Them buying Havertz made little sense. Spending so much on him made even less sense.
Arsenal 2023/24 - Born to be runner up
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Hopefully not the last time we see a post like this.
Didn't say it was hysterics, and I agree with you, you did look more hungry, and you certainly didn't make the errors we made.
A deserved win. Hopefully a lesson learned in pre season rather than regular season, and hopefully a stark warning for Game week 4.
On the day you were, correct
Arsenal have bought badly though and they've hardly improved their defence. You're going to see a lot of scrutiny aimed at Rice and Havertz in the coming months.
Yeah doesn't make sense at all, at 330k+ a week he's a nailed on starter for them too.
Arteta play some youth, it's pre-season..
Timber was awful.
Timber was awful.
Agree
Let's not talk about the cost of the attacking trio by comparison...
I disagree. Think Rice will improve them and with Timber who had a poor game it is early days. Havertz for 65m given his Chelsea stint, yes, I'm skeptical. Think they'd be more formidable going with Rice-Partey behind Odegaard, but they've not lost players. So they're better off. Jesus starting today and Ramsdale not having a stinker and there wouldn't be this rush to write them off.
I dont think theyre better than last season after adding new players honestly. Better depth maybe but none of them are improvements.
He was very clumsy and some of his decision making was head scratching stuff.
I’ve got to thank LVG for intervening last summer by stopping him from joining us. We signed the better defender in Lisandro Martinez.
Name one player we've signed for big money who's worked out?
There's no reason why it's going to work for Arsenal either. The fees are insane, as is the expectation. Havertz just outright isn't a great player and Rice can't do what Arteta wants him to do, it's going to be like when Nunez moved to Liverpool last summer as a striker and then they slowly moved him out wide left when they realised he was shit. Rice is going to get moved deeper and deeper once they realise he's shite on the ball and under pressure.
Timber is a good signing but we'll see how he adjusts to the PL first. You take Odegaard out of that midfield and it's lightweight, he's their best player, without him they don't tick.
The Caf Pre Match...even though its pre season and it's all about fitness if Arsenal win their fans will be insufferable.
The Caf Post Match...5 Arsenal threads at top of page wiping out team, players and manager.
Fair play, you deserved the win, we're more aggressive and didn't gift 2 goals away. Bad day at the office for us.
you’re not lying.But it is what it is. Consider it the cost of being an oppo fan on a rival forum.
Xhaka will be a huge miss for them, he was the one keeping things ticking for them - Havertz is not capable of replacing this role. If Partey leaves they will find it very difficult to reach the same level.
Rice can play it and Partey looks like he's staying. Timber is also a big upgrade on Holding.
At Havertz expense? He's getting paid 330k a week. Odegaard is their best player.
Right that doesn't matter though. They've improved their team tangibly since last year. If Havertz can't perform hel be benched. Arteta isn't going to play him just because he's on high wages.
One thing that surprised me is the depth they have now. They changed 8 players and replaced them with a lot of quality from the bench.
They pretty much started their best XI today besides Gabriel Jesus and still got Tierney, White, Partey, Jorgingo, Smithe Rowe and Trossard from the bench. That's an incredible squad to have.
They pretty much started their best XI today besides Gabriel Jesus and still got Tierney, White, Partey, Jorgingo, Smithe Rowe and Trossard from the bench. That's an incredible squad to have.
Can't read too much into the result of a friendly. All you can really tell is that we are clearly far better than them and Arteta is going to get inevitably sacked this year as Arsenal head towards a disastrous season.
Yes, though we may not know what our best XI is just yet. Does Timber automatically replace White? Zinchenko also didn't play today. We started with our 3 new signings for the first time this game and unsurprisingly looked a bit disjointed (from the highlights I saw).
Arteta has come a long way to rebuild this squad.
Considering this is the first window where you spend big I agree. Arteta has really turn around the quality of the squad. Of course now they'll have more pressure to deliver so let see how they can cope with it.
We have to be able to cope with it if this is the level we want to stay at. Of course I believe we can
Ben White, Rice, Havertz
The holy trinity
The holy trinity
But it is what it is. Consider it the cost of being an oppo fan on a rival forum.
True. We've now got the manager being sacked, we've got the team lucky to finish top 4, and every 1 of our new signings written off.
Think today we might get a relegation prediction.
In all seriousness though, Utd played well, think we were all a bit shocked at their intensity, our players just struggled to match it on the day, we looked a bit sluggish and the 2 goals epitomised that.
A good workout for the players though, and hopefully a good reminder on the levels required going forward.
That guy in the blue shirt was fighting both Arsenal and United fans. Twitter was saying he got arrested after the game
That little kid in red doing all the punching at the start, is he auditioning for WWF making huge noises to go with it?
@1:35 surely he's taking the piss
That guy in the blue shirt was fighting both Arsenal and United fans. Twitter was saying he got arrested after the game
Looks like he was using Mike Tyson tactics.
It was an interesting game against United, and I did think United played well. They certainly have added more to their game already.
