It is the last chance for Mikel Arteta to shape a 90 minutes that can inject a little faith in the players and the fan base. The preseason has been a mixed bag, given the excitement of the summer identities. So far we have not seen any performance that goes beyond ‘Meh’, and most of what we see with the style of playing seems remarkably similar to what we saw last season.
Moving the ball to the attackers has felt slowly, accidental creation has looked quite average and the output is that weird kind of dominant fine margins we saw last season. Strange to say it, but we can control and win the entire game, lose or attract a painfully limited amount of shots on target.
Personally, I come to terms with a summer that so far looks like it has been loaded with risks in the park. We had many positions to fill and we had to be cute with our money. United went out and spent £ 208 million on three players with goals in mind … Arsenal has spent about the same amount to six players.
We finally landed a striker and we chose it with the biggest song to his name. He is long, built as a monster, and the story was mainly about his ruthless run this summer. He has come for a big eight weeks because there will be a lot of attention about who had the best summer when it comes to Vooruit. Sesko, Ekitike, Gyokees and maybe Isak will all have moved clubs … Someone is going to get the deal of the century, and someone will look like they are fleeced.
Gyokees is as close when we have guaranteed goals this window. We supposedly a small fortune to Madueke, with Arteta shining that he could pop up on the left and right. Jacob said he had heard from people in the neighborhood of the player that the plan is to make Saka float around the forward line this season, which is an interesting evolution that I would be enthusiastic to see. The English wing player has a lot of scared in his game, he just misses that end product at this stage in his career. He is quickly, skilled, he believes in himself, but we cannot escape the truth here … Madueke is a project player.
Norgaard is undoubtedly a solid addition. He is good at moving the ball forward, he has been tested and he will add a lot of bastards to a midfield that it needs with Jorginho who is started to Brazil and Thomas Pareny. Kepa agrees as our first right backup in years, he is young, can save fines, and he could certainly intervene if Raya’s form drops at every stage.
The best signing of our window is without a doubt Zubimendi. It takes him time to settle in the team, but it is difficult to avoid his shameful quality. He is different from what we have had in the past, but his intelligence, robustness and incredible reading of the game will raise that 6 and allow Declan to push further.
The attacking transformation that we hoped for did not happen with the extremism I was hoping for. Great journos doubt our ability to go on Eze now, which is quite disturbing because he really felt an on-Arsenal-like signing. Rodrygo about a loan agreement from Madrid seems imaginative. You don’t see too much £ 300k-per-week players taking loan movements, but it seems that there is no very large market for a player that I was more in love with three months ago than now. Regardless of concern about his motivations, he would add something to the left that we do not have now.
My landing space on the window is this: it feels very like Arteta is coming back to the form that we saw two seasons ago on Arsenal. This transfer window says that depth is the problem, not starting 11 quality. We now have more options to ride the inevitable injury forms, and there is a conviction in the training area that will again sputter the approach of the shared goals this season.
Arteta is an exceptional coach, Andrea Berta is a man of an exceptional reputation … We have to trust the process and hope that this season will all come together.
That all starts in a few hours. Bilbao is a good test of where we are. Then it’s eight days to get everything to get an absolutely huge game at Old Trafford. Gyokees vs Amorim – Sesko vs Arsenal – a classic fixture that could really deliver fireworks.
I can’t wait …
A little later I will be on the whistle with Johnny, you see there and don’t forget to sign up for the website this season. We have a lot of content for you. Something every day, whether it’s writing or podcasts. X
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