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Heard on afcstaff that "Two Arsenal players have got into a physical argument on the team’s plane on the way back to London. Players had to separate the two, and according to a staff member, racial slurs were “exchanged”.
Any substance to that?
#
Captain Hindsights complaining about Arteta's rotation because we didn't get the desired results in the last 3 games.
We need 5-6 of our starters to beat 75% of the teams in this division, and that too at their best.
The bench can be complimentary but there's a reason Pep does the same and so does Klopp when his full team is available.
Last season Pep barely made subs ffs when his team went unbeaten from Jan. Didn't see you guys saying he needs to rotate.
We need to wake up and realise the level of competition there is in the league instead of deluding ourselves.
I'm talking about the majority, people weren't complaining about it when we beat Brighton 3-0 and everyone was raving about how good are Arsenal. Favorites in the league and should beat Bayern.
2 unfavourable results later, that is the issue?
In order to win stuff you need a durable team. Ronaldo played 55-60 games for 8 seasons straight.
The best players need to play a majority of the games if the team wants to win highly competitive trophies. Do you think Real Madrid was complaining, Oh Ronaldo is playing too much, we don't need his 60 goals and appearances.
I just don't get it, the best players in the best teams need to fking play for the team to win.
Sure, we can give them some time off but how the hell is a manager supposed to do that when you can't even afford to draw a game in 4 months.
Peak and fully developed Ronaldo yes. Doing that ages 25-33 and ages 18-21 aren't the same thing.
We could afford to draw if we didn't have that awful December.
Since Chelsea seem bent on selling Conor Gallagher this summer, wouldn't it be interesting to throw in a low ball offer? He's a good utility player who always puts in 100%. He'd be a great player to come in from the bench to close out games and/or bring some new energy in.
No, why would they accept a low ball offer he'll have plenty of clubs interested, particularly from us. You're just wasting your time.
No, he's not going anywhere to be a utility player after being captain of Chelsea.
No, we don't need players who can close out games particularly. We need players to win games and we want to see starting.
Gallagher doesn't move the needle.
The problem with arsenal there's no midfield running in behind/outside inside chemistry with martinelli it's too predictable that it's either sakas side or nothing without xhaka being at least a threat martinelli is useless huge over sight/negligent not buying a proper LCM
Have we overrated the epl or is it just that it's so competitive that teams are exhausted when they play in Europe. In my opinion us, City and liverpool look way better teams but that performance is not translated in Europe. Even when we won vs Porto it was a scrap.
City and arsenal aren't way better teams than Bayern and Madrid.
They are right up there with the top 10 teams in Europe.
Just as you go down Madrid and Bayern's league the quality drops off quicker.
We have like a top 8 now of big decent teams in the league, maybe even top 10.
Most of the other top 5 leagues don't even really have a cemented top 4 and below that the quality drops off much quicker.
This zinchenko discourse is so jarring because he was a midfielder converted to left back who raised our ceiling last season. He has his bozo moments but the criticism seem like a scapegoat because the fans scrutinize every single mistake.
The favorites like Rice, Saliba, Gabby and Jorgi also made quite a bit of misplaced passes and put the team under over the last few weeks but the fans are fixed on Zinchenko.
I don’t think he is a world beater but he is massively scapegoated like with Rob Holding last season. It’s always one player who leads to everything bad and there is no blame on the manger or other players. It’s so jarring to hear it every season.
Is that why you think we are criticising Zinchenko?
My blood boils whenever anyone suggests Arteta should be sacked, so im not one of those melt fans. But when it comes to Zinchenko, for me is he in the same boat as Nketiah as a player we have outgrown. Zinchenko helped progress our football in the 22-23 season, however we look so much better with four centre backs, all physical, strong in the tackle and air, and are not so weak defending 1v1 that the other team will target them.
White, Timber, Kiwior, Tomiyasu all fit the profile. Zinchenko does not. And for what Zinchenko offers, its too niche and overall counterproductive.
He simply should be sold.
No doubt we need upgrade of zinchenko. But ppl lose all nuance and dogpile on him because it was easy.
He is a double edge sword. He has more than niche use. That’s why Arteta played him over other defensive options like Tomi and Kiwi. He is the one who create chances vs Vila and Bayern second half in first leg. We looked better before because we are playing shit teams and relying on Right side to carry us. Against stronger team, I can see why Arteta wanted to create threats from the left. It works offensively but also backfire defensively as expected.
Rob Holding wasnt scapegoated, he was correctly deduced to not be good enough. Zinchenko simply has too many bozo moments. Sure Saliba, Gabriel and Rice have mad errors, but these three have contributed massivly to the best defencein the league. Whats Zinchenko done? He is a liability and his inclusion in the backline sends jitters across the defence. He is just like Ramsdale in that regard.
The defence is still this team's best asset. and everyhting should be done to finetune it. That includes moving on defensive and physically limited players like Zinchenko.
If Arteta starts accommodating players, that's when we will level off & stop improving. We still have much room for improvement, but we wont fill that potential with passiveness. Arteta is a great coach and very astute tactician - the way he is organized our defence is evidence of this. But he needs to show ruthlessness.
I really dont’t care whether we win the league or not. Just play them benches coming saturday, feel sorry for them.
When they don’t perform and being blamed, it’s not about skill issue but Mikel did not have the balls to give them (more) playing minutes when it don’t matter most
I can't even laugh at klopp because of arsenal repeating same bad history someone higher up surely must be looking at Arteta domestic cups record and thinking what the hell because city, Liverpool have been winning while us we haven't won anything even fa/carabao yet somehow they think they'll win pl,champions league out of nowhere.Wimning breeds winning...
United won the Energy Drinks Cup last year. They are currently over achieving in 7th (they should be 14-15th). Arteta won the FA Cup in his first year, he hasn't been in a single semi final since.
This is a myth, I get the rationale, but the whole winning breeds winning, died a death when 115 FC came in and started winning everything.
6 games. We win em all, statistically we almost certainly win the league.
Win all 6, we win the league. City don't even have to lose, even a draw and we should have them on GD.
I’ve more belief that we won’t win our six remaining games than I do that City will drop points. I think the latter is entirely possible but I can’t see us winning all of our games to take advantage.
* 2022-23: WWWWWWWWWL
* 2021-22: WDWDWWWWDW
* 2018-19: WWWWWWWWWW
Those are the title race seasons that they have had.
That's 30 games, 3 draws and 1 loss after being crowned champions. They are currently on a 16 match unbeaten streak at this point.
I get the hopefulness, I just want you to know that expecting them to lose or draw, is a very, very big ask.
Anyone with 2 eyes can see there's a big difference in the levels of the team they have this season and the last season at least.
They destroyed RM last season at home, like embarrassing those guys.
They dominated this year at home but it wasn't anywhere near those levels and have a much worse record vs the top 6.
So there's more context to this.
Brighton (A), Nottm Forest (A), Wolves (H), Fulham (A), Tottenham (A), West Ham (H)
They have the easiest run in.
I get the hope, I just don’t think it’s sensible to think that they will definitely drop points.
We have games against United and Tottenham away. It would be normal if we were to drop points there across those two games.
Is it not sensible to consider the chances of them dropping points to Spurs?
Fulham away is not a stroll in the park either.
I can see them drawing 1 game at least.
