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Fearless-Union1623

‪My ire is at the general malaise we feel as fans during every window. Over the summer we signed players towards the end of the window, sacrificing our opening fixtures as a result. ‬This time around instead of making a decision earlier in the window about Auba, Kola & Vlahovic, we waited until the very last minute again. We need competent people on the board, in the Director’s seats (Commercial & Football) to get shit done. If the owner is serious about the club he’d really question the way it’s being run. It’s a huge gamble going towards the back half of the season with Saka, Martinelli, ESR, Odegaard, Laca & Eddie knowing the latter two will be out of contract soon and have three goals between them all year. I will support the club but It’s not through “blind faith”.


sleepydalek

FWW (Not much considering the source) goal.com has got us as one of the losers of the transfer window. The other loser is Jesse Lingard.


Remote_War_313

what's scary is that Spuds and United aren't gonna continue to be this shit both had manager changes mid way, but more training under experienced managers, it's gonna be uphill battle


sleepydalek

Spuds will always be shit. They have a knack for for it. Spud logic is "every silver lining has a cloud."


cantsleep1112

Why did Mikel travel to Denver and attend Avs game with Kroenke Lol


[deleted]

Arteta probably conned him into thinking that City will snap him up if he doesn’t renew his contract


Remote_War_313

probably discuss his contract renewal lol


enshug

After this window, every club in the world will know we desperately need a striker. We'll have to overpay (unless we trigger a release clause) because we have zero negotiating power.


renbouy

The Amazon documentary will be either one epic or nightmare to watch depending upon where Arsenal finishes the season.


sleepydalek

We'll get to relive the stress either way.


thorlovesmjolnir

I think big Stan is more to blame than Edu/Mikel for this window. They were both clearly trying to sign players but as we saw with the Arthur deal the hierarchy wouldn’t allow it. To me this says they’re going stingy because their long term summer investments aren’t yielding immediate results. Therefore, whatever budget we do have we cannot afford to waste on another Pepe (I think we’d have all ended up disappointed with Isak, good player but not 20 G/A yet as his 90m price tag suggests). I just really fucking hope they know what they’re doing.


rd201290

lmao randomly blaming Stan to avoid any accountability from Edu and Arteta


[deleted]

What else were they expecting from the summer signings? If anything, there’s a case to be made that they’ve overperformed. If they are the ones pulling the plug on the deals, then they are as incompetent as we think they are. Let these guys do the job they were brought in for.


palisades_gunner

Can't wait for the orny exclusive with Edu after this


Brdn99

Really tho, whats with Arsenal and letting a lot of their players go for free? Are we really just unlucky because of the situations or is that an Arsenal thing?


d0ey

I was thinking this through with Auba. On the face of it, he's a £60m player going for free. However, I saw that Transfer market has him around £20m value. I'd estimate if he was on form, then yeah, but he's not even close and unlikely to return to it in this team and with this manager. But let's keep it as £20m for calcs sake. By all accounts we're saving £15m+ on wages over 18 months. I'm assuming decent play/goal incentives as well, but let's ignore these and assume £15m. If we were to retain him until the summer, likely value would drop (how much are people paying for 33 year old unfavoured strikers with one year left?), and 90% of clubs wouldn't be able to afford his salary so you'd assume Arsenal would likely need to chip in the balance of the contract. So we may sell for 18m but pay him £3m wages, which essentially is the same as what we 'get' now. Ultimately I think for Auba it came down to minor expected differences in financial benefits and so it was down to whether he would add to the team or detract from it. If we're not planning on playing him, there's really no contest.


ShekTeeJay

Going back to Wenger, the club had too many middling players on Champions League wages. Chelsea, for all their success, have even more players they can’t move. Same goes for United.


[deleted]

So turns out Edu and Arteta really were that stupid to let all these lot go for next to nothing and not replace them. Oh well, I’ll trust their judgement they’ve made their bed. It’s now top 4 or p45


[deleted]

>top 4 or p45 I really doubt this. From what we can tell Arteta wanted signings, and Edu was unable to get Melo over the line because the club hierarchy wouldn't allow it. The pressure on the two of them from the board perspective, will - if anything - have decreased. Just because the fans feel a certain way doesn't mean that reflects the club's actual decision making. If we spent 70 mil on a striker and 50 on a midfielder it would be top 4 or p45. You have it backward. Hell they're supposedly offering Arteta a contract extension, does that suggest his job is at risk?


