followed the man for the past few years or so, I know a bit more about than you do. He's from southern Italy just like me)

[Pizy 18,856]

So...many...walls of text...

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

1 hour ago, Tomo said:

 

If we signed Nolito this forum would moan because he's nearly 30 and not world class.

I can't pretend I've watched much of Nolito but I'm guessing he's good at tracking back and the off the ball stuff? Which would offer vital balance to Peps side.

Also Pedro was a important player for Pep, that alone should suggest he can be useful if utilised correct.

We don't have to make yourself underdog, but we also by equal measure dont have to go all Real Madrid and chase Galaticos/flavour of the months.

Would you rather have Mahrez or Lukaku as a second striker ?

[It's too big 625]

9 minutes ago, xPetrCechx said:

Do these odds ever really mean anything anyway? 

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

2 minutes ago, It's too big said:

Do these odds ever really mean anything anyway? 

can predict...

[Unionjack 7,531]

Well as the shirt numberr is Ramis old one it does make ya wonder. Ive scanned a few of the north London clubs forums and they kinda believe it and blaming Wenger. Plus apparently losing Lacazette too.

Remember when it happened with Robinho?