Morning all.
The chatter about central defenders in the Premier League used to be about Virgil van Dijk, Harry Maguire, Jon Stones, Antonio Rudiger, Nathan Ake, the old boy Chelsea signed and even Tyrone Mings. The best of course, or at least the player most praised by pundits galore, has been VvD. The man mountain, the heartbeat of Klopps defence, the colossus. Well, step aside all of them because there’s a new kid on the block and he’s Arsenal’s. William Alain André Gabriel Saliba. Perhaps we could have done with him last season, but let’s forget he’s still only 21 years old. At St Etienne, Nice and then Marseille, he made the mistakes he needed to, he learned and grew both mentally and physically and being in France, his family and friends were never far away if he needed them. I must admit to being a critic of Saliba going out on loan but now, as everything seems to be falling into place at the club, I was wrong. Very wrong because now we have a mature defender playing for Arsenal. Not so much in years, but in experience. Dijk was five or six years older than Saliba is now when he signed for Liverpool and at 31 years old, his best days might already be behind him whereas our Frenchman has ten years on him and as long as he’s happy at Arsenal and Arsenal are happy with him, those years might be in north London. That’s unless the oil rich clubs don’t come calling with an offer Arsenal cannot turn down.
The knock-on affect of Saliba’s arrival is Ben White turning into one of the best, if not the best, right-back in the Premier League. Does his £50 million transfer fee seem high now? No, I don’t think so either and certainly not when one looks back at some of the transfer fees paid for players this summer by other clubs. Ok, Takehiro Tomiyasu is having to take a back seat right now but that’s life as a footballer and considering he was out injured for so long, he’s probably being handled with care. Just as Gabriel Martinelli was, much to my disappointment and even disapproval but yet again, I was wrong because it’s now he and the team are reaping the rewards of a fully fit player.
Kieran Tierney is another one who until Oleksandr Zinchenko suffered injury himself, was being used sparingly. Rightly so too in my opinion because of his injury history. Plus, once Zinchenko played for the team, it was clear to see that he was more than just healthy competition for Tierney. Then, when Tierney has been called upon, he’s played really well and that’s exactly why competition for places is important.
The player who has possibly, even probably, surprised many of us the most so far this season is Granit Xhaka, captain Granit Xhaka in the absence of Martin Odegaard. It’s easy to say ‘I told you so’ when the suggestions of playing him further up the pitch were made on here, but now we’re seeing Xhaka doing what he does best. Probably because the team is stronger at the back with the changes Mikel Arteta has made. Xhaka’s pace, or rather lack of it, is not such an issue because he’s no longer having to make last ditch challenges with his timing often all wrong so in turn, his discipline has improved. Not that it stopped David Coote from awarding him an unnecessary booking against Brentford but perhaps Coote didn’t realise it was only his second of the season.
I read online somewhere, probably in the Mirror on Daily Mail, that Bukayo Saka isn’t his usual self this season or he’s quiet in games. Is he though, or has the level of team/squad just gone up a notch so he’s not standing out as much? Because let’s face it, we’re playing some of the best football we as a club has played for a long long time. In every fixture this season, Arsenal have played really well and that’s what’s different. Consistency, rather than a good performance for one or two matches or even one or two halves of a match. There’s room for improvement, of course there is and there always should be. In my opinion, we’re still a couple of players short but they’ll come, of that I’m sure.
Brentford boss Thomas Frank reckons we’re Premier League contenders but I disagree. I don’t think it’ll be long before we are though. I mean proper contenders. Beat Totts, City and Liverpool next month though and I might have to rethink….
See you in the comments.
Morning Rico
You stole my thunder 😁
Off with their heads!
Morning Pete, oops, sorry. 😆
Xhaka has improved no doubt. But he was coming from a low base.
He is playing further forward where he can provide more and when he makes a mistake it isn’t as catastrophic as when he was deeper. He still gives the ball away regularly and gets those cards.
His cross for Jesus was fantastic. It would be good if he could start adding some goals as since Ramsey left we haven’t had a consistent midfield goalscoring threat.
To parrot the total eejit that is our current Prime Minister, for me ‘the jury’s out’
Certainly Saliba is having the time of his life.icing the dream not only in a winning team but scoring goals too. I have no doubt that our resolve will be tested at some time and if he continues at this rate it will be sooner rather than later.