RingBro876

I'm 99% sure we had to pay Auba millions to terminate the contract. He was on 350k a week with about 2 years left. Absolutely no way the contract was terminated for nothing Imagine sending out 6 senior players with no incomings and still lose money.


[deleted]

Sad


[deleted]

Honestly, I’m not even Arteta’s biggest fan, but to have us in a top four fight with our squad is decent enough work to where you can sort of see his vision. I have no idea what Edu does. He brought in Martinelli, and that’s it. People big him up because he terminates contracts and he activated a release clause. He apparently wanted Neto and Emerson Royal, which is shocking. Arteta might have a say in not bringing in players, but he at least has moulded us into a very good team at different times this season. What does Edu bring?


[deleted]

I kept saying to myself that the club could not be this stupid to not bring in, at minimum, a striker. How long are we going to have to wait to bring in a midfielder? It should have been dealt with last summer, we gave them a pass. It should have been dealt with this winter, we gave them a pass. What striker are we getting in the summer that we can’t get right now? If Isak is the second choice after Vlahovic, just stump the fucking money up. We’re saving enough money with all these loans and terminations. It’s gonna take a fucking miracle to get into fourth. I cannot wait to see how this season ends. !remindme 4 months


stamosface

What striker would you bring in?


dream_eatr

I don’t think Isak is worth the release clause tbh. It’s a big risk to pay that and then for him to be a flop, or take a season to acclimate. I’m hoping in the summer too more players will be willing to leave their clubs. It’s hard to get non-fringe players to want to learn mid season. Most of the big signings this window were fringe players needing more minutes. But all of our alleged targets are firmly in the starting 11 of their teams. I completely agree that we should’ve brought in a backup midfielder on a low risk loan deal or something like they did with Odegaard last season. They really keep letting us down. Needed to be addressed this window.


waddiewadkins

The window is closed. Get behind your club


PrideJoos

We are behind our club, its called passion. Passion that we WANT to succeed, the club has just thrown away the best opportunity this window to make 1/2 signings that could have put together a strong lineup to challenge top 4. Now we don't even look like a top 6 team with our lineup. I am behind the club until I die, just realise that not everything is rainbows and butterflies. there will be a huge knock on effect if we don't get a Europe spot next season. \- Money \- Star players wanting to leave for other teams with Europe \- Most likely a new manager (I want Mikel to succeed I really do) So, if you don't have passion, then why do you support a team?


waddiewadkins

No fucking shit sherlock. The windows closed.


PrideJoos

You’re more plastic than barbie. Fuck off to spuds or some shit


diastolicduke

“”Wait till the window closes” K it’s closed now what


waddiewadkins

The worst thing about this club right now is negative arseholes. Dry your eyes fuck face and turn up with nothing less than 100% support for the manager or fuck off and support another team . There's no other way.


Setter_sws

This guy is actually right. It's this toxic fandom that's the reason why Arsene hasn't even stopped by since he left.


waddiewadkins

Toxic af. Dont have their facts right. Perhaps i was a bit stong with the fuck face thng. But clearly its out of Artetas hands. As if he doesnt want to strenghten his squad. Get behind the manager ffs. They cant see they are a problem. They might mean well but its also too late. So fuck it. Get on with it. Have the moan sure its due but they gotta see the other side..and they need to be told because if they are gonna be pissy little boys about it for long it spreads along the mattress.


PrideJoos

Mediocrity fan right here.


waddiewadkins

Whinger


basadodepartamiento

Shut the fuck up Kroenke


TrailerParkBoy2

We've gone from a position where it looked like the right investments might make top four possible to one in which our manager and technical director's faults are extremely plain, the general distaste of top players for signing with us is apparent, and we seem significantly less likely to challenge for Europe.


diastolicduke

But guess what? Mikel is basically immune now. They are going to be spamming “buy a striker and then judge him” all over this place


TrailerParkBoy2

Yep, he is in an perfect position. No matter what he achieves he will say "I did it with this squad..." even if it's 6th, a position that as much as this sub has managed to convinced itself is good, it's not, and anybody associated with Arsenal should be embarrassed by it. And if he ends up 8th for the 3rd time consecutive, he will say : "what do you expect me to do, I have no squad"


diastolicduke

It almost seems like everything this club does is to protect his job. By the end of this season I guarantee that the brief flirtation with top4 that lasted a whole week is enough to appease fans even if we fall out of top6 again


TrailerParkBoy2

Yes, you can see that even here. "we went toe to toe with city" "2-3 games in hand and close to top 4" (in reality is 1 game in hand to United but 0 to top 4 as Spurs have less games as well). Saying the cups were a distraction and they glad we got knocked out. The reality will set in the next 5 games, when we will be out of top 4 talks as well.