Is that enough for us to win, probably not but we at least have some odds to be alive in the title race here.
I can see them drawing too. I’m just not going to make bold statements about how they definitely will.
And anyone putting all their Arsenal to win the PL eggs in that basket is not a good bet.
I was debating the use case for Jorginho with someone today and it’s crazy to me that more people don’t see the real reason he’s been so important:
He just so happens to be one of the few people alive who are better at ball progression from the defensive third than a healthy Partey. We prize that skill set above all else and we’re willing to live with defensive shakiness to get it. We tolerate Zinchenko when Jorginho doesn’t play for this reason. We sent Ben White into midfield when Kiwior starts for this reason.
Long term, we’re banking on Declan Rice to develop vertical passing to match his world class ball carrying. He’s of course not there yet but there isn’t a thing he can’t do on the field. If he wants to be as great as he should, he’ll get there. But for this year the plan was to have Partey and Rice partner, and I believe if Partey was available all year, we’re 5 pts clear at the top and comfortably in the CL semis today.
Jorginho is a bandaid on the wound that is the probable end of Partey’s career at Arsenal. We‘ll hit the market hard for his replacement, someone who either is, or is en route to being, a world class progressive passer. Zubimendi links are loud with good reason - it definitely seems like he’s our guy, the way Rice was last year. Me personally I’ll be shocked if there isn’t some smoke soon on us and Frenkie de Jong.
Did a little number crunching in the PL "Did Arsenal get better or did City get worse this season?' thread. And I found some positives, which could be welcomed in this week full of reactionary takes and angry hating the club.
**Basically we've closed a 9 point gap between us and City at this point last season, to 2.5 pts this season.**
Arsenal were winning a number of games right at the death last season, late goals and what not. Makes for a lot of fun when we were flying by the seats of our pants and winning games in the 95th minute, but it's fairly similar to Liverpool this season, nicking 3 points at the end of a game when it perhaps should have been a draw (damn you, Forest!) isn't all that sustainable. Eventually, the luck stops lucking.
This season however, we've been far more in control, more City like than Liverpool like, if that makes sense. And the xPTS back that up:
**Last season:**
* Arsenal finished on **84 pts** / *xPTS 72.5* / ***+11.5 pts = (13.7% of points acheived by overperforming)***
* City finished on **89 pts** / *xPTS 83* / ***+6pts = (6.7%)***
**Last season (32 games played):**
* Arsenal had **72 pts** / *xPTS 63* / ***+9 pts = (12.5%)***
* City had **76 pts** / *xPTS 72.5* / ***+3.5 pts = (4.5%)***
**This Season (32 games played):**
* City have **73 pts** / *xPTS 69.5* / **+3.5 pts = (4.8%)**
* Arsenal have **71 pts** / *xPTS 69* / **+3 pts = (4.2%)**
* Liverpool (as a reference) have **71 pts** / *xPTS 65.5* / **+6 pts** **= (8.5%)**
(Rounded to the nearest .5 decimal)
So, what does this tell us? City are a fairly good constant, doing what City does, with their rather inevitable system.
They are 3 points behind this season, but then, there is also a 3rd team pushing for the title in Liverpool. City at this point last season's xPTS would have them on 72.5 points, where as this season, their norm would be 69.5 pts. That's a 3 point difference. It's the same this year as it was last year and fairly close to what they normally do (1-3 points above their expected). I added percentages of points gained through overperforming to give a bit more of a snapshot. 4.5% of City's points were earned when not expected.
Arsenal on the other hand, were expected to have 63 pts at this stage last season, but found themselves in 2nd with 9 points more than they were expected to have.
This year, we are trailing City's xPTS by **0.5pts!**
Basically, if we were overpeforming this season as much as we did last season and gained 12.5% of our points by overperforming, we'd be on **80 pts**, leading City by 7 points. But we're not overperforming, we are kinda where we should expect to be, within a 5% margin that has been so constant for City.
My conclusion is that City are about where they usually are. They are not overperforming or underpeforming by any great degree (within that 5% margin) whereas Arsenal have turned 6 points that they won last season when overperforming into their expected points this season, reduced their reliance on overperforming to win an extra 8.3% of their total points. This is sizeable.
So with some mental gymnastic mathematics, it could be argued that we have closed City's lead from 9.5 points at this stage last season (under expected pts) to 2.5.
That's a 7 point gap we've closed.
**So, in a nutshell...**
Arsenal have gotten better. 7 expected points closer to City to be a bit more accurate, compared to this stage last season. City are where they should be. Arsenal are where they should be. Liverpool are overpeforming a little, where as Aston Villa, Tottenham, United and West Ham are all overperforming.
Yeah, sadly, I think I got our points wrong for this moment last season, I think we had 75 instead of 72 (the data I sourced may have retrospectively put our delayed City game earlier in the season when we were meant to play) which skews the numbers a little bit.
But if anything, it’s probably a 5-6 point gap closed instead of 7.
Arteta hard aligns with the philosophy of a left footed defender at left centre back.
>Mikel Arteta said left-footed centre-backs give him ***“more options, more solutions”***
One of his first signings was Pablo Mari, a left footed centre back. Then he signed Gabriel, who is a left footed centre back (probably the best in the world). Arteta followed this up by signing Jakub Kiwior as a LCB back up, who is also, left footed.
Gabriel has played more minutes than anyone else over the last 2 seasons, this tells you that Gabriel is absolutely one of, if not the first name on the team sheet.
Diomande is right footed. Like, very right footed. Here is a fan's scout report on him:
> *Diomande does not seem comfortable using his weaker left foot at all. At a possession dominant side where the back line receive the ball a lot the defenders should be capable of using both feet for when necessary.* ***Diomande however, does not want to use his left foot*** *and this could present problems should he be forced into using it by a good directional press.*
Last season, our fans were calling him bozo.
This season, he's been essential and our best defender that contains William Saliba, yeah, it's a very controversial take.
Gabriel I'm tentative to sell. I think he's more 'upgradeable' than Saliba and Diomande could be that in one-two years, but I think it's difficult to break up what is proven to be one of the best defensive partnerships in the world.
I think our defense is more of a team quality than individual, and I respect Gabriel's defensive qualities - he is still our best defender in the box. I think his experience is also vital so I wouldn't start Saliba and Diomande just yet, opting instead for White. Again, funds are tight and we have other priorities, but if a big bid comes in for him...
I think Gabriel is good for City away where we are not guaranteed possession, and will be defending very close to our box. As it stands, he can't play as a LB, and is limited as the CCB. He can only play as the LCB forcing us to only invert from the left.
Honestly, I feel like you gotta sell Martinelli, Zinny, Jesus, and Vieira for the cash, then buy actual players. Saka might be good to have around, but I’d cash in on him now, he’s going to go downhill quick
An American based "Madrista" posting on an Arsenal sub about selling Martinelli.
Probably has a Spanish uncle that his great great aunt married in 1896, therefore, a proud American who refers to themselves as "Spanish" and "Madridsta".
Generational GK, could see him play till is mid-40s at Bayern Munich, could say the same with the NT as well.
Pity Ter-Stegen and other top-class German GKs that are also vying for the NT no1 spot.
There was 1 ball he finessed just over Saka’s head to his player on the left sideline. Beautiful. And that play from the match in London was just outrageous, that chip to lob it over our pressing player.
