Weekly Mailbag – October 7, 2022
Welcome to the inaugural DailyAFC Weekly Mailbag! In this feature, we will answer questions submitted by readers about all things Arsenal. Without further ado, here are this week’s questions.
From @MitchPeotter: “What do you think our goals should be in the domestic cups? I think we should put way more focus on EL and PL”
For me, our first priority is to get back into the Champions League. Obviously, our two avenues for doing so are through finishing in the top four in the Premier League and winning the Europa League. So I want us to focus on making those things happen, but that isn’t an excuse for bowing out of the FA or Carabao Cups early. I think our aim should be to make a deep run in each of the domestic cups, perhaps at least to the semifinal round, but if we are knocked out by City or Chelsea in the quarterfinals of either, I wouldn’t be too upset. I think we should also try to use the domestic cups as rotation opportunities; even past the earlier stages, I’m comfortable giving minutes in later rounds of those competitions to players like Kieran Tierney, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Eddie Nketiah, and Fabio Vieira.
From @_slavlad: “If you were the technical director in January what positions would be your priority targets for strengthening? (And who would you love to bring in)”
The two areas we definitely will need a little help in during the second half of the season will be at wide forward and at the six position. Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli have been excellent, and we have Vieira, Gabriel Jesus, Emile Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson, and Marquinhos who can all play out wide to some extent. But we need someone else there who can take on a significant number of minutes but produce the same level of quality as our current starters would. There, I would love to see us go for Mykhaylo Mudryk, and it sounds like he wouldn’t mind coming to Arsenal. At six, we currently have Thomas Partey but he’s proven unreliable due to his penchant for picking up injuries. Mohamed Elneny should be back in the new year but we’ll see how long it takes for him to get into the swing of things and he isn’t the future at that position anyway. As a long-term option, I like Danilo from Palmeiras. But in terms of someone who can contribute immediately, I still think going back in for Douglas Luiz could work. He knows the Premier League, has done well for Aston Villa, could play in our system, and would be cheap (if Villa are actually reasonable this time around).
From @MrKeshaiv: “What were your first impressions of Marquinhos after seeing him with the u23s and in the Europa League?”
When we signed Marquinhos, he struck me as our seemingly yearly Hail Mary acquisition of young Brazilian talent. Perhaps this longshot is going to hit, though. When he featured for the U23s, Marquinhos looked like someone who was clearly too good for that level, which is really impressive considering he’s still only 19 years old. Against Zurich I thought he was tremendous. His late run into the box for his goal was really savvy, and his cross from deep to assist Nketiah was top drawer. Against Bodo/Glimt this week, he was a little less on it; he seemed to refrain from taking his man on a bit, and he didn’t make himself an option for his teammates as much as he should have. But considering what we were expecting in the summer, I think Marquinhos has been supremely impressive. He has a good technical ability, pace, some end product about him, and a physical build that will help him a lot at this level. We just may have unearthed another gem.
From @realadammcohen: “What do you make of our chances against Liverpool, do you think Klopp can get a response from them or are we too good?”
For the first time in years, I feel like we might be slight favorites against Liverpool. They have been pretty poor to start the season, and I don’t think that’s just down to injuries. A lot of their starters look like they have aged out of their primes. Of course, I expect them to show up in a much bigger way than they have all season and I’m sure Mikel Arteta is telling the players we need to take this seriously. But if we do three things, we can beat them: keep Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz quiet, win the midfield battle, and target the right side of Liverpool’s defense. The first one is pretty self-explanatory, but I like our odds of doing it if Tierney starts at left back. For the midfield battle, our trio of Partey, Granit Xhaka, and Martin Odegaard will have to get the better of Thiago, Fabinho, and Jordan Henderson. Based on the respective forms, I think we can get that done. And then if we force-feed Martinelli the ball and have him target Trent Alexander-Arnold, I am confident that we can exploit that defensive weakness while Gabriel Jesus helps keep Virgil van Dijk occupied. It’s going to be tougher than we expect it to be, but this Arsenal team can win.
From @MhammedGooner1: “Would you consider selling ESR if it meant getting Maddison instead?”
I think James Maddison is a great player. When Spurs were linked to him during the summer, I was legitimately concerned. If he does not make England’s World Cup squad, it will be a travesty. And he was solid as the fourth President of the United States. But I would not effectively trade Smith Rowe for him. I just think Smith Rowe’s talent ceiling is a little bit higher and he has already shown qualities that we need more than what Maddison would bring. The Hale End product might be one of the best in the Premier League at running with the ball. His carrying ability, especially from midfield, forces opposition players into making decisions and opens things up for other attackers. Smith Rowe is also a really impressive goalscorer. Don’t forget that he notched 10 Premier League goals in his first full season in the first team. And he’s also very secure in possession in the final third, which helps us sustain pressure and makes us less likely to lose the ball in compromising positions. We’re not at the point where we should be ready to give up on a player with those qualities, especially one who came from our academy. But if we could get James Maddison anyway, well… that would be exciting.
From @bukayo7__: “what do you think is the plan with Balogun?”
This season, I think we have sent Folarin Balogun somewhere where he can be the main striker in a top flight team. It also helps that Ligue 1 has a history of producing a plethora of high-quality attacking players. But Balogun said something telling when he mentioned that Arteta had told him that he wanted the striker to “develop as a man”. Personally, I think that means learning to fend for himself in a setting that is far outside his comfort zone. He is in a different country, adjusting to a different culture, speaking a different language with his teammates. I think that will be really good for him. With regard to what the long-term plan is, I don’t really know at this point. Nketiah is pretty entrenched as the no. 2 striker at the club, and he himself has vastly improved over the last couple seasons. Maybe he could be tempted away by a starting job somewhere? I don’t think we want to sell Balogun at this juncture. So I suppose he will either rejoin the team as third in the pecking order next season, or he will be loaned out again. But I have no doubt Arsenal still think of him as a significant part of their future.
From @Arsenalian66: “Are you worried about our transitional control in big games given how we’ve struggled in certain parts of the games vs Spurs and Utd?”
Not particularly, if I’m being honest. I think the way we currently play, committing players forward in attack while playing a high line, comes with a built-in risk of being caught on the counter every once in a while. So I’m not surprised that teams like Spurs and United have given us trouble in transition, because they’re good at doing that and it’s probably our biggest weakness. But I’m fine with that. Even City gets caught on the break occasionally. The upside is that we create a smorgasbord of chances so that even on an inefficient day we are still likely to score a goal or two. The bet that we’re making is that by committing that extra man or two on offense, we will always score more goals than we concede by being susceptible to the counter. Again, I can live with that. And players like Partey, Ben White, Gabriel, and William Saliba make me feel more secure about playing that way. I do think one thing we can change is limiting the number of times we give up the ball in central areas (we did that a number of times against Spurs), but other than that, I think the transitional difficulties somewhat come with the territory of the current iteration of Artetaball.
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