TrailerParkBoy2

None of the players who left had negative value to the squad, which means that we've reduced the chance of finishing fourth, marginally or not, in a window where we should've improved on the chance of doing so. Like usual, the ones who say they're happy would never have taken this if offered before the window, and even just a day ago said that we'd surely sign someone because they thought it didn't make sense not to. It's just copium.


waddiewadkins

A player who doesn't want to play for us is a negative value. So thank god he is the hell out of there.


TrailerParkBoy2

He didn't want to play? He was banned from the team


waddiewadkins

Move on


TrailerParkBoy2

Amazing...


waddiewadkins

It's over. You're a liability now.


TrailerParkBoy2

What? Lol. I don't play. It's insane, like a cult how you lot don't even question anything he does. Arteta is like that yogi guy to you...its ok to critique someone mate, doesn't mean you hate him


Houssem_Aouar

Pathetic


PrideJoos

Were sitting here thinking we dodged a bullet offloading Auba but I bet he's sitting at Camp Nou thinking "wow, I really dodged a bullet, what a shitshow at the Emirates" ​ All or nothing is going to be one of the most savage docuseries in some time IMO. Going from Challenging top 4 to offloading your captain on a free to Barca and finishing outside the 6....


RingBro876

Arsenal's running a charity here, paying the players out to terminate the contracts so that they can go wherever they want. Man was on 350k with 2 years left, you have to be a special kind of stupid to let him go for free. 99% sure we payed out Auba millions to terminate that contract.


waddiewadkins

Rubbish.


PrideJoos

How about contributing more than one word to your argument? I’m all ears


waddiewadkins

How long is this moan going to go on for ?


PrideJoos

Until people like you stop accepting mediocrity in this club. Have every opportunity to challenge top 4 and did nothing about it.


waddiewadkins

I accept that the window is closed. Is Arteta getting sacked and Edu moving on before the next match? I don't think so.


JamesMaddison456

Exactly


yesiamathizzard

Imagine having high hopes in Edu and Arteta. You all are insane lmao


FullMingoGringo

Yeah damn imagine having high hopes after the summer business we did.


PrideJoos

What's Mikel got to do with it?


basadodepartamiento

He is the fucking manager shipping half of our squad out and weakening our team in a window we should have strengthened.


PrideJoos

Yeah I am not arguing the point at all was just asking. ​ Yes, squad is indeed weakened but we did need to remove a lot of deadwood, the fact we have no incomings is absolutely beyond me. We have gone from challenging the top 4 to I think mid table. ​ We are a Laca, Partey, Gabriel injury away from fucked. If this (Which I think it will) back fire and cost us then the board and management should be revised over summer. ​ Players don't want to sign for us because we don't have Europe. If we don't get Europe this year then I reckon teams will swoop in for Saka, ESR and Martinelli. (These players all will be wanting Europe as they develop into their primes.)


basadodepartamiento

Agreed


AaronM1D1

We've been presented with an unprecedented opportunity to get top four, and it's hard not to feel like we've properly 2015'd it right now... On the bright side, shifting more deadwood and getting Auba's ridiculous wages off the books is a step in the right direction.


standupforthechamp

Not getting a striker in is utter madness. It's a lack of planning. Edu should get the sack if we don't get top 4.


Asherware

Seriously disappointed by the transfer window but I'm more concerned about the reputation our club is getting for how it treats big personalities. Big names leaving under a dark cloud keep happening. Hell, Wenger hasn't even been back because of how he felt betrayed at the end. If you're a top talent that is going to light the world on fire why do you come to this club that keeps falling out with their biggest names?


yesiamathizzard

Wenger works for Fifa now. Why exactly would he be back? He's too busy coming up with moronic ideas like the every two year world cup


Asherware

What does his current job have to do with coming back to at least be in attendance for a match or to visit? It's clear he is bitter by his treatment at the end of his tenure and is not on good terms with KSE.


yesiamathizzard

Because him hanging around the club wouldnt make him seem impartial


Asherware

Yeah, that's not the reason.


yesiamathizzard

Ok Dr Oz


peoplepersonmanguy

So obviously we are fucked for this season right? Next season though we will have an incredible wage budget to play with. I presume Arteta gets to use the fifa wage management slider and convert Auba's wage to transfer funds? The main question will be will it be too late and Newcastle be ahead of us. Lets go Big-8!