Xhaka has just two bookings this season though, one of which was from an overzealous ref.
Xhaka coming from a low base? Do you watch our matches or just look at results and comments? Xhaka making mistakes? You do realise Xhakas red cards come generally from others mistakes he is trying to recover. Also he doesn’t get red cards he gets 2 yellows and then a red. If he was quicker then maybe he would have been able to recover ON OCCASION without receiving a booking BUT his team mates know how quick he is so it’s not his fault SOLELY if he was ever caught out.
Playing further forward has improved his game, I’d never suggest he was poor or had a low standard. In most games Xhaka was one showing desire, determination and a willing to run. We as fans often ignore that. Xhaka was never a defensive midfielder wenger described him as box to box, now considering how well he played in a position that’s not his, the mindset etc.
Personally I think mourinho knew exactly what he was getting when he was trying to buy Xhaka.
Probably best to leave political views off of here Pete.
October will give us a few tough tests, although in the post I’d forgotten that the City game has been postponed.
Welcome Sins. Xhaka has always been Arsenal’s mr marmite and probably always will be. I just appreciate what he’s doing now which so far has been really good. As said in the post, I too think he’s lack of speed has cost him dear but if a club a player like that, the manager has to find his best position and imo, Mikel has now done that, partly because I think he’s able too because of signings.
It’s funny because him wearing the captain’s armband at the weekend has from what I’ve seen, gone without too many moans and groans. I’m glad too..
Hi Sins.
I stand by my comments. Xhaka has been with us for 6 seasons and I’ve watched him many times live. Have you?
Also I have little interest in what Mourinho has to say.
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/soccer/news/arsenal-granit-xhaka-coached-ethan-nwaneri-uefa-license/hs0db7rpnosggouyg2rvecds
Ha Ha Rico, I’ll try.
I have a more John Lydon take on God Save the Queen.
Talking of Mr Lydon, he is a big Arsenal fan and brought up in Finsbury Park, Some friends used to meet in a pub with his crowd before matches years back.
His views got him into a lot of trouble, so he always had protection with him. I suppose you would call it a bodyguard these days. Funny how anti-establishment characters end up with personal securty when drinking with a bunch of hooligans.
I stand with Pete on Xhaka standing on the North Bank you see the positioning and movement or lack of it a lot clearer than on the box . Whilst I have to agree that he is contributing more recently, he is still prone to stupidness in his bookings.
He has openly stated that he feels targeted by refs , so he needs to anticipate quicker and not get into the position to give them a chance to wave their cards at him.
He is always one brain fart away from a card and he does give the ball away more than he should.
A tasteless version imo Pete. Especially right now.
Still, back to Arsenal, football…
My post is about appreciating what Xhaka is doing now rather than his previous years. He’s been a liability, he’s been a plonker in the way he’s behaved etc etc but the here and now is what counts isn’t it?
Good morning Rico and all.
I read this morning that Arteta believes Tomiyasu will eventually morph into a central defender. On Sunday he was stripped and ready to come on to replace Gabriel, in preference to Rob Holding, when the former appeared to be injured.
I mentioned the other day that Saliba was willing to sign a new contract and, after watching him again against Brentford, we really should be sitting down with him and a pen.
Morning Cicero. I really hope Saliba stays. He’s happy, or at least says he is so fingers crossed. Yep, I saw that re Tommi, makes sense I guess but having such versatility in the squad is a bonus.
Tomi was going right back with White into the middle I thought.
It’s pretty clear that we’re a far better side with Partey playing than without him. He provides a good screen for the 2 centre-backs and has real confidence on the ball.
Lokonga is a decent player, just not at the level to play the same role as Partey against the better sides. Elneny is reliable, but limited.
Since Partey arrived he’s been injured a lot. The World Cup is going to be a big test of his fitness. If he gets another long-term problem our season could start to unravel.
Have his (ahem) legal issues resolved themselves?
I wonder if we’ll sign cover in January.
Just putting 2+2 together re Tommi
I think January transfers depend on where we are in the league and squad fitness. Saying that, I really hope we sign cover for Partey, especially as Elneny’s injury seems a bad one.
