Time for a change I think. Villa?
Arsenal 2023/24 - Born to be runner up
- Thread starter horsechoker
- Start date
Is there an example of a team which has won the league with a dodgy Keeper & without a good striker?
City won one without a striker but the Keeper was still good. Don't remember any other.
City won one without a striker but the Keeper was still good. Don't remember any other.
Ødegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Rice, Saliba?
i’m a patient man and loyal fan, i’ll give them a couple of weeks to turn it around before jumping ship.
Arsenal fans on the socials have taken yesterday’s defeat as well as you can imagine.
It goes deeper than that with Arsenal.
Two poor full backs, they are bizarrely using Rice as an orchestrator when his passing has always been his least remarkable quality and Martinelli is a 'kick ball, run fast' simple player.
Also, was Odegaard's exceptional form last year exactly that - form, not the norm?
They've significantly overpaid for several players.
To be fair, that’s a grand total of 4 games played.
You don’t need to over complicate it, our title challenge is because we are able to amass more points than most of the rest of the league.
Does it really matter how you go about doing that?
Pretty much yes. Usually the team that wins the league has a good record against the sides around them.
City can draw level on points with Arsenal and go ahead if they win their game in hand. City only two points off the top then, better than last year at the same stage.
Arsenal probably finish third. Their problem is more mental than technical I think, not enough characters in the team with experience of winning the league. If you put players like Patrick Viera or Tony Adams in the current squad, I think they'd have done it last year.
Arsenal probably finish third. Their problem is more mental than technical I think, not enough characters in the team with experience of winning the league. If you put players like Patrick Viera or Tony Adams in the current squad, I think they'd have done it last year.
I reckon Arsenal are a better side than Liverpool and it will still come down to Citeh or Arsenal for the title
If KdB comes back anywhere close to he was last season then City walks the league
KDB has peaked and on the way down now IMO.
It is the time for Foden to now step up to the plate on a consistent basis
And how does the rest of the sides at the top compare?
Just off the top of my head Liverpool have dropped points vs Spurs, Chelsea, Utd, Arsenal, Brighton and City, and they are the team that sit top of the league?
They have no clinical strikers/goalscorers.
Their wide players are slightly underwhelming.
Fullbacks as you've mentioned are very poor
Keeper situation is really odd. Raya is pony, as is Ramsdale.
So Saliba and Gabriel are good.
Odegaard and Rice are decent but Odegaard is looking more like an old school #10 which is hard to have in modern football.
Jesus is absolutely terrible, like hilarious how overrated he is. I think he's a Nottingham Forest/Palace level forward, a Waitrose Jordan Ayew.
No idea this season but last season for example you managed 7/18 points against the other 3 top 4 sides whereas City managed 13/18.
You finished 5 points behind.
Could also just equate that to City beating us twice, which gave them 6 points over us from just those 2 games alone.
They haven't bottled it. They've just lumped on that front three performing and I think they're all slightly overrated.
I said last season that Saka leaves me a bit cold. Got slated for it. Good player but he's just very robotic for me, same thing over and over. Mid paced and its all cut inside shoot.
Martinelli just isn't that good and Jesus we all know doesn't score lots.
City will likely win the league. Not because they're great but due to having two genuine goalscorers and the least amount of injuries.
I said last season that Saka leaves me a bit cold. Got slated for it. Good player but he's just very robotic for me, same thing over and over. Mid paced and its all cut inside shoot.
Martinelli just isn't that good and Jesus we all know doesn't score lots.
City will likely win the league. Not because they're great but due to having two genuine goalscorers and the least amount of injuries.
Arteta has messed up his system trying to accommodate the two 8s.
Not only has it meant that Odegaard is less advanced, it also means that Saka and Martinelli have been forced wider and are, therefore, less effective.
It has put the onus on a striker who doesn’t score goals to do just that.
Jesus was excellent last season when he was changing position and creating space for Martinelli and Saka, but the new setup has nullified their threat and directness inside the box.
The players are not overrated, it is very much a case of the tweaking of the system nullifying their main threats.
Not only has it meant that Odegaard is less advanced, it also means that Saka and Martinelli have been forced wider and are, therefore, less effective.
It has put the onus on a striker who doesn’t score goals to do just that.
Jesus was excellent last season when he was changing position and creating space for Martinelli and Saka, but the new setup has nullified their threat and directness inside the box.
The players are not overrated, it is very much a case of the tweaking of the system nullifying their main threats.
It was City awhile back. He’s club fluid.
On Arsenal, what a terrible result. For once I want them to win the league and with City starting slowly and Liverpool’s level, I felt they have the best chance as well. But they need to be more clinical and there are big question marks over their front line in that regard - especially Jesus who is merely a good striker and ideally they need more.
I said in May
Should be called Arsenal have bottled the league… AGAIN.
Agree with this. It's not like he's trying to accommodate two 8's either, he's trying to shoehorn two 10's to play as 8's, and as you say making their best four attackers of last seasons attacking less effective.
They sat that deep the whole game even before the goal and you never scored so it didn't make a difference.
Last year was all about Saliba's injury. Nothing to do with character or experience. You've seen how City suffered without Rodri. Same with Arsenal and Saliba
Saka goes outside fairly often and cuts back for chances.
Martinelli is woefully out of form. Happens.
In the Premier League Salah has 12G/7A while Saka has 5G/7A
Salah is the reason Liverpool are in the title race
Posted this some weeks ago
Arsenal would really benefit from a Henrik Larsson type signing
Someone who you can rely upon to pop up when you need something.
Could be any position in attack and not sure who that player could be or if it would even be enough to push them over the line
If your life depended on Jesus, Havertz, Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah or Trossard getting a goal you wouldn't be too confident
Someone who you can rely upon to pop up when you need something.
Could be any position in attack and not sure who that player could be or if it would even be enough to push them over the line
If your life depended on Jesus, Havertz, Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah or Trossard getting a goal you wouldn't be too confident
nonsense. i’d want someone like saka taking a penalty for me in the final of a major competition.
Clearly you say? Neither pic in the tweet show the ball crossing the line.
he's on track for 10 league goals this season..... good luck
Saves me the work in may. To be fair, I think you will do enough to get 4th considering how low the quality is this year
You posted it 2 weeks ago. Since you posted only Salah has scored 1 goal (which was against Arsenal)
My point is not to show that you were wrong. My point was to show how Salah is kinda underrated despite everyone knowing how good he is. For ex I have read many times how Salah had an underwhelming season last season. He had 19G/12A.
Mudryk has the same number of non penalty goals as Saka this season. I'm just saying
I look at their squad and feel if they really want to win the title , they have to upgrade on a lot of players they actually purchased in last year or so. Jesus, zinchenko, Harvetz(not even sure why buy him), viera, kiwor, ramsdale (hecke even raya doesn't look that great). That's like £200m to £250m of transfer signings not really taking them to the next level. I am not including the likes of timber who we don't know if he is actually an upgrade or is just another squad player, or Trossard/Tomiyasu. I feel their transfer business overall has been overhyped.
It's not like they have not spent money to win a major trophy. Another trophyless season should be a major question mark on their project.
It's not like they have not spent money to win a major trophy. Another trophyless season should be a major question mark on their project.
No it doesn't matter. Consistency is more important but the really great EPL sides beat their biggest rivals regularly. An above average but consistent team (Arsenal) will usually beat an exceptional but inconsistent team (City 23/24).
Good post. I think White for £50m gets less scrutiny because of Maguire for £80m. He's just Lewis Dunk with a sunbed.
Saliba shouldnt have signed a new contract
I totally forgot about him. That's another one who is hardly a great rb or cb.