What I want to see this pre-season
Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal squad made up of first team and academy talent are currently in the USA to start off their pre-season tour which will consist of games against Bournemouth, Manchester United and Liverpool, before coming back to North London and facing off against Leverkusen and Lyon in the Emirates Cup before the season starts.
This gives us little time to prepare for the season ahead, but also a good amount of games to get the juices flowing and also a lot of opportunity for the younger academy projects to make a statement and try cement a spot in Arteta’s mind for this season.
Pre-season for me is one of the most important parts of the season, it gives players a chance to bond and create close friendships. It helps the younger talents gain more confidence and a chance to learn off some of the more experienced players, and the manager to get to know any players he doesn’t already and try implement his plan for this season.
Fitness levels need to be high this season and we can’t take any risks with our players, losing Jurrien Timber last pre-season was heartbreaking, and although that was something completely out of our control, I’d like to see a little more caution this season on our first team players. Yes, they need to work on their match fitness and be ready, but I also don’t want to see any players pushed too hard and a good mix of youth and experience is key.
I’m excited to see which of the younger players can impress and although Arteta is known for bringing through younger talent when needed, he hasn’t really done that in the past 2 seasons. He did so well bringing through the likes of Saka, Smith-Rowe, Nketiah etc.. But since then, there hasn’t been a significant flow between the academy and the first team and that’s something I want to see change this season. With all the ‘big’ clubs around us who are managing to bring through their youth, I’d love to see us bring through some too.
It’s pre-season so I don’t really care if we win or lose, although it will always be nicer to see us win, I just want to see our players get a good run out and start to find the rhythm we had last season. Hopefully we can get a new signing in and they can get situated amongst the squad and bring a bit of excitement and life into camp.
We have a huge season ahead and tis pre-season needs to be done right. Hopefully it’s a great learning experience that the lads can build off and some nice warm weather to get them reasy for a huge season to come.
What’s your thoughts Gooners?
Daisy Mae
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Im hoping we don’t get injuries and they all get fit. The rest doesn’t matter.
No one getting injured. These games have no value.
I hope Calafiori will play in pre-season to get accustomed to Arteta’s tactics and training programs. I’m worried about his erraticity after watching him playing against Spain
I also wish Arteta will get really impressed by some of our youngsters and include them into our main squad
So are you suggesting that we ought not to sign the young Italian?
Arsenal still gave Pepe a huge contract despite his awful performance in AFCON, so I just hope they have done a thorough evaluation and watched Calafiori’s form in Euro before signing him
I am expecting some youngsters will impress Arteta. Nwaneri, Lewis-skelly and heaven seem to be really good candidates that can have some roles this season. Nwaneri more than the others, but We might get surprised with Lewis Skelly and Heaven as well. Very good players with good potentials.
It looks like Nketiah is now off to Marseille..
My interest is in the transfer window I’d like to see us replace ESR with Eze He’d be a great option from the bench he makes the forward line more unpredictable/diverse.
As for the games, I pray that we get no injuries. I’ll also be keeping a keen eye on Nwaneri who may get a squad position due to his talent at a young age
I guess the first thing is a full house against Bournemouth. Apparently, ticket sales were going “slowly” and there’s a chance the relatively modest 27,000 capacity stadium may not be full. That would be a little embarrassing at the tour’s start.
The tour will give youngsters and squad players a chance to show what they can do, so let’s hope everyone takes full advantage of the opportunity if/when they get it.
Clearly, we don’t want any injuries – or not anything remotely serious anyway.
The 2024-25 season will be the most important for Arteta (and Arsenal) since he arrived because the weight of expectation on the team is now so great. While results in the US won’t affect performance in the PL (Wenger’s teams often did well in their pre-seasons, but not as well in the “real thing”) it would be an early confidence boost for everyone to have a successful tour.
I hope to see the academy players impress and prove that they deserve to play in the first team. Euros meant extra holidays for some of our first team players and this meant more opportunities for the academy players, I really hope they grab the chances with both hands.
I’m hoping to witness the next tactical evolution from Arteta . Ever since he arrived,there’s always something that changes from season to season and pre-season usually gives us a glimpse of what to expect. We did struggle against teams that are compact in the middle last season. I’m excited to see what tweaks the manager makes to help us beat such teams. I will also be looking closely at Timber,Jesus,Martinelli and Vieira- I believe good form from these players could be massive for us.
“next tactical evolution” is a good call Onyango
last season Arteta developed a new strategy for playing against Man C and other elite, the box midfield of Odegard/Havertz pairing infront of Jorginho/Rice was extremely effective in stifling creativity in midfield and starving their forwards of supply – Haarland barely had a kick
i wonder if Euro’s provides a hint of even more use of the low block by even the more technically capable teams – there were occassions last season Arsenal struggled to breadown Xi behind the ball low blocks
i am sure Arteta has seen these developments and is architecting a solution to get through
Arteta is very keen on the ‘extra man’, whether that be [the now outdated] inverted left-back overload midfield, or Raya playing with the ball at his feet
i wonder if there is an ‘extra man’ opportunity with our #6 against the low block, in that our #6 hardly has anything to do against certain opposition who hand us possession and only attacking intent is nicking one on the counter
in those situation Arsenal could perhaps swap out the #6 for an additional creative attacking midfield option, e.g. Guimeares or Merino
i’m looking forward to the new season to find out!
About the 6,there have been suggestions of a a more traditional double pivot- Rice + one more such that they can alternate the way Rice/Jorginho did in that win against Liverpool.That could give players like Calafiori with good ball carrying ability to adventure forward and disrupt low blocks. Whatever the case, I think we are going to have a squad that can allow us to set up in multiple ways to solve different problems.
The idea of the 6 as the extra man is interesting. I think we need to use Declan’s ball striking ability outside the box a lot more, because they’ll usually be space to shoot when the wide men are double marked.
More interchanging in the front three is needed to prevent us from becoming predictable as was the case last season.In particular I would like to see Jesus operating from the RW where he made his name when he broke into the Brazilian national ream.I suspect he would be far more effective on the right than through the centre where there is little space to operate.Pre season matches are an ideal opportunity for Arteta to be more inventive as there is little at stake.
the left side was Arsenal’s weakness last season, both in attack and defence
Calafiori is clearly part of that solution, certainly defensively but may be unlocking Martinelli form too
will we see midfield player join with a similar left side vision?
agree Jesus needs to have a good season, we need him to step up, and from wide left or right might be it
I’m hoping to see these games help the youth to get a chance to showcase their abilities and be included in the senior team: Nwaneri, Skelly, Heaven and even Sagoe can help the team to save some funds.
If they don’t move up immediately, they should be loaned out to clubs where they can play regularly to prepare them for integration into the team.
Particularly, if ESR leaves, then Nwaneri should be given the step up; not to warm the bench but to get regular playing time.
if emery hadn’t taken the bold step for Saka years back… this comes at a price but we need to make use of the academy
Me hoping to see;
#Timber play as the six role
#academy youngsters getting more chances to express themselves, Skelly & Sagoe Jr for me seems to have the brightest future out of the lot because of their professionalism, wisdom and good mentality.
#More fluidity on the left flank.
#lots of minutes to Viera and Esr to boost their confidence so that they can play a more important role in the team
#More surprise and tactical tweaks from Arteta😅