I think football is moving on from the traditional playmaker to a certain extent. Aouar doesn't strike me as number 10 type who will deliver the perfect final pass, but rather a player who will thrive in transition, being able to turn with the ball and move our play forward. From the little I've seen he has excellent technique which should allow him to keep the ball under control in close quarters and beat the press. More of a replacement for Cazorla than Özil, to make an Arsenal analogy.

Look at Liverpool, there wasn't a single playmaker in that team before Thiago arrived. They still created loads of chances though by pressing hard, winning the ball back, and having quick forwards that can score.

Partey is a different player than Aouar, but could in some ways serve the same purpose, being physically strong and an excellent dribbler who could advance our play. Too often we get stuck against a packed defense and I don't think that's solved just by signing someone who can play through balls to the strikers.

We really don't have a ball winner in the middle of the pitch. Partey could come close to that. We got a ton of goals from Vieira winning the ball and sparking a quick counter. I'm not expecting Partey to be as effective. I'd love to have someone who can break up opposition build-up, win the ball occasionally, read the game well and strong in the middle of the pitch to bully the opposition if needed.

Guendouzi looked to being that type of player to some extent. Not totally but to some extent. Torreira as well. As we all know neither have worked out for whatever reasons.

Elneny or Xhaka aren't that player. Aouar seems more like a more skillful Ramsey than Fabregas. My guess is he is being bought to cause havoc in the middle of the pitch for the opposition. The PL has a lot teams playing high on the pitch, clogged middle and Aouar appears to be someone who can help break down that type of opposition.

I never quite understand how some clubs can splash the cash and others of a similar standing cant, and those that do splash the cash not fall foul of any FFP rules. Take Villa for instance, £140m net spend last year and £75m net spend this year. How are Villa spending what a champions league club would struggle to spend?

Tierney should be fit for Anfield. There are also reports that Thiago and Allison are major doubts for Liverpool. I always see these reports that opponents big players are meant to be out and then you see the team sheet and they've made a miraculous recovery and show no signs of carrying an injury at all in the match.

I largely agree with what you say there. It was my rationale for not considering the creative midfielder as big a priority as some here do. Where was Liverpool’s creative midfielder last season? I’m pretty sure I’ve said that I suspect the game has moved on from needing a Hudson, Özil (at his peak), Hoddle, Gascoigne etc type. I’m not saying creativity is now defunct in the modern game. But I have genuine doubts that finding a creative midfielder is half as important as some seem to think.

I don’t even think Thiago is that creative. A super player, no doubt. But I never saw him as a provider of pinpoint creative through balls giving open goals or one on ones for Lewandowski when at Bayern. He always looked a more functional and busy ‘move the ball on’ type player to me.

As I’ve said, I know next to nothing about Aouar (including knowing how to spell his name with any certainty). But from what I’ve read regarding him not being a ‘final pass’ midfielder, and from what you say, if he does arrive I won’t be expecting dozens of assists from him.

Isn't Aouar supposedly in that mold? That would fit the bill but articles I've been reading say he tends to give the ball away too much and is not obviously better than Ceballos. But he is only 22 so we'd be buying potential and he seems to be highly rated.

You gotta laugh at Spurs. Conceded dodgy penalty in last minute of injury time to one of those dodgy handball decisions. Two points dropped

God I pray we don't concede one either lik,e that or ever.



Even better Harry got a red when the game finished...............

It’s dangerous speaking with too much certainty when I’ve never seen him, but that’s the type of player I’m hearing Aouar is also. I really don’t see Thiago as a Brady, Hudson, Hoddle, Gascoigne type.

I don’t know whether he gives the ball away a bit too much, but considering how Ceballos finished last season (by which I mean post the lockdown return), Aouar would have to be one hell of a player to be noticeably better than him.

I literally cannot wait to hear what Mourinho has to say about that.

Turns out being captain of england doesn’t always give you total immunity to do and say what you like on the pitch, is that a 3 game ban for Kane? Son possibly went off with an injury at half time. Fixtures stacking up....Jose meltdown coming up?

As funny as that is (and it is bloody hysterical) that’s going to really hurt when it happens to us (and it will)

Hearing it was one of the coaches and not Kane sent off. Sadly.

And we will weep when sorrows strike us. But for now

I didn't think it was a penalty against the scum but I am not complaining it about it either..haha.
Mourinho has lost his magic. I don't foresee it ending well for him there. I didn't think they should have gotten rid of Poch.

Mourinho is going to end up managing 2nd tier clubs. Another possible job is perhaps national team manager. Maybe Portugal if Santos starts to lose. He's done though I think. I can't see any of the top clubs in the world taking him on. He's a shadow of his former self. Humbled. I even pity him to some extent.

The one thing I do hope for is for us to beat him in a league match and restart our dominance over Tottenham we once had when I first became a fan.

Apparently it was Spurs goalkeeping coach Nuno Santos.
Spurs coach Nuno Santos was sent off for his angry reaction.
But....other reports state Kane swore at officials at end of match indicating he was red carded for that.
Doesn't matter. Spurs didn't win.

and Man City getting ripped apart by Vardy and his mates. 4-1 to Leicester 80 mins played.

