A right back?

Amid my moaning on the pitiful transfer fees we receive, or supposedly receive the acid test will be if Willock and AMN are sold.
You could make a case for a lot of our players who might be sold that we aren't in a strong negotiating position, be it contract length, age, injuries, attitude or ability of the player - each of the likes of Xhaka, Lacazette, Nketiah, Elneny, Kolasinac, Mavropanos and even Bellerin have circumstances where it might be difficult for us to get top whack for them. But Willock and AMN we do not have to sell, as young home grown players on the up they are a rare commodity and will have plenty of suiters. We must not sell either on the cheap if they do depart.

Agree. It is a question of formation I think
In a 4-2-3-1 you have a definite 10 behind the striker. If that player goes deeper and therefore becomes an 8 the formation changes to 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1
Ina classic 4-4-2 you could have an 8 and a 10, with the 10 slightly off the main centre forward but not many teams play like that nowadays and ironically those that do tend to be scrappy teams who wouldn't field an 8 or a 10 - they tend to go with 2 No.4's in central midfield and 2 No. 9's up front. Think of Burnley and you'll get my thinking.

Taking it further someone like Pep plays with 2 No.8s (De Bruyne and Silva for a long time). With a single holding midfielder this formation is 4-1-2-2-1 with 2 wide men and 2 8's behind. I think this is the sort of thing Arteta would like to implement at Arsenal it is a kind of very attacking 4-3-3

This is exactly how I see shirt numbers on the classic english 4-4-2. I think other countries have this a bit different. Some have the 6 as a holding midfielder, and I'm sure I've seen some national teams have 3 as a CB - whether that came from player preference or not I don't know.
The one I recall was Brazil when Roberto Carlos at left back wore 6 and Lucio the CB used to wear 3.

I played no 4 for my primary school team.

That was right half in a 2-3-5 formation. And we played in heavy mens’ rugby shirts. And used dubbin on our boots.

Presumably you used jumpers for goalposts.

Proper goalposts. No nets though.

https://twitter.com/adamvoge/status/1405880764953206787

This guy on twitter does some great chart and stats analysis of players.
This is a selection of central midfielders ranked on their attacking and ball retention. He's pushing Auoar again, if he's available for less than last year that is a good example of extracting value from this market

At school we had school issue rugby shirts that were reversible. plain on one side and hoops on the other. We'd spend half the lesson doing various rugby drills then half the lesson playing a match where half the class had to reverse their tops which were now nice and muddy. The feeling of putting the muddy side against your skin was not a nice one

Yuk. I can imagine that feeling still living with you.

Sorry, can't help it. It wasn't over-the-top slagging. Just don't like the way he plays. I prefer him to be tougher, like Cesc. Agree, he could potentially be a magician in the middle of the park. But I've not seen enough to be convinced he is able to bring up his game to match the opposition when needed. Well, I've been wrong before (don't we all?), and if he stays with us, hope he proves me wrong.

The number 9 role

Czech to beat Croatia

Not certain if anyone knows the Brentford match is now scheduled for Friday, Aug 13 at 8 pm. Moved for live TV coverage.

Avram Grant...

Bernard, somehow or other I just can't see Arteta fulfilling or bringing out Ødegaard's potential with us. He may die on the vine. Ancelotti favours him, so better he stays at RM.

https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/ ... g-20853048
Some positive news about Tierney and a potential new long term contract.

Hard not to like everything about Tierney, the only issue is that injury record. We need to have him playing 30+ prem games a season every season

Indeed. But strangely all good memories because I loved PE at school, any sport going.
When it came to picking the teams for the match the teacher used to line us up in a long line and go down the line 1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2 - all the 1's forma team vs all the 2's. We quickly cottoned on and used to grab a kid who was useless at sport and stick him between me and my mate - canny teacher was one step ahead though......1,2,1,1,2,2....haha

First 'organised' (I use that word loosely) game of football I played, the referee was a nun.

Friday 13th

What could possibly go wrong?

That didn’t take long did it? In fact all of our first three league fixtures have changed.

