comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 2 minutes ago
Summarise please.
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Lassana Diarra didn’t fulfil his potential mainly due to injuries, attitude and legal wrangling.

Auclair seems to suggest if his lawyer (the same lawyer that represented Bosman) current contracts might not be enforceable?

*wins the case

So what change is he wanting? Basically players can leave whenever they want?

England collapse?

Think that’s the crux of it. Unless I’ve misinterpreted what Auclair says.

According to the article, Diarra did not fulfil the terms of his contract, so what right does he have crying restraint of trade?

comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
posted 40 minutes ago
comment by Sheriff John Brown - Arteta IN!!! (U7482)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
posted 11 minutes ago
(not like for like) Squad replacements. We could do with a younger DM.
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How many games has Zinchenko played DM for us and why is that necessary to replace?
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My point of holes in the squad, not like for like. You cannot keep on selling players hoping injuries don't bite you. Younger players aren't always able to step up up. I think this is last season Jorginho/Partey, and we need a younger DM to back up Rice assuming Merino plays the same position that made him successful in Spain.

But to your point.......

Zinchenko inverts from LB, so has the ability to play DM/LCM (no.8)/LW. He is injured at the moment so we don't know what Arteta was planning because he could have been sold last summer but Arsenal never made him available.
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He is primarily a LB for us (inverting or no inverting) and he's fallen pretty low in the pecking order - where even Tomiyasu and Kiwior were trusted over him last season. And that was without Timber who was injured, and Calafiori. Plus MLS looking to break through. He's one of the players we can let go without a replacement. There are other positions in the squad where we have bigger gaps.

comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 2 minutes ago
England collapse?
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Yep, collapse is on

Said it the other day, Zinch "injury" might just be him having a paddy that he's lost his place. Guy needs to get gone, along with tomiyasu who can only ever stay fit to play for Japan.

So? Arteta is known to move players to different positions on the pitch if he feels the need. Arteta has already said he bought Havertz for left no.8 and now plays him in false 9 position. In fact in the last 3 away games Arteta has played Trossard in the no.10 role instead of his usual backup to Martinelli.

btw I was talking about losing experience from the squad without replacement, not like for like positionally that you seem to be focusing on.

Didn’t Arteta make a comment after the Spurs match that suggested Zinchenko would’ve played against them had he been fit?

comment by Tu Meke (U3732)
posted 1 minute ago
Said it the other day, Zinch "injury" might just be him having a paddy that he's lost his place. Guy needs to get gone, along with tomiyasu who can only ever stay fit to play for Japan.
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It’s far more likely that he is just injured like always.

Not sure why you’re peddling this ‘bad attitude Zinchenko’ thing, Tu. I never heard any suggestion the guy is trouble.

Zinny could still be an option in midfield but yea he should never play LB for us again

comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
posted 12 seconds ago
So? Arteta is known to move players to different positions on the pitch if he feels the need. Arteta has already said he bought Havertz for left no.8 and now plays him in false 9 position. In fact in the last 3 away games Arteta has played Trossard in the no.10 role instead of his usual backup to Martinelli.

btw I was talking about losing experience from the squad without replacement, not like for like positionally that you seem to be focusing on.
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Arteta is no more flexible than the average manager in the way he deploys players (actually find him tactically predictable). He was forced to make the Havertz change cos his expensive underwhelming midfield signing was adaptable enough in more advanced positions and we had a big gaping hole in the striking role. Zinchenko doesn't have the value of Havertz, and we don't have a big enough gap in midfield to require him there. If Partey goes, we're likely to simply make another midfield signing.

Also not sure the value of Zinchenko's "experience" to us. He has about as much experience as Jesus and Jesus is not adding anything to the team at the moment. We need competent defenders who can organize and communicate and who can be trusted to just do their jobs.

I'm not saying he's got a bad attitude. Guy just has a tendency to do weird things like call for an on pitch team meeting at 2-0 down. He was visibly frustrated a few games ago when he was on the bench while timber was playing LB. Changed his agent this summer too, still failed to get a move.

Him, partey, jorginho are almost certain to leave the club this summer, that's probably 400-500k a week off the wage bill.

Hopefully MLS develops well, that'll save us a transfer fee at LB.

Arsenal weren't selling Zinchenko or Jesus this summer. I always felt they should have more than ESR, but Arteta likes them in whatever roles he sees fit.

Jesus needs to feck off too, dude is completely unreliable. He's on nearly 300k a week.

Jesus and Zinny were big parts of our rise to not just top 4 but title challengers

It's amazing and great that the team now has progressed to them being on the bench but they are still valuable in the squad... Wages is an issue though aye

Jesus played half a season extremely well before getting injured and has been unreliable since. Zinchenko had a good first season before he started getting found out for his defensive lapses towards the end of that season. Was it Bournemouth who scored after 7 seconds? Zinchenko has been in and out of the team since.

It's not like these guys are Arsene Wenger, who we should feel bad about wanting to move on. Give them some Arabic lessons and get them gone.

They do seem to be part of Arteta's security blanket. Zinchenko and Jorginho are both part of Arteta's leadership inner circle.

Hearing rumours that Jorginho is to be offered a coaching role next season if he calls it a day on his playing career.

As long as we replace the players we want to get rid with players that are more reliable and being good at what they are doing I am okay with it. We can´t get rid of Zinchenko for example and dont replace him allthough we have alternatives. A season with so money cups are too long.

Next point I will make to our game against Lesta. Over the years we had some strange games against them. I dont like to play against them.

Jorginho was bought as a squad player/leadership role. The latter in a similar manner to David Luiz. I think there was always the option for him to become part of the coaching set up later on. Tbf if he doesn’t play much, I don’t mind him in the squad.
Zinchenko like Jesus, injuries have ravaged him.

But let’s be real, the only reason we want to get rid of these players is pretty much because injuries have took a lot out of these guys. It’s not like they are poor players like we often had in the past. This alone shows what a squad we have.

comment by 50 No longer trusting the process (U1147)
posted less than a minute ago
Jorginho was bought as a squad player/leadership role. The latter in a similar manner to David Luiz. I think there was always the option for him to become part of the coaching set up later on. Tbf if he doesn’t play much, I don’t mind him in the squad.
Zinchenko like Jesus, injuries have ravaged him.

But let’s be real, the only reason we want to get rid of these players is pretty much because injuries have took a lot out of these guys. It’s not like they are poor players like we often had in the past. This alone shows what a squad we have.

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Agree with you on that.