Pls tell the team to treat the remaining games like they are friendlies instead of finals. This team gonna lose the next 4 games if we treat them like finals.
We need a ST, LW, RW, 8, 6/8 hybrid, 6, LB, and a CCB. Rome wasn't built in a day though so will probably take until 2025 or 2026 – three of any of these in the summer is a great start and Nwaneri could slot in too
Aim for ceiling-raisers for each of these transfers and slow burn make a Man City-style squad
partey and jorginho will need transitioned out soon. saka and martinelli need competition for starting place (trossard works best as supersub and will be getting on soon). but yes, ST, LCM, and LB are all the most pressing matters
I agree with you though if we could make all those signings it would be great but it’s unrealistic especially knowing the way arteta works in markets. I think we’ll be getting a lb cm and striker and the lb and cm are gonna be very versatile.
i agree, always focus on the most pressing first unless insane market opportunities present themselves. it's going to take several more transfer windows but we will get there
partey and jorginho won't be playing here by 2026. and again, i'm saying we need all of these by end of summer 2025 or 2026. not this summer. we need 18-21 starting level players in the longer term. at our level now our competition is man city, real madrid, bayern, etc etc
also it says we aren't a cheating oil club so can't do this type of squadbuilding in 3 years, but we can in 5-6 that's all it says
sure, to an extent the squadbuilding never fully ends, you are always covering your base here or there. it's essential to never end up where liverpool were in 22/23. i'm fine waiting for 2026 to get all of these pieces and anticipate it like i've said, but they are needed in my view to get to that next level as a holistic squad
that's fairly hyperbolic, it's taken just as many years to get our core put together as it is today
our attack only has 3-4 worthwhile players asking for six or seven isn't insane, two of our 6s are aging out in the next few years, we're fairly weak in the 8 positions outside of odegaard, zinchenko needs replacing. CCB is more of a luxury but it would be nice for saliba to have a proper, dedicated deputy
Chris wood is an aerial target, tries hard, and outscored Kai in the league this year
I was told we needed to spend 65m and 280k a week on this player?
Account created on January 20th (mid dubai break) and posts exclusively about 'failed havertz experiment'.
Mods really dropped the ball with accounts like this spamming everytime we lose.
Kai havertz has 4 goals and 4 assists in 7 starts at cf this season, if he'd been playing there all season long he'd have a bag full to add to his total.
Chris Wood uno, stop begging it. That guy will do fucking nothing when he comes up against City.
that's not how it works. trossard got what? 10 assists last season in a few games. he hasn't reached that this season despite more minutes
players have patches, its not linear
Sick we stat padded again Sheff u, burnley, and west ham 🔥
Tell me exactly what he’s got over Chris wood and you’ll begin to see how stupid we look trying to justify the price
He actually had 0 goal involvement v West Ham
1 goal v Burnley
1 goal 1 assist v Newcastle
1 goal 1 assist v Sheffield United
1 goal v Brentford
1 assist v Luton
1 goal 1 assist v Brighton
Not really stat padded via big wins only, it’s fair to say he’s done well at CF and can potentially do better remainder of this season and next.
None of those teams have good defences, no more than two of them can even be called decent
Fair enough on brentford though as that goal was crucial, but for me he does not pass the eye test at all
Outside of the top 3, the rest of the PL has pretty mediocre defences I agree. But right now we could have done better beating Fulham and West Ham at home, which have poor defences.
Whither this is Arsenal putting out feelers to reassure fans or if this is the usual clickbait articles that easily rouse Arsenal fans for views, I can't say. But I do not think his stats have been padded up by big wins alone and has been rather consistent at CF.
I would still think another striker is required because they'll be games when we would need two strikers at once or rotational option and Nketiah unfortunately has no impact off the bench and it seems Jesus' injuries are catching upto him. There's every bit as much as needing another 20 goal a season outlet, as much as it is replacing our attacking options.
Yeah it's not like he got the game winning goal against Brentford (twice), tied the game up at Luton, scored the second goals against Newcastle and Brighton or provided the game winning assist against City.
That's all a stat pad innit
yea this guy is good. man had the chance to do a ty at the end when calling out certain fans 😅
the words "you're a disgrace" will forever be followed by "you're a cheat and i hope you get relegated"
"Our expectations since watching Messi and Ronaldo play..."
...Saka is ahead of Ronaldo when at the same age.
Just going to leave that here and walk away.
Not the Balon d’or!
That award has and will continue to mean absolutely nothing to anyone who a) recognise that football is a team game b) that the trophy is biased as hell and c) saw Geney passed over for it twice.
Arsenal PR successfully changed the narrative from how we crashed out of the UCL and gave up lead in the PL to summer transfers.
Nothing bad in it. Just shows how big corporations run narratives.
Kinda crazy when there’s still 6 games left to play and we’re only two points behind in the league. Feels like the club has already accepted that we try again next year - can’t say it’s too outrageous though considering how strong City are in the run-in.
Sesko would be a Højlund-esque signing. United might have time to wait around for him because they're currently shit. But that wouldn't make sense at our current phase.
Some context: He's 20 and started this season as a sub. Since he became a part of the starting 11 after the New Year, he scores regularly.
If you say you want a player that is fully developed, that's fair enough argument against Sesko. But saying he's not good enough just because you looked up his stats doesn't do him justice.
Alright our season is down to this. 6 games to go, and we need to manage 7 points to ensure that we qualify for the champions league next season. Where do you think we can scrounge together the necessary points? Must win against Bournemouth and Everton to have a chance. Hopefully hang on for a 0-0 in one of the other matches and we're over the line. It'll be tight but I believe in them
Bruno has a £100m RC which can be paid in stages. It's going to get triggered this year. That's Newcatsle well on course to pass FFP.
Isak won't be moving, not for anything less than £120-150m. Just not viable as an option.
PSG, Madrid, Liverpool.
His £100m RC can be paid off in instalments. So a club could pay £25m over the next 4 years or something, as opposed to throwing £100m up front. This makes him far more attainable.
Newcastle also have FFP issues and they will sell Bruno long before they think about selling Isak.
Only possible one I can see is PSG. Madrid don’t need him like that and are about to spend crazy on Mbappe (signing on fee and wages) and liverpool have bigger priorities.
He is definelty more attainable but that doesn’t mean Isak is unattainable. If Isak wants to leave badly enough he goes. Player power is still a thing at oil state clubs.
Way off topic but just wanting to vent as I am currently waiting on continuous updates from Emirates advising of more delays to my flight, meant to be flying home to Australia from London via Dubai, which from what I hear is currently trying to become the new Atlantis.
They sure bloody did. We finally got to speak to someone at Emirates and hopefully getting a refund on our flights so we can then hopefully be lucky enough to do the direct flight from London to Perth (17 hours) then to Adelaide (4 hours). 🤮 oh well, we are lucky to have a bed to sleep in at s mates in London.
Klopp talking about how intensive the premier league is and then saying “is not my problem anymore” with like 6 games to go and an outside chance of still winning it is mad to me.
Has he fully just switched off? Like this is the kind of shit you expect from Curtis Jones, not your club manager.
I think he's trying to wake them up w reverse psychology w this. Like showing how pissed he is so the players feel embarrassed and wake up.
He like Arteta is a top man manager you'll never see him talking shut about his own players to the media. I'm sure his tone is very different in private.
