SQUAD DEPTH KEY FOR CHALLENGING ON ALL FRONTS.
Squad depth, a term frequently used in football analysis and management, refers to the availability of sufficient and capable personnel within the squad to help reduce the risk of injuries on players. Furthermore it also gives the manager different type of profiles to choose from, which will in turn add unpredictability to a team.
It is one of the most important characteristic a winning team needs to be consistently fighting for major honors across the board, this is perfectly exemplified by one of the best teams in the world Man city. Arsenal’s transfer business so far has been modest at best with only Riccardo Calafiori’s move from Bologna representing any major Arrival at the club, considering the number of our squad size, further improving squad depth will be a major boost
At the time of writing this article we currently have the fewest number of first team players among the traditional big six (24) although this could still change given the number of transfers in either direction we could still make, it has got me a little bit concerned, this is by no means an issue to loose sleep over given the importance of quality over quantity.
With that said however finding the right balance between quality and quantity will only further strengthen our chances of winning major silverware, the forward and midfield areas are potential weak spots for us personnel wise and should be bolstered before the end of the window nevertheless only the right profiles should be brought in, this is a thing the club has gotten the hang of given the meticulous planning they’ve gone through recently to bring players in.
Given the number of games we’re going to be involved domestically next season, coupled with the introduction of an expanded UCL campaign then it only makes sense that having a deeper squad would help us to not only go deeper into those competions but also maximize our chances of winning them.
Surely there must be more than a couple of players still to come this summer?
KENNETH BENJAMIN
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Couldn’t agree more. The perception at the moment is that Arsenal are losing ground to top 6 rivals in the transfer market place. Our links with Gyokeres, Osimen, Eze, Coleman appear not to yielding anything tangible. We can only hope Edu and Artea have something well developed behind the scenes. We are currently sleep walking into complacency and another 2nd place finish.
I guess Kroenke will only sanction another signing if Arsenal can sell a player with a decent price, hence the transfer news about Nketiah
@GAI It doesn’t make sense though, Arsenal should be able to spend without any prior sale at moment in my own opinion.
We’ve bought Calafiori, Raya and Steford for about £70mil combined. But We’ve also sold Smith-Rawe, Mika Biereth, Norton-Cuffy for about £40mil, After a net spend of about £30mil we can’t be broke.
We’ve lost Smith-Rawe and Elneny in midfield coupled with Partey fitness concerns, surely for me I thought we’d prioritize midfield signing (Merino). I’d understand in the forward line if we needed to offload first before signing to create space.
but we ended the last summer window more or less in deficit with the contrived Raya loan to buy because we had evidently run out of money, this window that has come back to haunt us as money earmarked for a player we already had
we have to assume Merino will come in (well it would be very bad if we didn’t strengthen midfield) so that is £100m
yes we will have some money in the door but we are the seeing (apart from Chelsea) the free spending days of the past are gone, Man C one mid-price player in, Liverpool none, Spurs one big starter signing, yes Man U have a few more but no superstars there!
I believe Kroenke has limited the transfer budget for this season, because he’s spent too much money in the last four years without any major trophy
I’m afraid this season could be the last chance for Arteta and Edu to give Kroenke an EPL or UCL trophy
Again @GAI I think that’s based on speculations, remember top 4 (UCL)brings more money than winning FA/ EFL cup. I still maintain there’s no way Arsenal have +-£30mil budget before sales.
and also i think FFP/PSR constraints rather than Kroenke purse strings as such
I understand the FFP/PSR rules and regulations and I don’t think it’s the case currently with Arsenal. It doesn’t make sense at this stage, Arsenal have a +-£30mil net spend and the next target is said to be Merino reportedly available at +-€30mil. Nowhere it has been reported that Arsenal are currently under pressure from these regulations.
Reports are that both teams are negotiating about the best deal possible for either side with regards to Merino. It has nothing to with Arsenal needing to raise funds before signing Merino, but trying to get the best deal possible, As was the case with Calafiori.
And you saying we ended summer window with a deficit is not making sense. FFP/PSR would have charged Arsenal for breaking the rules if that was the case. At the end of the last financial year Arsenal were clear.
That makes sense too, because Nketiah is on 100k per week and I think Ramsdale’s salary is quite high too
Although we’ve made some shrewd signings in recent years there’s also been a number of partial and in some cases total disappointments. Any other club would’ve wrapped up an ‘easy’ transfer like Merino weeks ago; player wants the move, reasonable fee, club willing to sell. Failure to act in January when it was clear we needed a new body to bag important goals cost us the league. Last summer we did well with Rice, unlucky with Timber’s injury, and fans are still mixed on both Raya and Havertz (even MA still seems unsure how/where to use Kai given this preseason).
This summer, for the first time in ages, strikers are on the market but we either seem unwilling to do a deal or convince the player the move would benefit them.
I trust the club, MA and Edu but at the same time, I’m not convinced they’ll get what we need going into the new season.
