The new Arsenal Club Thread - *No Spoilers & Read OP Before Posting*
- Thread starter BaZ87
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Caporegime
Overall Arteta/Edu have done a fantastic job. The reason you are where you are in the league is because Odegaard got injured. I said this last season and perhaps even the season before. He makes Arsenal tick. Literally. Without him you aren't half the team. You still have some good players but you became a set piece team that relied on Saka to come up with some magic outside of that.
Yes a striker might have helped but buying a striker as a team that has played without one for years isn't a panacea. You lose one of your other forwards and have to change how you play. Strikers are also probably the hardest position to buy in. They are the most expensive players and very much a gamble outside of the very very top ones but they are usually either taken or costing over £100m these days.
Unfortunately, as is always the case, the better you get as a team, the higher the expectations and Arsenal, much like Liverpool are competing in an era where Man City have been utterly brilliant in the league.
Arsenal will be better now Odegaard is back but you need some sort of back up for him. Its hard to get that though as Odegaard doesn't get injured often and you can't keep an actually capable replacement happy when they are constant second fiddle.
I think Arteta and Edu used their resources sensibly.
The ongoing unavailability of Zinchenko and Tomiyasu, coupled with Timber's serious injury, made a leftback a necessity. Kiwior did a reasonable emergency job last season, but was a sticking plaster only. The fact Partey is routinely managing issues meant a central mid was imperative too. We survived last season on the basis Rice was available for nearly every minute.
It seems clear the first player we tried to buy over the summer was Benjamin Sesko though - so Arteta was open to a striker. When that didn't materialise, he's taken the decision to continue with Havertz upfront and pivoted to Merino. If we buy a striker, it has to be the right striker, fitting the profile of play - and they rarely come cheap.
Where we did go awry in the summer was letting all of Nketiah, Nelson, Smith Rowe and Vieira leave in the same window - and replacing all four with Sterling (+Nwaneri). None were the answer, arguably all four should have departed for different reasons, but each of them has contributed over the past couple of seasons challenging. It's left us too inflexible to deal with the multitude of issues we've had.
This squad has scored 88 and 91 goals over the past two seasons. It's far too simplistic to baldly state "we should have bought a striker". As it goes, with Jesus' catastrophic decline, I'd expect our next major move to be that player, giving Arteta flexibility re: Havertz again.
The ongoing unavailability of Zinchenko and Tomiyasu, coupled with Timber's serious injury, made a leftback a necessity. Kiwior did a reasonable emergency job last season, but was a sticking plaster only. The fact Partey is routinely managing issues meant a central mid was imperative too. We survived last season on the basis Rice was available for nearly every minute.
It seems clear the first player we tried to buy over the summer was Benjamin Sesko though - so Arteta was open to a striker. When that didn't materialise, he's taken the decision to continue with Havertz upfront and pivoted to Merino. If we buy a striker, it has to be the right striker, fitting the profile of play - and they rarely come cheap.
Where we did go awry in the summer was letting all of Nketiah, Nelson, Smith Rowe and Vieira leave in the same window - and replacing all four with Sterling (+Nwaneri). None were the answer, arguably all four should have departed for different reasons, but each of them has contributed over the past couple of seasons challenging. It's left us too inflexible to deal with the multitude of issues we've had.
This squad has scored 88 and 91 goals over the past two seasons. It's far too simplistic to baldly state "we should have bought a striker". As it goes, with Jesus' catastrophic decline, I'd expect our next major move to be that player, giving Arteta flexibility re: Havertz again.
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Soldato
So this argument I am having with my friend is still going on.
I agree with you guys that Arteta and Edu have done a good job, however he disagrees with us.
As far as I'm concerned what part of competing for the premiere league over the last two years is not doing a good job....?
However he thinks that Edu (and by proxy Arteta) have not done a good job. We haven't won a game now since Oct (I think) and they have left us woefully inadequate up front and lumbered us with complete "dross" in the likes of Martinelli, Jesus, Havertz and Trossard.
I agree with you guys that Arteta and Edu have done a good job, however he disagrees with us.
As far as I'm concerned what part of competing for the premiere league over the last two years is not doing a good job....?
However he thinks that Edu (and by proxy Arteta) have not done a good job. We haven't won a game now since Oct (I think) and they have left us woefully inadequate up front and lumbered us with complete "dross" in the likes of Martinelli, Jesus, Havertz and Trossard.
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Man of Honour
Jesus I could give them, baring that first few months he’s been very poor. All the others have been crucial at times, with Havertz now being one of the first names on the team sheet.
They might not have delivered us a title but they all played crucial roles in taking us up a level and elevating our expectations of the team.
The biggest criticism of edu would be our ability to build a squad. We’ve always been a player or two short, and even when we think we have the answer we let another hole open up.
We were incredibly lucky with iniuries last season but this season we can’t seem to keep any of our full backs fit which has disrupted the rock solid defence. The lack of attacking backups has also hurt us as we simply try and play players through bad patches or meddle with their positions to try and spark them into life.
Ben White being out for a few months now is unwelcome news, we’re yet to see that right hand side function well in his absence.
They might not have delivered us a title but they all played crucial roles in taking us up a level and elevating our expectations of the team.
The biggest criticism of edu would be our ability to build a squad. We’ve always been a player or two short, and even when we think we have the answer we let another hole open up.
We were incredibly lucky with iniuries last season but this season we can’t seem to keep any of our full backs fit which has disrupted the rock solid defence. The lack of attacking backups has also hurt us as we simply try and play players through bad patches or meddle with their positions to try and spark them into life.
Ben White being out for a few months now is unwelcome news, we’re yet to see that right hand side function well in his absence.
Yeah Smith-Rowe was arguably the understudy to Odegaard but he understandably wanted (I assume) to be playing first team football so he's left to get that at Fulham and good luck to him. Odegaard is also still quite young at 25 so its not like say a Luka Modric or Kevin De Bruyne situation where you could be expecting to take his place in a year or two. ESR could play on the left as well but he was behind Martinelli and Trossard in the pecking order there too. I'd love to have kept him as a great rotation option but it's probably a good thing for all concerned that he left i.e. he can get his career restarted, Fulham get a talented player and Arsenal got a reasonable fee for a backup player.
Caporegime
No one in that Arsenal side comes close to Odegaard currently. There is a reason Arsenal have looked back to their best since he returned and prior to that they were looking toothless outside of Saka and set pieces.
Soldato
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He will have to move position eventually given the age of odegaard.
Saka is going to be out for I reckon 6 weeks minimum with that hamstring injury, that could be the last chance of a Premier league challenge over. Martinelli actually played pretty well in his position against Palace but don't think that will be enough and I doubt anyone will come in in Jan.
Man of Honour
Yep highly frustrating that he went down at the same time as Sterling who is supposed to be his backup. I wouldn't mind Martinelli starting there, might see him hit some form given how right side dominant we are. Nwaneri has similar traits to Saka so it will be interesting to see if Arteta has any faith in starting him there.
Not signing another top attacker in the summer is looking like an increasingly bad decision.
Not signing another top attacker in the summer is looking like an increasingly bad decision.
Soldato
Jesus's recent form comes at the wrong time.
We've needed a striker all season and now the window approaches Jesus starts scoring....
We've needed a striker all season and now the window approaches Jesus starts scoring....
Man of Honour
The Athletic reporting that Saka has undergone surgery on his hamstring, likely to be out for at least 2 months. Unless a string of games can reignite Sterling we desperately need to do something smart in January. Hopefully he's given all the time in the world to recover, last thing we need is to rush him back and cause any long term damage.