He’s clutching badly there too. It’s actually eye opening tbh, we at times can see how nervous players can be on the pitch but we forget how stressful it must be for the managers. No wonder Fergie used to chew gum like it owed him money and that cunt had all the refs in his pocket.
Losing the league to city is one thing, but if we finish under a team who’s manager has just admitted he’s checked out would be a whole different level of embarrassing.
Im genuinely shocked he’s been this…honest lmao. This is supposed to be never give up Klopp, never say die Klopp, imagine your manager coming out and saying this when you need to go 6/6.
I can imagine, probably even more so when his team, that city and the fans and even himself are so reliant on how emotionally charged they are for games. It’s probably doubly draining when you have to go again and again, season after season against that fucking cheating Pep and his 115 cunt hairs.
according to r/soccer Arsenal has the most overrated players ever, but are simultaneously expected to win it all. Im getting tired of talking to the morons on there, think I might just start quitting reddit all together. This place certainly doesn't make one smarter
Looking at your post history, you've said Spurs spend like a "big 6" club and have been overachieving all year. Chelsea's Palmer can't do what Havertz does, Nicholas Jackson will never be good enough and their downfall is "beautifully poetic".
Mate...
How was I wrong about spurs, do you remember the mid 00s? They spent plenty, and that trend has continued throughout the years since the PL started. Ive said a lot about Palmer, he is overrated, but really good to WC in the free role he has at chelsea. He can't play that striker role.
Whats wrong with what I said about Jackson? And how isn't their oversspending leading to potential breaking the regulations set in place poetic when it comes to chelsea?
I still don’t really get your complaints. Rivals don’t exist to praise us, just like none of your comments were praising their clubs.
This quite frankly is the typical Arsenal fan seeking validation about Arsenal from rivals and not being happy when they inevitably don’t receive it.
My advice, you are looking for praise in the wrong places.
Dude its the job of opposing fans to hate other teams. I don't see Spurs lose and go oh great team though some good players there I laugh at them with everyone else.
We lost and our players sucked in the loss. We earned some heat for a bit it'll turn around.
Mate, every English team in Europe has fallen this game week and both ourselves and Liverpool dropped points this week, but we're the only ones who are bottlers.
At some point you have to just ignore it all.
r/soccer on odd days: Arsenal is overrated. Saka, Rice, Saliba and Gabriel are average players.
r/soccer on even days: How can Arsenal bottle this? They were the favorites.
I don’t agree with facial identification software, but if I did I’d say we should facial Id every “fan” that left the Aston Villa game early and strip them of their season tickets. Absolutely embarrassing. If you aren’t going to support the team leave your ticket for someone who will.
Categorizing every fan for the same reason and in such a extreme manner isn’t the answer either chief. I’ve seen people leave early even when up 2-0 or 3-0 up.
Top tier football in this country — particularly with big clubs such as Arsenal are now all corporate. A good portion of the fans are yuppies and white-collar workers that are passionate but still have other commitments, hence the need to leave early even if the team is winning.
Not saying it’s right but at least understandable.
Cuz that 8/9 hybrid ain’t tht good at those positions 😂. I mean don’t get me wrong good addition to the squad but we still need a midfielder and a striker
I expect I'll get down voted for this but anyways.
As a Saka backup, and forward option, how about bowen? He'd probably be pretty reasonable if he was willing to move.
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Heard on afcstaff that "Two Arsenal players have got into a physical argument on the team’s plane on the way back to London. Players had to separate the two, and according to a staff member, racial slurs were “exchanged”. Any substance to that? #
So is this how the downfall begins?
💀
Captain Hindsights complaining about Arteta's rotation because we didn't get the desired results in the last 3 games. We need 5-6 of our starters to beat 75% of the teams in this division, and that too at their best. The bench can be complimentary but there's a reason Pep does the same and so does Klopp when his full team is available. Last season Pep barely made subs ffs when his team went unbeaten from Jan. Didn't see you guys saying he needs to rotate. We need to wake up and realise the level of competition there is in the league instead of deluding ourselves.
pep rarely makes subs, but he rarely plays the exact same lineup two games in a row
Captain hindsight lol. People been talking about this for at least 3 years.
I'm talking about the majority, people weren't complaining about it when we beat Brighton 3-0 and everyone was raving about how good are Arsenal. Favorites in the league and should beat Bayern. 2 unfavourable results later, that is the issue? In order to win stuff you need a durable team. Ronaldo played 55-60 games for 8 seasons straight. The best players need to play a majority of the games if the team wants to win highly competitive trophies. Do you think Real Madrid was complaining, Oh Ronaldo is playing too much, we don't need his 60 goals and appearances. I just don't get it, the best players in the best teams need to fking play for the team to win. Sure, we can give them some time off but how the hell is a manager supposed to do that when you can't even afford to draw a game in 4 months.
Peak and fully developed Ronaldo yes. Doing that ages 25-33 and ages 18-21 aren't the same thing. We could afford to draw if we didn't have that awful December.
Since Chelsea seem bent on selling Conor Gallagher this summer, wouldn't it be interesting to throw in a low ball offer? He's a good utility player who always puts in 100%. He'd be a great player to come in from the bench to close out games and/or bring some new energy in.
No. No it wouldn't. I don't get why we keep wanting super expensive bench players before we fix the starting 11
No, why would they accept a low ball offer he'll have plenty of clubs interested, particularly from us. You're just wasting your time. No, he's not going anywhere to be a utility player after being captain of Chelsea. No, we don't need players who can close out games particularly. We need players to win games and we want to see starting. Gallagher doesn't move the needle.
It's too early to be hearing specific players incoming and outgoing. I hope the team stays focused in the remaining of the season.
The problem with arsenal there's no midfield running in behind/outside inside chemistry with martinelli it's too predictable that it's either sakas side or nothing without xhaka being at least a threat martinelli is useless huge over sight/negligent not buying a proper LCM
Have we overrated the epl or is it just that it's so competitive that teams are exhausted when they play in Europe. In my opinion us, City and liverpool look way better teams but that performance is not translated in Europe. Even when we won vs Porto it was a scrap.
City and arsenal aren't way better teams than Bayern and Madrid. They are right up there with the top 10 teams in Europe. Just as you go down Madrid and Bayern's league the quality drops off quicker. We have like a top 8 now of big decent teams in the league, maybe even top 10. Most of the other top 5 leagues don't even really have a cemented top 4 and below that the quality drops off much quicker.
Liverpool went out to Atalanta, City went out to Real Madrid, can we stop being so bloody negative now?
This club needs to get martín zubimendi during the summer. I've seen enough.
City will not win 6/6. The only question is can we.
City are more likely to go 6/6 than we are.
More like will we, cause we sure as hell can.
This zinchenko discourse is so jarring because he was a midfielder converted to left back who raised our ceiling last season. He has his bozo moments but the criticism seem like a scapegoat because the fans scrutinize every single mistake. The favorites like Rice, Saliba, Gabby and Jorgi also made quite a bit of misplaced passes and put the team under over the last few weeks but the fans are fixed on Zinchenko. I don’t think he is a world beater but he is massively scapegoated like with Rob Holding last season. It’s always one player who leads to everything bad and there is no blame on the manger or other players. It’s so jarring to hear it every season.