After Merino a clinical striker is essential, after that a leftie at RW to challenge Saka would finish the job, then next summer upgrade on the aging but brilliant duo of Partey and Jorginho and given our young squad we’d only need slight alterations for the following few windows.
This is the question. Fans appear to be divided into two camps (possibly three) over this.
Camp 1 – the squad needs more strengthening – a midfielder and a striker (or possibly a winger) and time is running out pretty quickly now as deals can drag on and out as we know.
Camp 2 – Edu/Arteta have a fully formed, practical, plan (“cunning” or otherwise) and we should be patient, or more patient. “They know”.
Camp 3 – the acquisition of Calafiori is sufficient really and Arsenal should utilise the players they have now.
I’m in Camp 1. If you had polled Gooners at the beginning of the window (way back on 14 June) “Do you think adding one defender in this window will be enough for the 2024-25 season?” I strongly doubt that there would have been many positive responses but, so far anyway, that’s where we’re at.
The 2024-25 season will be the most important for Arsenal/Arteta/Edu since the 2019-20 watershed – there’s surely no doubt about that. Do Arsenal win the PL title at long last or is it another season of “almost, but not quite”? Not winning it could have all sorts of repercussions and ramifications, for the owners, the management and, possibly, some players as well.
A single purchase so far (and one sale, so it’s not just buying) with under three weeks left in the window may not be a disaster but it isn’t that encouraging either. There could be a last-minute rush, and we’ll have to wait and see – but keep our fingers firmly crossed, I think.
Every year we buy late and every year we’re told players missed preseason and need time to settle in, meaning they start the season unprepared to help straight away. Any new additions are going to have to hit the ground running otherwise it’ll be close but no cigar all over again.
Depth is only relevant if Arteta rotates the squad. Hopefully this is a year of change and we finally see competition within the squad.
Timber, White, and Calafiori to rotate in both FB positions,
Rice, Merino, and Partey to rotate in midfield, with Vieira can be a 10 to rest Odegaard.
Martinelli, Saka, and Trossard to rotate on the wings
Gabriel, Saliba, and Tomiyasu/Kiwior to rotate at CB.
With a better scoring striker we would finally have the players to rotate our squad. Whether this happens or Arteta continues to play 15 and the rest are insurance is yet to be seen.
I expect more rotation and game management substitutions, but we will not go from one extreme to the other. It’s all about trust with MA and depth does not automatically constitute quality. Players like Viera and Nelson fill holes but do not maintain the necessary level of quality in the way that Man City can rotate.
Errr… looks like squad depth to me. Off the top of my head…
Begining with last season’s starters for the last 5 games, all still at Arsenal:
Martinelli, Havertz, Saka
Rice, Odegaard, Partey
Zinc GM Saliba, BW
Raya
Then you have:
Calafiori
Timber
Trossard
Nwaneri
Vieira
Ramsdale + Hein
That’s 18. Squad size of 17 allowed, any more up to 25 need to be homegrown (Eddie is still an Arsenal player) and any number of U21s.
So… Saka, Rice, BW, Ramsdale, Nwaneri allow a squad of up to 22 (Nwaneri not counted in the total since he’s U21).
There’s a couple more academy players I’ve missed I think and probably some mainstream players have slipped my mind. But that seems a decent squad for rotation without straining the memory at all, or doing any searches.
Overall I’m thinking: What’s the problem?
After I sent it I realised I haven’t included Jesus and maybe Merino arriving.
Agreed, we’re not in any way “in crisis” with squad depth. *Most* positions are well covered, if not with actual specialists in the position, by capable backups. We don’t have the inflated player pool that some other major clubs have (ahem, Chelsea), but we’ve managed injuries fairly well so far. Last season when City lost KdB, they started losing games. Arguably we have a few positions that carry that risk for us too. Odegaard is my main concern. We really could use a more reliable backup than Vieira. But maybe Fabio will do better this season, or Nwaneri will start breaking through. We’ll see.
I’ll add to this Odegaard concern that we do have others who can theoretically cover for him, but that weaken our options for rotation, substitutions and coverage in other positions.
Lots of good insights and opinions in the comments here. I would add that it’s always been Arteta’s vision to have 2 top quality players to rotate in each position. Edu and Arteta know what’s needed. And for the most part we’re doing pretty well there.
But what we’re seeing is their ultimate vision restrained by boring old club financial considerations they have little control over. Arsenal’s accounts have been in deficit for 5 or 6 years now. A major part of that is wages, which have increased faster as we add good players than we’ve seen from the annual growth in club income. Structural costs need to come down and revenues increase (lowering wage obligations on the one side by shifting out underutilized players, increasing income from commercial enterprises like merch retail) for the 24/25 season to enable spending on expensive players.
It’s tedious, but it’s as simple as that. Let’s go out and buy more shirts, fellow gooners 🙂
If we assume a squad totalling around 25, and an average time at the top of one’s form of around 5 years, then the maths is easy – each year we have to get in 5 new players just to stand still regarding squad depth. We have lost ESR, El Neny and Soares and gained only Callafiore, so by my reckoning we are 7 players down unless we promote the younger players.