Injuries have made it difficult for Mikel Arteta to field his strongest lineup this season. But could the lineup Mikel Arteta used on Saturday night, after two changes to accommodate Ben White and David Raya, be the one on which he can rely as the foundation for the next run of games?
During the international break, when it became clear that Gabriel Jesus would be available for the match against Brentford, there was concern that in-form Leandro Trossard would be dropped, and we even suggested that he be played in the free midfield role after Odegaard and Rice took their midfield roles.
Mikel Arteta, thankfully, started the Belgian in midfield with Odegaard and Rice. Rice started at No. 6. The ex-Brighton player had a fantastic game; his attacking sense was on point as always, and he could have even scored had his goal not been thrown out for offside.
Aside from the alterations in midfield, Gabriel Jesus was reintroduced in attack, and while failing to score, he was decent enough.
A line-up of…..
Martinelli, Gabriel, and Saka
Trossard, Odegaard, and Rice
Zinchenko/Tomiyasu, Gabriel, Saliba, and White,
with Raya at goal.
Jorginho and Havertz’s fans may crucify me for recommending that line-up, but these two can still play a significant role as “impact subs.”
Don’t you think it’s possible for Mikel Arteta to earn significant league wins with this line-up in the coming weeks to keep Arsenal at the top of the table and set the pace for the rest of the League title race?
Daniel O
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That’s our strongest lineup
This line was too static and not even close to our best lineup. We play whole game with possession in final 3rd without producing anything significant. We need midfielder to distribute ball all around and create spaces for the forward players .What Partey brings to our team hasn’t been replaced yet, and no other player have similar qualities and we are still in search for our best lineup which we haven’t found yet.
Any other day Trossard might have converted his two clear chances and Jesus might have converted his two clear chances, so that was probably our best starting line up. Raya is definitely a starter in place of the indecisive Ramsdale who is clearly suffering from being dropped and should regain his confidence with a fresh beginning at a new club. After all Class does not disappear overnight. We still need right wing competition unless we play Jesus their and invest in a new striker, hopefully a 20 goal strong tall technical TargetMan.
“20goal,Strong,tall,technical Targetman” lol, you cracked me up man. Very unrealistic to expect all those quality in one person. Mind creating one yourself? lol.
Osimhen ticks them all
Not the technical box.
Lewandoski
Zlatan
Harry Kane
Just to name a few @vamos
No way we are signing a player as old as our manager in Zlatan, Lewandowski and kane are all but not technical.
I couldn’t say what our strongest starting eleven is, but having the squad depth to bring on subs of that quality is what makes championship winning sides.
It’s good to get these players back to full fitness, and with the inclusion next season of Timber, and whoever else we buy, should be quite a team.
You hit the nail on the head. A great example is Havertz being available to sub as his aerial abilities were perfect for the game situation.
This selection of players would make Arsenal’s best current 12, with Partey in place of Trossard in MF. Trossard needs to start, by all means, but not in place of Partey. Yes, results are coming in, but definitely not in the most convincing manner. We have to see Partey and Rice dominate the MF, and hopefully that’s still coming this holiday season. Rice, Partey, Odegaard for our dominant fulcrum. Martinelli, Saka and Trossard/Jesus in attack.
I think that’s our most attacking line-up with Odegaard and Trossard in the AM positions
Yea it’s the best lineup for certain games and not for all games. This lines up won’t suit some games because it lack certain defensive balance.
Maybe Newcastle will be too physical for that line-up. I just wish we have someone like Ward-Prowse or Douglas Luiz in it
Spot on Sylva! The best starting 11 is determined by the 11 we are going up against in most cases but a fit Partey in the team makes it better! In my opinion to make this the best possible team we need 1 strong outstanding midfielder (Phillips)? And a 20+ goal a season striker like… I think that’s what we are lacking!
Sylva I could wish you elaborate what you mean by defensive balance and who you think should start for that to be achieved?
On paper looks like our best 11, certainly need a string of games to judge if indeed that’s our strongest team. I wonder though when partey is fit who do you drop? And that now brings me to squad use and rotation and how well Arteta utilizes that.