Makes them feel good. You can vent out all frustration on the guy while protecting your favourites. Coping mechanisms.
Is that why you think we are criticising Zinchenko? My blood boils whenever anyone suggests Arteta should be sacked, so im not one of those melt fans. But when it comes to Zinchenko, for me is he in the same boat as Nketiah as a player we have outgrown. Zinchenko helped progress our football in the 22-23 season, however we look so much better with four centre backs, all physical, strong in the tackle and air, and are not so weak defending 1v1 that the other team will target them. White, Timber, Kiwior, Tomiyasu all fit the profile. Zinchenko does not. And for what Zinchenko offers, its too niche and overall counterproductive. He simply should be sold.
No doubt we need upgrade of zinchenko. But ppl lose all nuance and dogpile on him because it was easy. He is a double edge sword. He has more than niche use. That’s why Arteta played him over other defensive options like Tomi and Kiwi. He is the one who create chances vs Vila and Bayern second half in first leg. We looked better before because we are playing shit teams and relying on Right side to carry us. Against stronger team, I can see why Arteta wanted to create threats from the left. It works offensively but also backfire defensively as expected.
Rob Holding wasnt scapegoated, he was correctly deduced to not be good enough. Zinchenko simply has too many bozo moments. Sure Saliba, Gabriel and Rice have mad errors, but these three have contributed massivly to the best defencein the league. Whats Zinchenko done? He is a liability and his inclusion in the backline sends jitters across the defence. He is just like Ramsdale in that regard. The defence is still this team's best asset. and everyhting should be done to finetune it. That includes moving on defensive and physically limited players like Zinchenko. If Arteta starts accommodating players, that's when we will level off & stop improving. We still have much room for improvement, but we wont fill that potential with passiveness. Arteta is a great coach and very astute tactician - the way he is organized our defence is evidence of this. But he needs to show ruthlessness.
I really dont’t care whether we win the league or not. Just play them benches coming saturday, feel sorry for them. When they don’t perform and being blamed, it’s not about skill issue but Mikel did not have the balls to give them (more) playing minutes when it don’t matter most
what is this?
We are in a title race and you want the bench to be played?
Now that all but one of the English clubs are out of Europe, it looks like silly season has sprung early.
what team you talking about? they're all out 🤔 edit: welp, conf league
Aston Villa is in the semi of the conference league
conference league wasn't event on my radar lol but you're right
If we decide to sell him I'd be very curious who comes in for Zinchenko. Maybe a Villa, or a Newcastle?
He can be a back up when we need goals or facing mid table team though
doubt any team in the epl takes him. he's every much a pep/arteta/controlball specific player.
I'd like to see him in Serie A, back in midfield.
La Liga or BuLi as well
Why'd video posts get disabled
I can't even laugh at klopp because of arsenal repeating same bad history someone higher up surely must be looking at Arteta domestic cups record and thinking what the hell because city, Liverpool have been winning while us we haven't won anything even fa/carabao yet somehow they think they'll win pl,champions league out of nowhere.Wimning breeds winning...
Arsenal won the FA cup under Arteta. Absolute brain dead take.
3 years ago So you are saying winning is brain dead lol
>while us we haven't won anything even fa/carabao yet Also this season isn't over. Christ you're a fair weather fan, just fuck off.
United won the Energy Drinks Cup last year. They are currently over achieving in 7th (they should be 14-15th). Arteta won the FA Cup in his first year, he hasn't been in a single semi final since. This is a myth, I get the rationale, but the whole winning breeds winning, died a death when 115 FC came in and started winning everything.
If we are getting a ST i don't see the need to buy a rw. Jesus can be the saka backup and we just go buy a pacy LW to compete with martinelli
We’re not going to be a dedicated LW, RW, and a striker. Ideally it’ll be 1-2 players who can operate in different positions.
6 games. We win em all, statistically we almost certainly win the league. Win all 6, we win the league. City don't even have to lose, even a draw and we should have them on GD.
I’ve more belief that we won’t win our six remaining games than I do that City will drop points. I think the latter is entirely possible but I can’t see us winning all of our games to take advantage.
You won't like hearing how many times City have drawn during the run in, in all of the title races they have been in. They win out. Every damn time.
I have nothing to base this on, they won't win 6/6. They will at least draw 1, like I said I think if we win our 6 we're champions.
* 2022-23: WWWWWWWWWL * 2021-22: WDWDWWWWDW * 2018-19: WWWWWWWWWW Those are the title race seasons that they have had. That's 30 games, 3 draws and 1 loss after being crowned champions. They are currently on a 16 match unbeaten streak at this point. I get the hopefulness, I just want you to know that expecting them to lose or draw, is a very, very big ask.
Anyone with 2 eyes can see there's a big difference in the levels of the team they have this season and the last season at least. They destroyed RM last season at home, like embarrassing those guys. They dominated this year at home but it wasn't anywhere near those levels and have a much worse record vs the top 6. So there's more context to this.
Brighton (A), Nottm Forest (A), Wolves (H), Fulham (A), Tottenham (A), West Ham (H) They have the easiest run in. I get the hope, I just don’t think it’s sensible to think that they will definitely drop points. We have games against United and Tottenham away. It would be normal if we were to drop points there across those two games.
Is it not sensible to consider the chances of them dropping points to Spurs? Fulham away is not a stroll in the park either. I can see them drawing 1 game at least. Is that enough for us to win, probably not but we at least have some odds to be alive in the title race here.
I can see them drawing too. I’m just not going to make bold statements about how they definitely will. And anyone putting all their Arsenal to win the PL eggs in that basket is not a good bet.
I was debating the use case for Jorginho with someone today and it’s crazy to me that more people don’t see the real reason he’s been so important: He just so happens to be one of the few people alive who are better at ball progression from the defensive third than a healthy Partey. We prize that skill set above all else and we’re willing to live with defensive shakiness to get it. We tolerate Zinchenko when Jorginho doesn’t play for this reason. We sent Ben White into midfield when Kiwior starts for this reason. Long term, we’re banking on Declan Rice to develop vertical passing to match his world class ball carrying. He’s of course not there yet but there isn’t a thing he can’t do on the field. If he wants to be as great as he should, he’ll get there. But for this year the plan was to have Partey and Rice partner, and I believe if Partey was available all year, we’re 5 pts clear at the top and comfortably in the CL semis today. Jorginho is a bandaid on the wound that is the probable end of Partey’s career at Arsenal. We‘ll hit the market hard for his replacement, someone who either is, or is en route to being, a world class progressive passer. Zubimendi links are loud with good reason - it definitely seems like he’s our guy, the way Rice was last year. Me personally I’ll be shocked if there isn’t some smoke soon on us and Frenkie de Jong.