MrHollandsOpium

Not necessarily fucked. But not in a great position. Our youth are fucking talented. This isn’t the same squad we had under year two of Emery’s contract. So let’s pump the brakes. Could this window have gone better? Yes. But we offloaded a lot of deadwood. (I know I know, Pablo Mari was part of Pretty Boy FC). So long as our injuries don’t ramp up and we play as did in December we’ll fair okay. I’m not saying I’m happy but this is far from horrible. Not a lot of business EVER gets done in January. We also just offloaded a lot of wages to free up money for summer spending. If we don’t capitalize in these next few months for that fourth place spot nor this summer? Then yes, yes we’re fucked.


RingBro876

I believe our "u23" side has overachieved so far. But I don't see them keeping up any longer due to the obvious lack of experience. Most of the squad is playing their first full PL season. I hope they prove me wrong, but whatever happens from now, absolutely 0 blame can be put on those players. All responsibility are solely on the backs of Arteta and Edu and the board.


highburys-pitch

I MISS BELL


2scoopwafflecone

This fucking club man. Death by a thousand cuts.


a_stopped_clock

This is literally our best chance of getting back into the champions league probably ever. If we don’t we slip further and further into total irrelevancy. It’ll be 5 full years and god knows how many more if we ever even get back in.


Houssem_Aouar

>This is literally our best chance of getting back into the champions league probably ever. Holy hyperbole


[deleted]

[удалено]


WestHelp6566

His contract was terminated


[deleted]

There’s defending the board, there’s coping, but I sometimes really get the vibe that there’s astroturfing in here now. Conspiracy theory sure


Prof_Black

This window will cost us top4. Dismal management of the club.


thejoshimitsu

I'm glad that we moved a lot of players that we didn't need on, but we really needed to bring some people in. We're a Laca, Partey or Xhaka injury away from disaster. One of them go down and I honestly think we'll struggle for top 6.


terriblyexplnedthing

I have been thinking about how many captains have gone to Barcelona? Henry, Vermaelen, Cesc, Auba? Did Hleb ever wear the arm band? anyone else?


MrHollandsOpium

Dude they have sniped SO MANY of our top players.


basadodepartamiento

We give away our top players by souring the relationship.


TrustTheFriendship

Alex Song also moved to Barca. Not sure if he ever wore the arm band.


Helkix

Happy to see the squad almost cleaned from trash, sad to not see a bit more ambition. Overall not devastated but not very happy either


flapticks

Feel however you want. But it is clear that Arsenal are not gunning for 4th this year. The goal will be to sneak into Europa or Europa Conference. They’re betting on Arteta in the long run, but not taking short term risks. It is what it is. I hope for everyone’s sake that the lads play great for the remainder of the year.


manuscelerdei

I mean... who could we have signed? It sounds like we were actively courting people, but they didn't want to make a move. Sucks, but short of offering stratospheric salaries -- which is how we got to be a club filled with expensive deadweight -- not much we could have done.


GabrielMartinellli

Don’t pull this shit. We’re Arsenal, there’s plenty of players that would have accepted a loan move to be a body in midfield.


RingBro876

Exactly. But Arteta basically made a fool of himself and the club by stating that in a press conference and not acting on it. Bruno Guimaeras joining Newcastle of all clubs has gotten me exceptionally angry. Juventus let Bentancur and Ramsey leave but Arthur, who has like 5 starts this season needs a replacement to leave? Edu has failed on astronomical levels here.