It’s not far off in my opinion. Personally, I would play Tomiyasu at LB and utilise Zinchenko as a pure midfielder alongside Rice. Additionally, I actually think Havertz is a better striker/false 9 than he is midfielder and Jesus is a better winger than striker.
Against an attacking team like Liverpool. This line up would be weaker Because Trossard and Odegaard would be bullied, leaving Rice exposed. Brentford defended most of the time so they could not boss the midfield.
We miss Partey so badly. We need a strong midfielder who can play beside Rice. So we have a solid midfield balance.
A couple of times Trossard was bullied in midfield so I wouldn’t consider that line-up ideal against Physical midfields.Brentford set up a low block therefore there really wasn’t a midfield battle.Personally,I’d pick Jorginho-Rice-Odegaard for the tougher matches,or Rice-Havertz-Odegaard. I prefer Trossard on the LW anyway.
That said,I think we should disabuse ourselves of the notions of ‘strongest lineups’ and ‘starting elevens’. In the modern game,top coaches typically vary their starting elevens based on opponents of the day.What works against Brentford may not work against Lens. What is ideal against Brighton could fail against Chelsea,and so on and so forth. If you factor in the need for rotation,which is needed now more than ever,then it becomes apparent you can’t field the same eleven all the time.
One thing that I think makes City last the distance is that they don’t really do the strongest lineup thing. They have five/six players that form the core/spine of the team-they start most of the time.The other five/six positions remain rotational. Many times I’ve seen a City player have a man of the match performance only to be benched in the next match. It’s how they remain fresh and competitive. In our case, I think the core would be Raya-the two CBs-Rice-Odegaard-Saka. The remaining positions can be rotated effectively and some of the core players can be rested or subbed early in easy fixtures.
If that’s our strongest line up, we’re in a bit of trouble on yesterday’s evidence. We struggled to break them down and even pass out from the back for much of the game. Against a top 6 side, we’d have been overrun, though I doubt arteta would have tried this in a game like that.
For me, we badly miss partey in front of the defence – Rice is better defensively, but he is not an incisive passer who can put us on the front foot quickly. This is not a criticism – rice was out best player yesterday, and he’s been far and away our best player this season, it’s just not his game. Put him next to the partey we had for most of last season (at this point it’s clear a replacement is needed – jorginho is the only alternative that fits the bill) and have him use his engine to support the attack and defence – that would give us a better balance and make us more able to break down stubborn defences and give us more control in the big games.
To clarify, imo rice was our best player vs Brentford in spite of playing the DM position, not because he was playing there. He dealt with a lot of difficult situations under pressure, made no real mistakes I can think of, saved a goal and supported in attack and defence – he’s brilliant, I just think we need a different type of player alongside him.
And tbf, I think he could work as a DM alongside a different type of playmaker to Partey. If we had a fabregas, I’d be happier for rice to sit in front of the defence and have the fabregas play box to box – maybe someone like Bruno guimares (obviously he’s not obtainable for us now) could do that job. We just need a top level passer/playmaker imo.
So where does Elneny fit in?
I forgot about him – he doesn’t seem to play anymore.
Honestly, considering elneny at his best, I don’t think he’d be an ideal partner for rice – he’s a similar type of reliable midfielder who’s good defensively but lacks a killer pass. He’s just a much poorer version of rice imo.
Yes, for opponents who come to “pack the bus”, like Saturday’s. But against good, attacking teams, I would say that midfield is defensively soft. So I would throw in Jorginho for Trossard.
This team is badly lacking a Cesc Fabregas type of player, who can control the game from a deeper position and dictate the pace. Chelsea have one in Enzo but he isn’t even close to being as good as Cesc was. Not sure there’s many of this type of player about anymore. Football is all fullbacks trying to be midfielders and naff wingers playing on the wrong side these days.
No!
I agree with Bobo Sponge, that’s our strongest lineup!
Mikel Arteta should stick with this one 💕
Yes
Partey makes us really strong when he plays alongside Rice. Unfortunately he isn’t there.
A replacement of Partey with someone of his style in view could really get us back to the level of last year. We are really missing him and Xhaka who made Odegaard and the frontline to play better.
In his absence, maybe Jorginho should play the 8. trossard still needs to understand it. Otherwise, this should be it for now.