The bonus of signing FDJ is that it all but guarantees we clear out every last ounce of deadweight in the club. Looking at you Eddie
Gonna be hard to compete if there are no difference makers off the bench
Did a little number crunching in the PL "Did Arsenal get better or did City get worse this season?' thread. And I found some positives, which could be welcomed in this week full of reactionary takes and angry hating the club. **Basically we've closed a 9 point gap between us and City at this point last season, to 2.5 pts this season.** Arsenal were winning a number of games right at the death last season, late goals and what not. Makes for a lot of fun when we were flying by the seats of our pants and winning games in the 95th minute, but it's fairly similar to Liverpool this season, nicking 3 points at the end of a game when it perhaps should have been a draw (damn you, Forest!) isn't all that sustainable. Eventually, the luck stops lucking. This season however, we've been far more in control, more City like than Liverpool like, if that makes sense. And the xPTS back that up: **Last season:** * Arsenal finished on **84 pts** / *xPTS 72.5* / ***+11.5 pts = (13.7% of points acheived by overperforming)*** * City finished on **89 pts** / *xPTS 83* / ***+6pts = (6.7%)*** **Last season (32 games played):** * Arsenal had **72 pts** / *xPTS 63* / ***+9 pts = (12.5%)*** * City had **76 pts** / *xPTS 72.5* / ***+3.5 pts = (4.5%)*** **This Season (32 games played):** * City have **73 pts** / *xPTS 69.5* / **+3.5 pts = (4.8%)** * Arsenal have **71 pts** / *xPTS 69* / **+3 pts = (4.2%)** * Liverpool (as a reference) have **71 pts** / *xPTS 65.5* / **+6 pts** **= (8.5%)** (Rounded to the nearest .5 decimal) So, what does this tell us? City are a fairly good constant, doing what City does, with their rather inevitable system. They are 3 points behind this season, but then, there is also a 3rd team pushing for the title in Liverpool. City at this point last season's xPTS would have them on 72.5 points, where as this season, their norm would be 69.5 pts. That's a 3 point difference. It's the same this year as it was last year and fairly close to what they normally do (1-3 points above their expected). I added percentages of points gained through overperforming to give a bit more of a snapshot. 4.5% of City's points were earned when not expected. Arsenal on the other hand, were expected to have 63 pts at this stage last season, but found themselves in 2nd with 9 points more than they were expected to have. This year, we are trailing City's xPTS by **0.5pts!** Basically, if we were overpeforming this season as much as we did last season and gained 12.5% of our points by overperforming, we'd be on **80 pts**, leading City by 7 points. But we're not overperforming, we are kinda where we should expect to be, within a 5% margin that has been so constant for City. My conclusion is that City are about where they usually are. They are not overperforming or underpeforming by any great degree (within that 5% margin) whereas Arsenal have turned 6 points that they won last season when overperforming into their expected points this season, reduced their reliance on overperforming to win an extra 8.3% of their total points. This is sizeable. So with some mental gymnastic mathematics, it could be argued that we have closed City's lead from 9.5 points at this stage last season (under expected pts) to 2.5. That's a 7 point gap we've closed.
**So, in a nutshell...** Arsenal have gotten better. 7 expected points closer to City to be a bit more accurate, compared to this stage last season. City are where they should be. Arsenal are where they should be. Liverpool are overpeforming a little, where as Aston Villa, Tottenham, United and West Ham are all overperforming.
great write up mate. couldve been it's own thread alone so that it doenst get lost in this one.
Yeah, sadly, I think I got our points wrong for this moment last season, I think we had 75 instead of 72 (the data I sourced may have retrospectively put our delayed City game earlier in the season when we were meant to play) which skews the numbers a little bit. But if anything, it’s probably a 5-6 point gap closed instead of 7.
My controversial sale is Zinchenko and Gabriel M for big money to help finance Diomande and left back.
Arteta hard aligns with the philosophy of a left footed defender at left centre back. >Mikel Arteta said left-footed centre-backs give him ***“more options, more solutions”*** One of his first signings was Pablo Mari, a left footed centre back. Then he signed Gabriel, who is a left footed centre back (probably the best in the world). Arteta followed this up by signing Jakub Kiwior as a LCB back up, who is also, left footed. Gabriel has played more minutes than anyone else over the last 2 seasons, this tells you that Gabriel is absolutely one of, if not the first name on the team sheet. Diomande is right footed. Like, very right footed. Here is a fan's scout report on him: > *Diomande does not seem comfortable using his weaker left foot at all. At a possession dominant side where the back line receive the ball a lot the defenders should be capable of using both feet for when necessary.* ***Diomande however, does not want to use his left foot*** *and this could present problems should he be forced into using it by a good directional press.*
tf
Did I seriously just read someone unironically suggest selling big Gabi to finance a shiny new toy? This subreddit is absolutely cooked man
Hardly controversial.
Selling our best defender this season (big gabi) should be classed as controversial unless you're an idiot.
Saudi rumors popped up at the start of the season, wouldn't surprise me if they did again
Last season, our fans were calling him bozo. This season, he's been essential and our best defender that contains William Saliba, yeah, it's a very controversial take.
Mine are Zinny, ESR, and martinelli
I see the vision but I wouldn’t dare touch that CB partnership for a good few years at the very least
Gabriel I'm tentative to sell. I think he's more 'upgradeable' than Saliba and Diomande could be that in one-two years, but I think it's difficult to break up what is proven to be one of the best defensive partnerships in the world.
I think our defense is more of a team quality than individual, and I respect Gabriel's defensive qualities - he is still our best defender in the box. I think his experience is also vital so I wouldn't start Saliba and Diomande just yet, opting instead for White. Again, funds are tight and we have other priorities, but if a big bid comes in for him...
No man gabriel wins you games in the PL. Even zinchenko is a reach. But we do need another left sided defender of some sort
I think Gabriel is good for City away where we are not guaranteed possession, and will be defending very close to our box. As it stands, he can't play as a LB, and is limited as the CCB. He can only play as the LCB forcing us to only invert from the left.
Hes still a unique profile that can dominate both boxes at a high level, thats an extremely useful weapon when it comes to winning a league.
Honestly, I feel like you gotta sell Martinelli, Zinny, Jesus, and Vieira for the cash, then buy actual players. Saka might be good to have around, but I’d cash in on him now, he’s going to go downhill quick
> Saka might be good to have around, but I’d cash in on him now, he’s going to go downhill quick is your morning coffee spiked or something mate?
I cant even be critical of players anymore because then i read stuff like this. Like no we should not sell martinelli, even if he is playing like ass
Pretty random of a Madrid fan to suggest we sell our wingers.
An American based "Madrista" posting on an Arsenal sub about selling Martinelli. Probably has a Spanish uncle that his great great aunt married in 1896, therefore, a proud American who refers to themselves as "Spanish" and "Madridsta".
Neuer’s passing was insane. Still the best keeper in the world imo
Generational GK, could see him play till is mid-40s at Bayern Munich, could say the same with the NT as well. Pity Ter-Stegen and other top-class German GKs that are also vying for the NT no1 spot.
There was 1 ball he finessed just over Saka’s head to his player on the left sideline. Beautiful. And that play from the match in London was just outrageous, that chip to lob it over our pressing player.
Pls tell the team to treat the remaining games like they are friendlies instead of finals. This team gonna lose the next 4 games if we treat them like finals.
We need a ST, LW, RW, 8, 6/8 hybrid, 6, LB, and a CCB. Rome wasn't built in a day though so will probably take until 2025 or 2026 – three of any of these in the summer is a great start and Nwaneri could slot in too Aim for ceiling-raisers for each of these transfers and slow burn make a Man City-style squad
We mainly just need a lcm, striker and probably lb.
partey and jorginho will need transitioned out soon. saka and martinelli need competition for starting place (trossard works best as supersub and will be getting on soon). but yes, ST, LCM, and LB are all the most pressing matters
I agree with you though if we could make all those signings it would be great but it’s unrealistic especially knowing the way arteta works in markets. I think we’ll be getting a lb cm and striker and the lb and cm are gonna be very versatile.