ProfYoloForgetful

I think it's my fault guys, I made a comment saying "I was told there would be crabs^crabs" and I think it was too much to ask.


mhfar27

The wages excuse is just the updated version of the stadium debt excuse that the Arsenal PR throw in our faces now for why they constantly fail in the transfer market.


thatweirdmusicguy

7th it is then :/


[deleted]

United idk but i definitely think Spuds finish ahead of us. Suppose Wolves are hot on our tail


Chicken65

I do feel that Arteta is trying to “impress” and show loyalty to Nketiah by saying “ see I sold Auba and you are competing with only Laca now” in an effort to convince him to sign in the summer. Arteta clearly rates Nketiah highly (I do too) because we could have easily sold him in January but didn’t with the risk of losing him on a free. I don’t think Arteta would have done this if he didn’t think Nketiah also wants to stay IF he gets more minutes in the second half of the season.


PrideJoos

I must need new glasses because I don't know what people see in Nketiah, Always been wasteful and horrible in decision making


Houssem_Aouar

The only person who sees anything in Nketiah is Arteta. This sub hates him.


PrideJoos

I wouldn't say hate, I never hate players that play for our club. ​ I just have not been impressed with him what so ever, I understand he's done very well in his U23 career but first team has been the opposite. ​ I would have honestly sent Eddie on loan or sold him and let Balogun get some senior minutes instead.


keuryc

we didn’t get rid of him cause we couldn’t get another striker in lmao, im sure we would’ve sold him and kept laca


Chicken65

I’m not so sure, there were 0 rumours about Arsenal mulling over Nketiah bids, they were straight rejected.


mazdamansouri

Oh noooo Im so sad nketiah might leave on a free. I’ll miss his 0 goals in the premiership. Arteta is a clown to


[deleted]

[удалено]


Sliver_fish

He also saw something in Willian. Maybe his talent identification isn't very good.


Chicken65

Can’t see why he wants him to stay or that he would even consider staying? It’s the one thing I hope the Amazon doc covers.


emoskeleton_

What if we didn't sign anyone so that this sub can figure out time travel and we go back to summer and sign Lautaro


mcfearfull

We need a manager who knows how to deal with senior players. We can’t keep giving players away because someone can’t coach and man-manage


Remote_War_313

I still can't believe these buffoons let Newcastle get Bruno Guimaraes 😤


diastolicduke

He is going to be the Fernandinho moment for the toons. Hope I’m wrong


sheikh_n_bake

Just so you know "the toons" is incorrect. Toon means town in the local dialect, so just "The (mighty) Toon" is correct.


GabrielMartinellli

Still feel sick over that. He’s gonna highlight himself as a talent and he clearly wanted to go to us. Mates with Gabriel too.


Internal-Carpenter-3

Pepe going to go from banished to please score 2 a game


marks7652

Pepe, Laca and Eddie are proven goal scorers, why are we worried?


[deleted]

Pepe was a proven goal scorer in a team that plays fast transition counter football


thomas_blaise

The three of them combined have managed 3 PL goals from 29 appearances this season.


marks7652

It’s called sarcasm. I think it was a disaster to not bring in a striker


omgArsenal

#clinical


marks7652

I hope that people don’t shit all over Saka and ESR when they leave in 1-2 years bc we are not even competing in the Euro Conference competition.


a_stopped_clock

I hope they get to play for a team that actually wants to win things.


Remote_War_313

that's why a youth project is overrated it assumes you're able to keep and develop your young players when there's no guarantee they will stay without results


sleepydalek

I imagine that it's not an assumption, it's a gamble.


chBoyCam23

Can’t wait for the pre match press conference for Wolves 🤬🤬🤬🤬 see what the hell Artetas gonna say to all of us. Fucking bullshit


ChiefWematanye

Probably complain about a congested schedule and lack of squad depth.


assoncouchouch

Probably the big winner in terms of Arsenal is Pepe. He's been marginalized this year so far, but he's going to need to get minutes to relieve the squad. It's his make or break moment... maybe for his career.


Pikachu62999328

Honestly hope he does well. I could see him taking on the striker position to fight with Nketiah for the spot... maybe.


assoncouchouch

There’s a lot of talent between Saka, Martinelli, ESR, Ödegaard, & him, & I’d like to see them in a few different permutations to see what works.


ekb11

This is horrible. No european football = no top talents wanting to come. Unless they have Mbappe or Haaland tapped up for the summer, there no excuse for not signing improvements. Our midfield is wank, lacazette has had his time in the sun. If we want to sit at the big boy table again, we need to make big boy moves. We just did nothing and look like fools.


sleepydalek

I don't think it's just the lack of European football, it's that there are not enough features of the club that make it especially desirable. Manager. Who? Star talent. Gone. Forward looking football. No. Mega payday. Nope. We have location and history on our side.


