Thread by @Kannanz0711

With respect to Arsenal Backline Four players has different attribute which makes them hard to replace :
1.Ben white: his playmaking ability its very hard to have a center back with creative brains, its a very rare profile for me a consistent cb of that profile in epl was

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David Luiz, Luiz had that creative brain to function like a deep lying playmaker by playing as CB, i remember his brilliant long ball against city to pedro(i think) which prevented city going unbeaten under sarri

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He had done similar thing in multiple outings, same goes for White he has that ability within him which if maximized can be a great help for any big teams

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2. Saliba:
Of all ability Saliba has for me that standout is his ground duel ability mainly down to his size its hard to go past him, arteta used Saliba same way how Walker is used by pep its a key aspect of the system, when Walker isn't around city has issues

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in transitions same arsenal also has, pep alters his tactics to balance it but arteta fails to do it.

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3. Gabriel:
He does the same role which Koz did during the Per-Koz combo, thats the aggressive defender who does the clean up work plus his aerial ability is an added advantage

PS: both saliba and white aren't great aerially in terms of corners

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4. Zinchenko :
He may be defensively a liability may get exposed even more next season post Xhaka leaving as he won't have a positionally elite partner but he is the orchastrator of our defense, he knows when to slow down and when to gear up just like how ode

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does for arsenal at the midfield. He adds a lot to Arsenal interms to the backline.

All these four ingredients are key to a proper system to play a beautiful possession based football but it all comes with certain risks also

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Cons:
Personally for me compared to last season i felt white has some issues with respect to his body, he doesn't have the stamina to play full 90 min at RB plus i felt he still has that hip and knee issues which he is managing and don't know when it will force him out

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I kind of have the feeling that he might go under the knife, i do feel that told stress fracture may turn into spondylolisthesis so he may have to go under the knife with possible recovery time of may be ~6 months

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Gabriel is the only player i felt as a player who is finally over with his injury issue, he played as season with knee protector i think and this yr he didnt so finally he has addressed his issue it seems

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Zinchenko calf issue: He has a calf muscle issue from whatever i have seen he put in extra work with physio to heal it during wc break but it did came back again.He is a fitness freak who works a lot in gym from my understanding overworking on ur muscles is also wrong
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So may be its becoz of this over doing he is gettng same niggles i hope this pre season he will be able to put an end to this but considering arsenal luck i really don't expect it

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Solutions:
We have so many issues to address in one window for me its another transition year so not to make it over complicated i want mikel to implement same strategy plus will ask him to put in some effort as a coach rather than be a readymade advocate

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1. Keeping Nuno Tavares:
Nuno is a very rare profile of PnP mixed with ambipedal ball striking ability, he is a very versatile player who can be used in both flanks as a fullback and as a rw if required. He can be moulded into a inverted one or an overlapper

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But to do that mikel need to take a piece out of wenger management,wenger took care of weah under his belt like a father/friend which helped weah a lot same applies for nuno, one thing i learned from AON documentary is abt Nuno charactet
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Nuno is an introvert just like me so i can understand how he feels, from AON there was a content Mikel telling nuno doesn't open up too mucb and asking laca to make him comfortable and during individual coachng session also he had issue

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I don't gel with people easily after a meeting, i took around 6 months to gel completely with my msc mates fully and express myself, and in BSC it was at 4th or 5th sem i achieved same. I feel nuno also has that attitude

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I can't blame him for that its something in our character, but biggest advantage is i/nuno get comfortable then people will see a completely different character which can add a lot🙃.During this transition period inorder to make ourselves relevant we may take up anything

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that is thrown against us. We won't say no even for things we can't do which inturn out characters like nuno in trouble which happened in last yr. So i feel its upto mikel you can't find a profile with all raw attributes if mikel can put some efforts and

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rather than be a readymade advocate then he will get the credit of making the best fullback. He has the potential one thing he needs is a manager who can work with him. Question is can mikel do it, is he the manager who everyone says is a development expert?
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People have seen nuno scoring goals for marsellie. I wasn't surprised he was trying same at arsenal also, he has that added ability to be in shooting position sometng that can't be taught it shows his game. He has pace, ball carrying, ambipedal, ball striking, power

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versatile, crossing ability what else you need to have in a fullback in modern day football, things to work out defensive nuances(if pnp like rice/caicedo comes can't that be covered?), presence of mind (once again its down to arteta). Arsenal possess a hell of a player
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Solution 2: Signing Tabsoba:
He is the ultimate player for Arsenal the solution for all the backline issues for me, i have been a huge admirer of tapsoba since i saw him play against us with vitoria the way he defender made a huge fan

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He will bring in white's technical ability to take on multiple players, ground duel ability of saliba, gabriel's aerial goalscoring ability at vitoria he was so good in setpieces so i have no doubts abt his goalscoring ability. Also he can play as LCB and RCB with ease

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What Arsenal need ryt now is a centreback who can slot into both rcb and lcb position with ease like david luiz for me Tapsoba is the guy for that. He is the one piece we lack at the backline. He has the attributes of gabriel, saliba, white so if one goes missing he can
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fill up without affecting the system. Well thats it abt my take on the backline this is the best solution for me.

The end

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