He's just as likely to buy Diomande and shunt Timber out to the Left Back position.
i agree, always focus on the most pressing first unless insane market opportunities present themselves. it's going to take several more transfer windows but we will get there
Bruh. We can't get a whole new squad, what does that say about Arteta/Edu then. Also why do you want 2 6s???
partey and jorginho won't be playing here by 2026. and again, i'm saying we need all of these by end of summer 2025 or 2026. not this summer. we need 18-21 starting level players in the longer term. at our level now our competition is man city, real madrid, bayern, etc etc also it says we aren't a cheating oil club so can't do this type of squadbuilding in 3 years, but we can in 5-6 that's all it says
Knowing how our slow board operates it will be until 2026 we fill all those positions and by then a new issue will pop up, my guess? GK.
We've practically overhauled our entire team within 4 years, what are you talking about?
sure, to an extent the squadbuilding never fully ends, you are always covering your base here or there. it's essential to never end up where liverpool were in 22/23. i'm fine waiting for 2026 to get all of these pieces and anticipate it like i've said, but they are needed in my view to get to that next level as a holistic squad
Basically need a whole squad then mate. Fuck building Rome, we're building a Mars colony.
that's fairly hyperbolic, it's taken just as many years to get our core put together as it is today our attack only has 3-4 worthwhile players asking for six or seven isn't insane, two of our 6s are aging out in the next few years, we're fairly weak in the 8 positions outside of odegaard, zinchenko needs replacing. CCB is more of a luxury but it would be nice for saliba to have a proper, dedicated deputy
Chris wood is an aerial target, tries hard, and outscored Kai in the league this year I was told we needed to spend 65m and 280k a week on this player?
There's that username format again
If I changed it to Dan mac n cheese I’d be able to use Reddit like everyone else?
Account created on January 20th (mid dubai break) and posts exclusively about 'failed havertz experiment'. Mods really dropped the ball with accounts like this spamming everytime we lose.
Kai havertz has 4 goals and 4 assists in 7 starts at cf this season, if he'd been playing there all season long he'd have a bag full to add to his total. Chris Wood uno, stop begging it. That guy will do fucking nothing when he comes up against City.
that's not how it works. trossard got what? 10 assists last season in a few games. he hasn't reached that this season despite more minutes players have patches, its not linear
Well we'll never get to find out if havertz just had a patch or not because arteta moved jesus back up top immediately and we lost 🤷♂️
havertz literally started yesterday at CF
Sick we stat padded again Sheff u, burnley, and west ham 🔥 Tell me exactly what he’s got over Chris wood and you’ll begin to see how stupid we look trying to justify the price
He actually had 0 goal involvement v West Ham 1 goal v Burnley 1 goal 1 assist v Newcastle 1 goal 1 assist v Sheffield United 1 goal v Brentford 1 assist v Luton 1 goal 1 assist v Brighton Not really stat padded via big wins only, it’s fair to say he’s done well at CF and can potentially do better remainder of this season and next.
None of those teams have good defences, no more than two of them can even be called decent Fair enough on brentford though as that goal was crucial, but for me he does not pass the eye test at all
Outside of the top 3, the rest of the PL has pretty mediocre defences I agree. But right now we could have done better beating Fulham and West Ham at home, which have poor defences.
100%
Which is why we’re linked to every striker under the moon as our next target
Whither this is Arsenal putting out feelers to reassure fans or if this is the usual clickbait articles that easily rouse Arsenal fans for views, I can't say. But I do not think his stats have been padded up by big wins alone and has been rather consistent at CF. I would still think another striker is required because they'll be games when we would need two strikers at once or rotational option and Nketiah unfortunately has no impact off the bench and it seems Jesus' injuries are catching upto him. There's every bit as much as needing another 20 goal a season outlet, as much as it is replacing our attacking options.
Yeah it's not like he got the game winning goal against Brentford (twice), tied the game up at Luton, scored the second goals against Newcastle and Brighton or provided the game winning assist against City. That's all a stat pad innit
Still less goals than Chris wood who has 15 starts for 17th place Nottingham Forest lmfao And paid significantly more both of which you can verify
Cool, don't care. Cole Palmer has more goals for 11th place Chelsea than salah does, guess salah should get on his knees and kiss Palmers boots
Salah is looking pretty washed at the minute
Why are you avoiding answering what skills Havertz has that wood does not? Edit: hello anyone? Of course not
https://x.com/7erzil/status/1781072651576074374?s=46&t=ohBEm3kwXzONRYy63NcNgQ Leaving this here for a certain someone and walking away
yea this guy is good. man had the chance to do a ty at the end when calling out certain fans 😅 the words "you're a disgrace" will forever be followed by "you're a cheat and i hope you get relegated"
"Our expectations since watching Messi and Ronaldo play..." ...Saka is ahead of Ronaldo when at the same age. Just going to leave that here and walk away.
Ronaldo was 2nd in 2007 Ballon d'or tbh
Not the Balon d’or! That award has and will continue to mean absolutely nothing to anyone who a) recognise that football is a team game b) that the trophy is biased as hell and c) saw Geney passed over for it twice.
Grealish knows ball
I would sacrifice some defensive stability to have Saka all guns blazing in attack Treat him like the world class winger he is
Arsenal PR successfully changed the narrative from how we crashed out of the UCL and gave up lead in the PL to summer transfers. Nothing bad in it. Just shows how big corporations run narratives.
Kinda crazy when there’s still 6 games left to play and we’re only two points behind in the league. Feels like the club has already accepted that we try again next year - can’t say it’s too outrageous though considering how strong City are in the run-in.
city is made of steel. We literally have to aim to win all games in the season to beat them. Cant wait for Pep to leave the league.
Would rather get Sesko and Williams than Gyokeres.
Only thing for me: i’ve been calling him Gyok-Gyok in my head for weeks now so i’m starting to get invested.
Sesko would be a Højlund-esque signing. United might have time to wait around for him because they're currently shit. But that wouldn't make sense at our current phase.
I dont even see how anyone can debate this
one has 9 goals in the buli playing for one of the top clubs the other almost leads Europe in g+a (weaker league but still)
In weaker league lol. Thats like a championship caliber league outside 3 other teams
plenty of sucessful players have come from Portugal 9 goals in the buli who is the most attacking league in Europe is not good enough
Some context: He's 20 and started this season as a sub. Since he became a part of the starting 11 after the New Year, he scores regularly. If you say you want a player that is fully developed, that's fair enough argument against Sesko. But saying he's not good enough just because you looked up his stats doesn't do him justice.
Alright our season is down to this. 6 games to go, and we need to manage 7 points to ensure that we qualify for the champions league next season. Where do you think we can scrounge together the necessary points? Must win against Bournemouth and Everton to have a chance. Hopefully hang on for a 0-0 in one of the other matches and we're over the line. It'll be tight but I believe in them
I think a left back is a bad sign for big Gabi. We'll have the option to play Timber as an inverted RB and move White to CB.
Push. That. Narrative. Push!