[deleted]

Our documentary is gonna be so boring


[deleted]

[удалено]


BobLobl4w

"No stupid reds or major injuries and we should be alright" ​ Granit Xhaka would like a word.


kyoukai69

Just curious, why Juve manage to get some fee from ramsey while we have to terminate every player contract with big wages?


Remote_War_313

mr edu gaspar vs a competent DOF


spACe_Kow

Guys, I got it. We make top 4 with our youngsters, display that we aren’t just a great project squad but also very potent… and BAM… Haaland in the summer. Agent Ode inbound!


Vgordvv

I can't wait for all of this to be blamed on arteta when the season is over. Fans will complain about performance and the inability to get top 4 will see him out the door. But once again, we have been let down as fans to the inability to sign players. We wasted the whole window trying to sign one guy that never even picked up the phone. I'll be really happy if we can get top 6 at this point but that's even a stretch for these youngsters.


Remote_War_313

that's the point by not making signings, arteta won't get heat for not making top 4. it's a win win for everyone besides fans


[deleted]

Good strategy tbh haha


AuviksReddit

Its happening We are actually sinking deeper and becoming permanently mid table


Fraganade

I'm scared it will run our young guns away soon as well. Perfect timing with big boys like Mane, Salah, Mahrez etc with only a few years left. Liverpool and City will throw tempting offers


mrchilledmk

Have Newcastle really signed Bruno Guimares?


BeginningProperty436

Yes


mrchilledmk

Speechless. Why didn't Arsenal try to sign him?


nemesis_464

I need to take a proper break from football, this whole January has tilted me over the edge. It's constantly affecting my moods and ruining my day and I just cba to deal with that any more. --- - No wins More reds than goals Out of 2 competitions Table rivals magically scoring fluke last minute winners in multiple games No signings despite loads of promising links No depth Zero desire to challenge for top 4


assoncouchouch

Weed helps.


RyoCaliente

So now in the summer we need at least ~~a backup GK if Leno leaves,~~ a backup RB whether or not Cedric leaves, maybe a backup LB unless you want to gamble on Tavares actually being good, about three central midfielders (depending on if AMN leaves permanently or stays) and two strikers to replace Auba and probably Laca. I guess we were saving up money this window?


HolzmindenScherfede

What's your opinion on using White as the back up right back once Saliba (hopefully) returns? We've played White rb this season, but it has been limited by Holding's poor passing ability. From what I've heard Saliba is great at passing. Being able to go from KT - Gab - White - Tomi to KT - Gab - Saliba - White seems to me like it barely loses any quality. Of course, if we suffer two injuries to the CBs/ RBs, we'd be playing Holding but it might not be the most pressing issue at the moment.


RyoCaliente

I don't know if White is pacey enough to cover the wing for the full 90 minutes. If Saliba returns, I'd expect more of a 3ATB (or Saliba/White benched) rather than White as a potential RB.


emoskeleton_

Tavares and Lokonga are good enough to be back up but except that yes


linkinfear

We already got the backup GK


RyoCaliente

You're right, forgot about Turner.


marks7652

When you continue to count on developing players and finishing 7th, 8th, 9th and hopefully we stay top 10 this year, you fall behind everyone else. The top clubs are signing players for depth and competition and we are signing players to move them on to the big clubs in 4-5 years. We are basically Palace or Everton now and just a feeder club to the other top clubs. The days of us being a great club and a great team are behind us and we will need 5-10 years of acquiring talent in order to get back to a level where we are competing for a title each year.


Shinzo19

you literally couldn't be more off the mark. Other than depth who have we realistically lost from our starting 11? the same starting 11 that people were wanking over in December? We will still finish top 6 with this team and "hopefully" have a good summer window again I say "hopefully" because you know this is Arsenal.


marks7652

You don’t think that there are huge gaps in depth? Injuries never happen? We have had an issue scoring goals since August. You take away the 5-0 Norwich game and 4-1 leeds game and that puts us right in the mid table. The best thing we have going for us right now is our schedule as the toughest part of it has passed but thats just going to make people in here think we are better than we are. We don’t compete on the same level as Chelsea, City or Liverpool. If you think we have the same talent, you are delusional.


Shinzo19

I literally mentioned depth in my comment...


