16/07/2022
Soon Arsenal will reach the stage where most of their players can turn on the ball in any direction with fluidity and ease making them near impossible to press. Zinchenko, Vieira, Saka & Ødegaard can do exactly that. Their press resistance will drain the opposition mentally. Imagine the Zinchenko/Tierney, Smith-Rowe/Fabio Vieira/Ødegaard, Martinelli/Jesus, Nketiah/Jesus combinations down the left. Look at the number of different special combinations to choose from, the press resistance, the ability to interchange, combine AND offer penetration...I'm watching City clips and I'm seeing Arsenal all over.
Zinchenko left back, Jesus left wing, Foden in the half space (could be any of Smith-Rowe, Ødegaard or Vieira), Rodri the anchor behind them (Partey), and the left-footed centre back in Laporte even further back (Gabriel).Arteta is building towards the blueprint of the best league team of all time. The similarities are crazy. Even on the far side - Vieira has De Bruyne esque directness to combine to create an angle to pick final balls out or to play final balls from deep. Saka similar to Mahrez.Tomiyasu inverts and is conservative like Walker, both Ramsdale & Ederson excel with their feet but aren't the best traditional goalkeepers in the world. The only major difference is Dias is a leader whereas White is not but Gabriel is the aerial commander whereas Laporte is not.So, albeit on different sides, the dynamics remain. One centre back who excels aerially, one who's left-footed, but both are top class on the ball. What separates City from Arsenal is the fact that they have two players for each position. Arsenal don't. That's the next step.Realistically, we have already seen City-esque level performances from Arsenal. Arsenal themselves played City off the park and did the same to Liverpool when they had their very best team available but simply lacked the required cutting edge/luck.
This year they will have that.It's crucial Arteta gets it right in the market, howeve