And there is the second round of the Carabao Cup to look forward to.

Stones header hits the upright.

At least we’re still getting shown on telly.

There is that.

What a surprisingly dull low quality game so far.

Maybe not much.

Better than nothing.

Well that’s 2 hours of my life I won’t get back.

Watched a fair bit of the second half (very little of the first) but from what I did see, I thought Scotland deserved their point. Delighted for them, as at least they still have a chance of qualifying.

Scotland deserve a lot of credit for that performance and it wouldn't have flattered them if they'd nicked a winner. England will have to up their game significantly to have any chance of going deep into the tournament. I agree with Graham Souness when he said that you need to replace either Rice or Phillips in the England midfield with someone more creative.

England disappointing it has to be said. Tierney played well. What surprised me was Scotland's domination in midfield.

Scotland thoroughly deserved their point. Never in much danger really. Hardly any efforts on target by either side all game.

That sounds like a line out of Fanny Hill

The trouble with many creative players is a lack of consistency. Throughout the ninety minutes England always had Sterling and Mount on the pitch, and one of Foden or Grealish. They all looked hopelessly ordinary. I can understand arguments for replacing Phillips with Grealish and having both Foden and Grealish as well as Sterling and Mount for the entire ninety minutes, but there’s no guarantee anything much would have improved considering how all of them played for the time they were on the pitch.

Scotland aren’t the best team in the tournament (a master of the understatement comment) and England should have had sufficient creativity with the those who played.

Lots of happy Scots because they didn't lose, but in truth that was a constipated game of football. Where have all the flank players who take on their backs gone to? Where was the creative forward pass? Just a few moments of excitement, and for me the Tierney cross for a good volley well saved was the only classy moment in a turgid match. Kane looks knackered and without him firing England's prospects look limited.

I only watched about 20 minutes but it was in the second half when Kane was put thru but a long way out and he was run down with ease and while a foul was given against the Scots he really looked more like Lacca than a 100million pound player. I wonder if he is on the slide.

Wrighty was none too pleased that Phil Foden was taken off in favour of Greilsh. Greilish, who in turn had been out for a bit, really didn't do much at all anyway.

There was some discussion on here earlier about the roles of the 8 and 10.

For me that game highlighted the problem with these modern formations which is the striker is left isolated. If mount is playing in the 10 role he had to get closer to Kane otherwise essentially all you have is a marked striker. arsenal were guilty of this a lot in the first part of last season.

Kane looks out of sorts and will get pelters but really you have to get players closer to him and bouncing off him

Sorry but in my view it was grossly over the top slagging. You implied Ødegaard isn’t driven and pulls away from tackles. That’s a criticism of his attitude that I see as way over the top. Creative players can show inconsistency (look at the England players last night) and if you had restricted your criticisms to that issue rather than implying he has a poor non-driven and tackle avoiding attitude I would have accepted it. Albeit I would have commented that you were probably being unfair because of his age and newness to the country and Premier League.

Ødegaard as a talent is arguably on another level. He did enough to convince me of that, while he was here. As I say, I wouldn’t want to lose Smith Rowe to acquire him, which is the rumour that started this debate. But I think many fans are too willing to use over the top criticism by slagging players off. I think you could have found a more reasonable way of saying we shouldn’t lose Smith Rowe to get him. That’s my point here. You went over the top. Your post was made even worse by saying Ødegaard is “Not anywhere close to Özil,” who would be very near the top if I was listing the Arsenal players I’ve seen with the worst attitudes.

However, I do agree with Zed’s point. Ødegaard will probably be better off (career wise) going back to Real than joining Arsenal.

Goodness Bernard ... you make yourself out to be the key moderator of my opinions. I didn't know I had a "wife" in this forum to tell me what I should and should not think.

So, you feel I'm over the top, ok. I said I wasn't wanting to be. Can't accept my opinion, no big deal to me. I didn't come here to expect all my opinions to be accepted. Still not happy with my response? Sue me, 'll let my lawyer know to expect your call.