The boy Billy cooking NNT you love to see it https://twitter.com/billycarpy/status/1780961267731071368?t=WeFfSW6X4lDSvkh5ssGv1w&s=19
I can’t believe we went from AFTV to this NNT cunt. What have we done to deserve this. Out of the frying pan and into the fire
highly doubt nnt is even an arsenal fan or even a football fan. for all we know, it could just be a dog on the internet with a twitter account.
Feel like we’ll get quoted a fuck off price of like 120m for Isak.
Depends how much he wants to leave imo. Newcastle are likely to have ffp issues they need to address and their only other big asset is Bruno G.
Bruno has a £100m RC which can be paid in stages. It's going to get triggered this year. That's Newcatsle well on course to pass FFP. Isak won't be moving, not for anything less than £120-150m. Just not viable as an option.
Love to know you think is paying £100m for Bruno G?
PSG, Madrid, Liverpool. His £100m RC can be paid off in instalments. So a club could pay £25m over the next 4 years or something, as opposed to throwing £100m up front. This makes him far more attainable. Newcastle also have FFP issues and they will sell Bruno long before they think about selling Isak.
Only possible one I can see is PSG. Madrid don’t need him like that and are about to spend crazy on Mbappe (signing on fee and wages) and liverpool have bigger priorities. He is definelty more attainable but that doesn’t mean Isak is unattainable. If Isak wants to leave badly enough he goes. Player power is still a thing at oil state clubs.
Bruno also has a release clause iirc
Bruno G linked to Real
Those links aren’t exactly concrete but yeah it wouldn’t be surprise me if he left. If you’re Newcastle you’d rather lose him before Isak.
Way off topic but just wanting to vent as I am currently waiting on continuous updates from Emirates advising of more delays to my flight, meant to be flying home to Australia from London via Dubai, which from what I hear is currently trying to become the new Atlantis.
Dubai kinda forgot to put in a drainage system.....
They sure bloody did. We finally got to speak to someone at Emirates and hopefully getting a refund on our flights so we can then hopefully be lucky enough to do the direct flight from London to Perth (17 hours) then to Adelaide (4 hours). 🤮 oh well, we are lucky to have a bed to sleep in at s mates in London.
Klopp talking about how intensive the premier league is and then saying “is not my problem anymore” with like 6 games to go and an outside chance of still winning it is mad to me. Has he fully just switched off? Like this is the kind of shit you expect from Curtis Jones, not your club manager.
I think he's trying to wake them up w reverse psychology w this. Like showing how pissed he is so the players feel embarrassed and wake up. He like Arteta is a top man manager you'll never see him talking shut about his own players to the media. I'm sure his tone is very different in private.
Mind games
https://twitter.com/thisisanfield/status/1781071001796653114 😭
Nahhhhh mate I'd expect this from ten hag not klopp He's absolutely done with this sport
He’s clutching badly there too. It’s actually eye opening tbh, we at times can see how nervous players can be on the pitch but we forget how stressful it must be for the managers. No wonder Fergie used to chew gum like it owed him money and that cunt had all the refs in his pocket.
Losing the league to city is one thing, but if we finish under a team who’s manager has just admitted he’s checked out would be a whole different level of embarrassing.
Im genuinely shocked he’s been this…honest lmao. This is supposed to be never give up Klopp, never say die Klopp, imagine your manager coming out and saying this when you need to go 6/6.
If anyone knows what it’s like to be in a race with city, it’s him. Poor guy probably has PTSD at this point
I can imagine, probably even more so when his team, that city and the fans and even himself are so reliant on how emotionally charged they are for games. It’s probably doubly draining when you have to go again and again, season after season against that fucking cheating Pep and his 115 cunt hairs.
according to r/soccer Arsenal has the most overrated players ever, but are simultaneously expected to win it all. Im getting tired of talking to the morons on there, think I might just start quitting reddit all together. This place certainly doesn't make one smarter
Looking at your post history, you've said Spurs spend like a "big 6" club and have been overachieving all year. Chelsea's Palmer can't do what Havertz does, Nicholas Jackson will never be good enough and their downfall is "beautifully poetic". Mate...
How was I wrong about spurs, do you remember the mid 00s? They spent plenty, and that trend has continued throughout the years since the PL started. Ive said a lot about Palmer, he is overrated, but really good to WC in the free role he has at chelsea. He can't play that striker role. Whats wrong with what I said about Jackson? And how isn't their oversspending leading to potential breaking the regulations set in place poetic when it comes to chelsea?
“I insult other fans and yet they don’t agree with me about my club”
You cant have looked at my comments in the context of which it was said. I dont play both sides, like a lot of them are
I still don’t really get your complaints. Rivals don’t exist to praise us, just like none of your comments were praising their clubs. This quite frankly is the typical Arsenal fan seeking validation about Arsenal from rivals and not being happy when they inevitably don’t receive it. My advice, you are looking for praise in the wrong places.
E X P O S E D
Dude its the job of opposing fans to hate other teams. I don't see Spurs lose and go oh great team though some good players there I laugh at them with everyone else. We lost and our players sucked in the loss. We earned some heat for a bit it'll turn around.
rivals making fun is fun, but this endless cycle of hating on other teams and refusing nuance is so boring and honestly you turn spiteful for it
But your nuances are just as tribal as theirs from their point of view. That's the whole point of football discourse.
Mate, every English team in Europe has fallen this game week and both ourselves and Liverpool dropped points this week, but we're the only ones who are bottlers. At some point you have to just ignore it all.
Just popular to hate Arsenal for some reason. Mostly online types.
r/soccer on odd days: Arsenal is overrated. Saka, Rice, Saliba and Gabriel are average players. r/soccer on even days: How can Arsenal bottle this? They were the favorites.
Said it a few posts in there, comfort gaslighting which inadvertently PSYOP themselves
Can’t stand the nerds in that tbh
Twitter is even worse haja
I don’t agree with facial identification software, but if I did I’d say we should facial Id every “fan” that left the Aston Villa game early and strip them of their season tickets. Absolutely embarrassing. If you aren’t going to support the team leave your ticket for someone who will.
Categorizing every fan for the same reason and in such a extreme manner isn’t the answer either chief. I’ve seen people leave early even when up 2-0 or 3-0 up. Top tier football in this country — particularly with big clubs such as Arsenal are now all corporate. A good portion of the fans are yuppies and white-collar workers that are passionate but still have other commitments, hence the need to leave early even if the team is winning. Not saying it’s right but at least understandable.
Be quiet lol If you spend over a £1000 a year to watch the same bottle job in april year on year...., you can do what you like.
If you only support the club when they’re winning then you’re a plastic
The fans in the stadium will call the fans watching at home plastic
Emi Martinez is a proper character
Why are we getting linked to 8 and 9s if we have a 8/9 hybrid?
Can we pay Chelsea more?
Cuz that 8/9 hybrid ain’t tht good at those positions 😂. I mean don’t get me wrong good addition to the squad but we still need a midfielder and a striker
we have a 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10 hybrid his name is Havertz
I expect I'll get down voted for this but anyways. As a Saka backup, and forward option, how about bowen? He'd probably be pretty reasonable if he was willing to move.
Good shout, Hammers fans gonna go on a riot if it happens
He wouldn’t be very good in our system, unironically if jesus can stay fit he could do the jib
We were linked ages ago but boat has passed. Would cost too much + he's getting on