Arsenal
Arsenal have made the best signing in terms of filling a hole in their team with the highest level player – that man is Bruno Guimaraes. Arsenal lacked some passing range/creative passing to attack teams in transition before they had time to regroup into their defensive shape. This is exactly what Bruno G did for Newcastle and he was a large part of what made Isak and Gordon so dangerous in transition.
Saliba’s absence is slightly concerning. Believe Mosquera and Gabriel could look dodgy with an extended run in the team – both are aggressive front-foot CBs who can get attracted to the ball and Gabriel is not used to coordinating the defensive line as a leader. Ben White also appears to have declined defensively so do not think Arsenal will be as solid defensively to start the season.
Tzolis looks like a good stylistic replacement for Trossard but do feel Arsenal lack a ‘star runner-goalscorer’ type winger. They obviously tried for Vinicius who has this but with Barcola going to Liverpool then the alternatives in the market are lacking. They will need to guess correctly on the next project LW of this type to explode.
Man City
Elliot Anderson partially fixes one issue that Man City had without KDB last season – high speed running with a technical product at the end of it, both as a threat to make runs in the half-space and as a threat with ball-carrying in transition. He is not world class at it but still better than Man City’s existing midfielders at it. However, he needs profiling as an 8. Do not think he has the defensive brain to play as a 6 and his very progressive mindset in possession is better suited to taking risks as an 8 in advanced areas of the pitch whilst occasionally contributing to deep ball progression.
Therefore, this would necessitate Man City using a midfield 3. Bouaddi as the 6, a passer as the LCM and Anderson at RCM. This formula has some potential as a defensive shield-passer-high intensity final third actions type formula. Semenyo RW with Doku LW and Haaland 9. The formula would actually look pretty good if Man City had a better overlapper at RB than Nunes. But if City try to use Anderson and Bouaddi in a midfield 3 with Cherki 10, believe they will be in trouble in both build-up and defensive scenarios.
Man Utd
Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos have been brought in to fix Man Utd’s biggest issue in midfield but is this enough ? Tielemans in isolation is a very good deep lying playmaker. Santos in isolation is solid at line-breaking passes and duelling. Let’s stop isolating and talk about partnerships. Tielemans and Mainoo will not have enough ground coverage to stop transitions (also a weakness of Bruno Fernandes). Santos and Mainoo has top press resistance but there is an issue in possession of not being able to expand the pitch sufficiently with a top passing range/vision. Santos and Tielemans works in terms of solving ground coverage (Santos) and passing range/vision (Tielemans) but will Mainoo really be dropped. All of these duos also lack something in contact duels and aerial duels. A lighthouse type figure in the middle of the park who is like a magnet to the ball and can resolve bouncing ball situations into a controlled possession.
In attack, believe Man Utd should have done more to bring in a left wing option. Do not view Dorgu or Cunha as optimal fits. Cunha at left wing is problematic given Luke Shaw no longer has the capable to provide useful overlaps.
Liverpool
Should Liverpool complete the signings of Barcola and Mbaye then their attack will look in very good shape. Barcola as a 7/10 1v1 winger with 10/10 goalscoring threat, Rio as a 10/10 1v1 winger with 7/10 goalscoring threat, Mbaye as a 8/10 1v1 winger and 8/10 goalscoring threat, is an excellent choice of 3 wingers to choose from. Maybe a pure creative winger is lacking but with Diomande moving elsewhere, this is as good as Liverpool can produce this window.
Believe Liverpool have a midfield issue however. And think the way they handle the ball in midfield far outweighs any defensive concerns. The evidence for this is how Trey Nyoni seems to have a significant impact on how they build up when he plays in midfield. Nyoni is not yet an A-list passer but he understands the spaces to receive the ball in front of the back 4, the right pass selection and his execution of passes is usually clean. But still think Liverpool need a more proven athlete and world class passer to do this job currently. Nyoni is more of a metronomic passer than proper creator so could co-exist with such a midfielder.
In defence, they look set at CB with Jeremy Jacquet set to be one of the signings of the season. Right-back will be OK as long as Szoboszlai does not mind playing there. Frimpong alone with Bradley back from a major injury is insufficient. Frimpong has both defensive and build-up questions against his name – ideally you only use him as an attacking RB option when chasing a goal vs a deep block. Araujo can cover their in big games vs a top left winger.
Chelsea
Chelsea’s squad is most suited to a back 3 – their current starting midfield of Enzo-Caicedo needs that extra defensive protection as proven in previous seasons. The back 3 also allows Lacroix to play to his more aggressive temperament pushing up to intercept or block in midfield gaps. Colwill, Hato, Fofana, Acheampong are sufficient for the wide CB roles. Palestra as a runner is suited to playing as a wing-back.
The big question is over whether Pedro Neto leaves. He is actually tailor-made for a wing-back role with his athleticism, crossing and defensive work rate. Quenda can create and cross but have some doubts on if he is ready to defend at this level.
The major positive of Chelsea in a 3-4-2-1 is how Rogers, Palmer and Pedro would be liberated from build-up and defensive responsibilities and be able to cause havoc as a fluid front 3. Rogers has some runner qualities to threaten in-behind, Palmer can create and Joao Pedro can link it all as well as provide box threat. Rogers and Palmer both have shooting threat from mid to long range.
Spurs
They’ve spent big and really like the Matheus Fernandes buy but have some question marks over the rest. Much like Anderson above, Tonali is best suited to playing as an 8 in a midfield 3 but it look like De Zerbi is set on using him in a double pivot and playing a 4-2-3-1. Does Tonali provide a defensive shield in a double pivot ? No don’t think so, he runs hard but often doesn’t block the right spaces. Does he provide valuable build-up influence ? No don’t think so, too many of his passes are of incorrect weight or accuracy and he’s not exactly this high IQ organizer of the build-up. He is a powerful ball-carrier who can also strike the ball and make aggressive ball recoveries high up the pitch – i.e. a number 8. Not a 100 million pound double pivot midfielder. Moving onto the defence, think their actual defensive ability has taken a step backwards with Van Hecke & Senesi in and Romero out. The two incoming CBs are excellent ball-players but do not believe they are positionally sound and also lack good defending when isolated on counter-attacks.
Spurs also have work to do in attack. They lack a guaranteed supply of goals. Gakpo needs chances put on a plate for him – he won’t make the difference in a crowded box or in transition. Spurs lack a goal threat in both scenarios. They need to be focusing their attacking buys on solving this. Savinho has transition threat and creativity but cannot shoot the ball consistently. Marmoush has great shooting technique no doubt but again he is not a box presence or transition threat – he scores most of his goals by quickly shifting and shooting but you can see this method of scoring has not fully translated to the better athletes in the Premier League, his touches to set up shots can be misplaced and he is not a top tier athlete either in brushing contact quick, agile dribbling. Maybe Kudus can provide goals as a second striker but with Solanke’s struggles at generating clean shots for himself in front of defenders, this may not be enough.
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