Its clear that Ten Hag wants United to be absolutely elite in transition and that's classic United. But what is impressive is that ETH is adding positional ball playing to that mix, combined with high pressing. I saw that in our game, and that stands United in good stead for the season. Its a little bit of what made Liverpool, and recently Newcastle so strong over recent times. But the added JDP principles are needed to keep United competitive and not as one dimensional, and ETH clearly knows this.
But importantly, the two goals is basically what we can expect from United, or look to focus on. Create situations where space can be exploited at pace.
From an Arsenal point of view, I was also happy with what I saw, scoreline aside of course. Its clear that we are moving to add new patterns of play to our style, which makes us more unpredictable across all phases of our play. I found different players occupying new spaces, which I hadnt seen before. I really liked that. Rice, Timber and Havertz are also adapting well with their movement and positioning and of course will improve.
Arteta is clearly making us more difficult to read in terms of players on the field and the way we combine...and that unpredictability is important if we want to be successful next season.
Hope Amad recovers already, and that there werent any serious injuries. As for playing United or our other rivals again next pre-season, I wouldnt do it. Think there is too much of a rivalry and players can hurt each other before the actual competition begins.
Its clear that Ten Hag wants United to be absolutely elite in transition and that's classic United. But what is impressive is that ETH is adding positional ball playing to that mix, combined with high pressing. I saw that in our game, and that stands United in good stead for the season. Its a little bit of what made Liverpool, and recently Newcastle so strong over recent times. But the added JDP principles are needed to keep United competitive and not as one dimensional, and ETH clearly knows this.
But importantly, the two goals is basically what we can expect from United, or look to focus on. Create situations where space can be exploited at pace.
From an Arsenal point of view, I was also happy with what I saw, scoreline aside of course. Its clear that we are moving to add new patterns of play to our style, which makes us more unpredictable across all phases of our play. I found different players occupying new spaces, which I hadnt seen before. I really liked that. Rice, Timber and Havertz are also adapting well with their movement and positioning and of course will improve.
Arteta is clearly making us more difficult to read in terms of players on the field and the way we combine...and that unpredictability is important if we want to be successful next season.
Hope Amad recovers already, and that there werent any serious injuries. As for playing United or our other rivals again next pre-season, I wouldnt do it. Think there is too much of a rivalry and players can hurt each other before the actual competition begins.
I have to say, that is great camera work. Caught almost all the important scenes, mostly in landscape and moved around to get us a closer looks when the main fight moved further away.
I was already visible last season but:
1. the squad wasn't quite at the level to do it
2. too much of a learning curve to repeat it week in week out
3. intense schedule with pretty much no time to actual train (compared to pretty much every other team)
With a more coherent schedule this year, this will become more apparent with each passing week.
Out of curiosity, what brought you to that impression? I thought all 3 were mediocre in every aspect of their game.
Why are JDP principles needed to keep teams competitive? Surely its more about having the right players which create balance within each phase.
Depth is what cost them the title last year. IMHO, they should have spent that Havertz plus Timber money on a top center back. Rice makes sense but not sure what value Havertz adds to their team except the potential to waste 20 clear chances a season.
How can depth cost us the title when we're only in one competition during the run in? I've never understood this stance. The only injury we had were Tomiyasu and Saliba whose massive for us, but we still shouldn't have faltered in that manner.
We must stop using lack of depth as an excuse. There are many other factors that effected this.
I understand the Havertz critisism.. but the Timber critisism is bizzare. He's exactly what we needed to a T.
Why would we spend £90m on a CB? We don't need that.
Timber allows White to move to CB if Saliba is injured. Tomiyasu can play CB to a good level. Kiwior is coming on quite a lot now too.
I also don't get the Havertz transfer fully but will just have to try and see how it goes.
Exactly this. People are so quick to use depth as an excuse when Arsenal were in 1 competition for the last few months of the run in.
They competed pretty well in the first 2/3 of the season whilst being in other competitions as well.
It was not like lack of players cost them, the only player really missing was Saliba at the end.
Not fully true. We lost Tomiyasu and Saliba at the same time, which meant we had to play Holding. Which did cost us points as Holding isn't a PL winners level at all. Signing Timber stops that from happening again so we've addressed that.
If Partey stays, in theory Rice is an upgrade over Xhaka (although I rate Xhaka a lot so probably won't happen straight away).
Then we've signed Havertz as an extra attacking threat, and we have ESR back now who didn't really play last season.
So in theory we've boosted the defence, midfield and attack.
An issue for Mikel now is actually the opposite of last season. He has so many versatile players who could play, how does he find the right balance. Timber/White. Zinchenko/Kiwior/Tierney. Partey/Rice/Jorginho. Trossard/ESR/Martinelli
Yes exactly. Too many of my fanbase are burying their heads to the real issues.
Despite us largely performing well in the league last season, I always felt we were too technically and psychologically fragile to be serious contenders.
Hopefully next season we're better but I have serious doubts about Artetas tactical flexibility and general coaching style.
Our best defensive record in the last seven seasons was with Holding as our main centreback. He's really not as bad as the fanbase discern him. Instead last season Arteta should have tactically adapted during the run in.
Rice is not an upgrade for Xhaka in the 8 role. His right-footed profile will make it harder for him to recieve forwards in that position. I also doubt he's technically on the same level as Granit. Worser passer, vision, control and shooting.