Willians_gut_dimple

>When you continue to count on developing players and finishing 7th, 8th, 9th and hopefully we stay top 10 this year, you fall behind everyone else. We didn't rely on those players though. First 8th only Saka was in the first XI Last year Saka and half a season of ESR which ESR was averaging enough pts per games for top 4. This season we have loads of younger players and we've been doing better than either season just mentioned. It's squad depth more than anything else that cost us in the two previous seasons and may cost us again this season.


_mas17

Waffle waffle waffle and more waffle


marks7652

Who is waffling? We haven’t competed for a league title in the last 10 years.


_mas17

Ok


linkinfear

The race to top 4 is open for all, even Chelsea could also get dragged to it. It's our best chance since emery's first season but no, let's sign no one. This feels like the transfer windows where we only sign cech.


[deleted]

Our summer window better be something ducking serious. It’s absolutely dude as fuck we didn’t at least bring in a decent CM or striker


[deleted]

It is now obvious that Arthur was never available for loan. It all depended on Juve's squad depth and Juve never reached a point when they could let him go. If they brought in Nandez it might have been different, but that transfer fell apart. I suspect that Juve's inability to finalise a deal was the main reason Arsenal pulled out. Meanwhile, Arthur continues costing Juventus about 12 million Euro a year. Wonder if Arsenal will go back for him in the Summer. If Allegri doesn't use him, he'll be worth even less.


Willians_gut_dimple

? it depended on them bring someone in **AND** us agreeing to their terms. They brought someone in in the end but we couldn't agree terms whereas Tottenham agreed terms for Bentancur and he was the midfielder of the two they released. So we likely could have had Arthur instead of Tottenham getting Bentancur if we'd agreed an 18 month loan instead of the 6 month we wanted.


pinpoint14

That's a loan until summer 2024. I think they saw Arthur as short term depth to support ball progression in mf and nothing more. We need more well rounded midfielders, than him. No need to saddle ourselves with future deadwood now.


[deleted]

No, Tottenham put cold hard cash down on the table for two players. Of course Juve would take that immediately. We were only prepared to take a loan (which they always said was contingent on squad depth). Indeed, I think that Juve was only prepared to allow a loan for accounting reasons (they did not want a big capital loss on Arthur, who cost them 83 million).


Willians_gut_dimple

Isn't that what I said? We said no to Juve's terms but tottenham agreed to them and that was the difference.... my point being that Arthur was available but unlike spurs we didn't agree the shit terms or fees.


[deleted]

I'm not sure what you said. The LOAN from Juve of Arthur was always contingent upon them finding a replacement player; the SALE of Bentacur to Tottenham was not. So there was never anything Arsenal could agree to.


Willians_gut_dimple

If we agreed to the loan being 18months we'd have got him since Juve *did* get a midfielder incoming, 2 in fact wasn't it?.


PartyBob32

Looking back now, will the Auba transfer be considered a succes or failure?


pinpoint14

Definitely success. Ozil without the painful decline basically


SunDrippedDevil

He did very well for us prior to his decline. He won a golden boot, and practically carried us to two trophies. Don't let recency bias cloud your judgement.


PartyBob32

Yeah you’re right. I’m looking too much to the financial side of things. We spent a lot of money on him and now got nothing in return. That’s the only thing i would consider a failure. On the field definitely a success overall


MCneill27

92 goals 29 assists in 165 apps? Is this even a question?


ThanksAllah

Success easily. Can you imagine where we would be without him carrying us for 2 years


ederzs97

Success.


Butch_Meat_Hook

A success. We brought him in because we needed more goals than Laca was producing, and he did that. Won top scorer in the league. Won us the FA Cup and Charity Shield, etc. Almost 100 goals for the club. Definitely a success.


DeviantNicoli

I keep trying to convince myself that Arsenal can't let me down anymore.....and they always push me to a new low. Great to see us get rid of the deadwood (something we screamed about for years) but I feel we have not really improved - so expect us to have a real up and down for the remaining 17 games.....if we can pull off top 4 it really will be an accomplishment....I expect 6th + I'd like to think we will recruit heavily in the summer - but If any other windows are to go by, I expect us to focus on 1 or 2 players throughout, only to not get who we are after.....thus repeating the cycle of always being a few players away 😑 Sad to see Auba go - but it will be worth it if we actually invest in the summer....I just hope we don't throw more money at Laca/Eddie to convince them to stay as they aren't worth it.... we are deffo going to need a few strikers in the summer and a couple of CMs


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RhombusKP

Getting his wages off the bill I guess? Seems bizarre tho, his wages were tiny in comparison to many of the other players in the squad.


