Lets be honest with each passing season we become less and less of a draw for players, the club needs a complete overhaul and under these owners and under this manager it is not going to happen. In the past we could argue various reasons to keep attracting better players, initially Chumps league football, history, London, class whatever but the more time goes by, the further we slip, the less attractive these other things become. For all the tongue in cheek cracks about mid-table team that is exactly what we have become under the Kroenkes and latter day Wenger.
The reason we end up with these ridiculous contracts is because in their infinite wisdom the idiots in charge think that keeping these people such as Ozil is more important than than cutting your losses, I could understand it if they were putting in performances week in week out and there was an option to rebuild around them but that is not going to happen, it is also why we end up with has-beens such as Willian.
Arteta is not the coach any of us want but on this one point I will defend him he didnt create the mess he stepped into it was already here, he may have made some things worse but it was abysmal before he arrived and that, is for me at least, the one reason a total novice coach should not have been appointed, it is also the one reason I believe he was, the power brokers wanted someone malleable and less likely to rock the boat or ask for what they didnt want to give.
Last nights game was stark for me, out of the starting line up the players I would actually consider worth keeping were KT, Leno although I'm not a huge fan and Mari who is slowly growing on me even though not a world beater......and that's it, not even PEA because I think he is exactly what my BvB mate warned me of, a sulky little bitch who only performs when things are perfect for him. It's truly scary when you look at it like that, they were supposedly some of our senior professionals last night and they looked like they were out for a stroll.
Defensively we lack a RB, a good back up LB for KT and a backup RB and then we can hope that between Gabriel, Saliba, Rikik, Holding, Chambers and Mari we find enough to build on, the rest of them are all surplus
Midfield we can keep ESR, Saka, Partey and maybe a few young guys brought in from the Academy, the less said about the rest of them the better
Forwards Martinelli although I'm seriously worried about his injury problems, Laca until someone better can be got in and although looking less and less likely Balogun, again the rest aren't worth the paycheck
So that is it, cant even build a balanced first 11 and a bench....... without seriously dipping into the Academy
Realistically it is a case of balancing off who is the least shit from the rest to keep a viable squad.... some people keep putting their heads in the clouds and saying that the squad isnt that bad but they are seriously deluded our squad is terrible and the attitude from some of them is utterly attrocious