Most of our players have been slowly improving, but getting in Jesus and zinchenko has helped most of them to build on their confidence.
As for Xhaka I recon Jesus has taken a lot of pressure off him, and now Xhaka feels he has to think first before just running in
I am with Sins re Xhaka.
Regarding Arsenal’s performance and the reality of us being Premier League title contenders there are 2 vastly different narratives.
The positively biased finds the positive signs of clear improvements besides Arsenal sitting on top of the league:
– after 6 rounds we already had a game in had compared to Manchester City or Tottenham
– last season we collected one – lucky – point against Palace, now we defeated them on the road
– we easily broke Brentford’s home record of not losing by more than a single goal margin
– the Manchester United defeat could have turned out very differently with a half-decent referee
The negatively biased quickly points out that:
– Arsenal’s draw is really lucky in terms of herding winnable games to the start of the season
– our victories were kind of expected even from a team aspiring to the 5th-7th places
– the only serious opponent so far managed to get our ass handed to us quite easily
– many of our opponents are struggling with form, injury or team identity issues
I think the truth is somewhere in between, but an intense October will help us evaluating our performance and reassess our league expectations.
PBarany I agree our next 2 matches will give us a guide on how we are doing, but the the teams we have beat this season gave us trouble last season.
One thing about Xhaka, when he leaves or retires he will be discussed by Arsenal fans and the media for years
Geoff, Crystal Palace clearly gave us trouble, and Brentford also beat us last season in the Gtech Community Stadium (however while Palace was the better side in both games, Brentford was quite lucky to defeat us in the first round), however we won against Villa and Leicester City back-to-back. So the improvement is indeed noticeable, but probably less than claimed.
I thought we were awful at Brentford last season. But then we did have injuries and Covid. We were toothless that day, just as we were against Palace, Newcastle, Totts, Liverpool, Southampton etc etc.
The improvement imo, is great. Even Xhaka said other teams are taking Arsenal more seriously now.
Agree Geoff re your 2pm.
Leicester too at their place, especially in the second half when Ramsdale was fantastic.
Personally I don’t really find anything about the present squad or the team’s performances to worry about, I’m just enjoying the football – but don’t let me stop you if you want to fret over some minute issue, be my guest, just leave me out…
Good post Rico, it deserved more traction.
Glancing through the vacuous hole of informative info that is News Now and I see Garth Crooks says this and Richard Keys say that or Sky pundit makes claim about some mindless sh*t or Jamie O’Hara discovers he has a second brain cell etc etc etc…
It’s all so much BS
I think we’re going to do some business this January especially if we’re still in contention or hopefully still top…
I’ve heard it opined that it might be too early for us this season and the sensible side of my brain agrees, but I can’t help thinking that opportunities don’t come along every season, competitors in flux, the fixtures falling nicely for us, everyone in the squad just playing with confidence and I think ‘why can’t we catch them all out?’ So yeah, if the chance is there then Edu/KSE should definitely go for reinforcements in January…
Thanks Kev. I’m with you there, the football is good and it’s enjoyable. Haven’t thought that in a long while..
I’m like most I am enjoying what I am seeing last season I would get up at 3am to watch a match and pray for a decent performance so far this season, this season I am waking up wondering how much we are going to win by,
Let’s hope the good run continues.
I was a big fan of Xhaka when he arrived. I had seen him played in Germany, and unlike many here I love watching the international match, so I have seen him a lot with his chosen country. The guy is a #10. He’s not a box to box or DM. He doesn’t possesses the pace or the positioning to play those two positions. Arteta’s adjustments, when Partey and/ or Zinchenko plays allows him to be more upfield where he should be, and it’s pay dividend.
As an Arsenal fan, my hope is for us to win the league. Yes playing beautiful football is a bonus. I don’t share the opinion that we must beat top 4 or 5 sides. Sure its a bonus if we do, but we can loose all our games against the tops sides and still win the trophy if we beat all the lower sides. ASSUMING we lose to the top 5 sides home and away that’s 30 pts. On the other hand ASSUMING we beat all 14 lower side that’s 84 points.
Not sure that’s mathematically possible Obi. Unless the top 4/5 lose a lot of matches too.
New post up now