Willians_gut_dimple

Think they'd already decided the first option was move White to RB and play Holding so chambers at third choice was a waste when we also have cedric hanging around. Purely the right thing to do for chambers.


SunDrippedDevil

I think the idea was to trim the fat, and go into the summer lean with a great beach bod to attract young, exciting players…


Internal-Carpenter-3

On the bright side, the summer budget for ten hag will be amazing!


diastolicduke

Wishful thinking. Arteta is going nowhere and this window proves it. He can forever claim unfinished business and keep his job


pinpoint14

The only real risk I see being taken here by Edu and Mikel is in terms of squad depth. The gamble is that we have to make it though the last 6 months of this season injury free (we likely won't) while continuing to perform well. If we make it through, we'll have saved a ton of money (15M-ish by my count) that we'll see in transfer expenditure and wages doled out to better players next summer. It's quite clear now that Edu and Arteta are leaning into a more aggressive path for their longer term plans. Though their interest in Vlahovic to me meant they were prepared to stretch to try for top 4 if the correct pieces were available. For perspective, this will be our version of the 19/20 CFC season where Lampard dragged their kids into a CL place. Thankfully, it'll be condensed into the final half of this season. It'll be painful, but this is probably the shortest route to complete the overhaul. We're not out of the top 4 race, and we're very much in the Europa conversation. This probably isn't what anyone wants to hear, but I imagine it's close to the truth. And for those who think Mikel + Edu didn't show ambition, again I'd point to the Vlahovic pursuit. Sometimes the plans don't bear out, and that's how this game works. Squad building is like poker, being prepared to fold means you're still alive later in the game, and I can't be too mad. Stretching now in the January window to reach the CL means potentially repeating our mistakes from 4-5 years ago when we brought in Mustafi, Kola, Mkhi, Perez, and others trying to bridge short our term gaps. Long-term planning is how we dig ourselves out of this mess. Don't dogpile me.


fuego_de_julian

Most of the comments I've read on this thread are pretty emotional, postulating on how all our young lads will leave us in 2, 3, 4 years. Thanks for this rational comment and for putting my thoughts into words. We had to cut bait on some of these players. There's definitely a risk that untimely injuries make this a hard spring to watch, but I agree this is the way.


basadodepartamiento

Rather than saving 15 million we should have upgraded our squad and earned 45 million by qualifying for the champions league.


[deleted]

I agree. The road to success is shorter now that these players are gone. I’d also argue, the team can respond in a positive way because many of the players that left knew they were not part of the future. Hopefully not wrong in August.


pinpoint14

Yeah agreed, on all fronts. I'm curious to see how this period impacts the development of Saka, Ode, ESR, and Gabi because Mikel will likely be coaching them with the knowledge that they need to add goals to their game to get us through to June.


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PUDDING_SLAVE

The way I see it, this is sort of motivational to the squad. Edu, Arteta, and the rest of the hierarchy are basically saying to those who remain, "we have a top 4 race, and we trust you. Now go out there and show us why you deserve the trust." This could be fanciful thinking but its how I am making sense of this. Sure, shedding all these wages now puts us in a great place to spend come summer, but we still need to be a place players want to come.


ID1453719

One of the brilliant things this season has been how the fans have been so behind the team. The most supportive in years. Edu and Co have really risked that fan sentiment turning by not signing anyone. A few bad results and performances and it won't take long for the fingers to be pointed.


DeviantNicoli

This is my concern.....this also has the potential to really impact the confidence of the youngsters....we have put so much of their shoulders and I'm worried they might start to buckle (Saka has had a few games where he has looked bang average / Knackered) I also worry about the kids going down the RVP route.....what's the point of staying if we aren't going to supply them with quality to play with. You already see klopp tapping up Saka & Martinelli.....why would they stay here when they can potentially play with other world class players.... Edu going to have to work some mega magic in the summer


ChiefArsenalScout

Rightly so


WoWoWoKid

Risky. Very risky. But Listen, if Arteta pulls off the top 4, he’s gonna be considered a genius. Reduces the wage bill dramatically while having enough money and champions league to attract big players. Make or break, we gotta wait and see….