Finished 5-2. Amazing result. Unfortunately Leicester might be more likely to be our direct competitors unless the wheels completely fall off at City.

21 penalties in 25 games.

Feels like they have fiddled with football too much and ruined it.

I was thinking exactly the same bromley. Might not be the best result for Arsenal.

Priceless. The chef opened the oven door too soon and the beautiful souffle simply collapsed!

City’s reaction to getting thumped 5-2 at home will be to go and spend £65m on CB Dias from Benfica. Perhaps the money would be better spent on a defensive coach.

I saw someone online say that this season could be a perfect storm for a surprise title winner because of the lack of pre season, the new penalty rule and Covid messing around with fixtures and players health. Could be a lottery.

The handball rule is funny when it’s happening to others but I’ll be annoyed when it happens to us, but we need to be playing for it, quite literally chipping balls at arms in the box, making sure free kicks and corners have a melee of players etc

I think I'd rather switch off.

Completely agree. Four penalties in the two games this afternoon. None of them would have been given 10 years ago. Vardy has perfected the act of getting wrong side of a defender and running across him to dive. Horrible stuff to watch.

To end another strange day in the footie world with 80 mins gone West Ham are beating Wolves 3-0, another strange result.

4-0 now. Making our 3 points against them look better. They were good against us and even better tonight.

It’s got so ridiculous. It’s absurd

To eradicate a refereeing mistake happening every once in a while we’ve endorsed widespread calamity and you could get endless amounts of injustice.

Imagine what that rule will be like in the World Cup.

Don’t get me wrong I found that hysterical today but we almost had a similar situation with Gabriel againest West Ham. What happens if it deprived us of a win at white hart lane? Or cost us a European place. You used to be able to say the decisions would even themselves out but with this there can be any amount of injustice.

Thing is where do you want it to end? Players will start to twig now. You could even get teams deliberately hitting the free kicks at the wall on purpose to find a hand. Or Trying to flick it up to get a touch.

The perception of injustice often wrong has completely destroyed footballs ability to govern itself.

When I think about creativity in a footballer I understand it to mean the ability to do something unusual with a pass, a dribble or finding a position on the pitch. Surely these are skills that will always be needed in the game? Liverpool have them all in their team as did City before them.

Steady on!

Yes this is correct,

even with Liverpool’s more functional midfield each of their midfielders contributed individually more goals and assists than Xhaka, ceballos and Torreira did combined in all competitions last season. Ox even himself contributed 8 goals on his own. This idea they aren’t required to be incisive in the middle of the park is nonsense

I’m not disagreeing with you. But I do think ‘creativity’ is being increasingly defined as the creation of goal scoring chances. Assists weren’t even counted or recorded in the days of Brady and Hudson. Now some seem to see assists as the be all and end all of midfield creativity. I’ve seen midfielders criticised here because they don’t have loads of assists.

But if you put any of them in an Arsenal side with the way we played last season, I bet they'd have similiar numbers to Xhaka, Ceballos and Torreira. Liverpool are just collectively such a formidable attacking team that anyone playing regularly is bound to get on the scoresheet or rack up a few assists.

Anyway, the point is not that creativity is suddenly definct as a concept, it's just that creativity often comes in a different form than it used to. A lot of the football we see now is based on pressing, movement and transition, rather than having players who can pick out a pass that nobody else saw.

Saka is the only person in the entire squad who has the ability for the brilliant pass or dribble. The best since Fabergas with those killer defence splitting pass. Özil was capable at times but didn’t have players with him, other than Alexis who could understand.

No those players still exist we just don’t have one. City have De bruyne, United Fernandes (8 goals and 7 assists in 14 games last year) chelsea Havertz and mount. Leicester Maddison (and what a goal yesterday ) the fact they press doesn’t exclude the need to have players who can unlock a defence in your side if you want to be successful.

The need to be workmanlike doesn’t exclude the need to have players in the middle of the pitch who can contribute moments of inspiration. Spurs haven’t looked the same since Erikssen left for example.

Creative players are what makes football fun. It’s that simple really.

Of course they exist, who said they don't? The point is that creativity as a concept needs to be expanded to include other types of players than just the ones with a killer final ball - players with a good final pass would obviously still be included. If it was only about that final pass I'd suggest we might be looking at the wrong players, because I don't think that's Aouars or Parteys biggest strengths from what I've seen.

Still think they'd help our creative issues though. And if we're talking about assists, there are a few players in the squad who I can see getting good numbers if our team clicks - including Saka, Willian, Pépé and Ceballos.

I'm sure Anfield has earned its reputation as a tough place to go as a player but as a fan I feared Old Trafford and the Bridge more than Anfield. Don't know why but I was more nervous about those places. Even when Liverpool were at their best I didn't fear it as much as Old Trafford at their best usually.

I would even think about adding Xhaka to that list. Some of his passing is at a high level in my view.

I suppose at the end of the day you can have a debate about if a midfield needs creativity or not but the absolute certainty is Arteta isn’t happy with his midfield and I’d take his opinion on this.

It’s telling Özil, Guendouzi and Torreira have been outcast and that we are being linked to Aour and Partey. It’s telling that despite possibly contemplating 100 million on new midfielders he couldn’t pull the trigger to sign Ceballos permanently.