Arsenal - 2024/25

GoonerBear said:
Honestly, it's hard to argue with the assertion that we are still missing that really top forward that can be the difference maker in big games and help drive you to the top trophies.

We had a lot of the ball yesterday but I was worried the pattern of play was going to be similar to the games at the likes of Villa Park and Newcastle last season. Was really happy to win the game in the end but at times it just served as a bit of a soberer for me about potential forward issues.

We go to City in a few weeks, and I'm just not sure we have the personnel up top or the style of play that allows us to go there and win.
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Feels like theres a severe shortage of players like that. Hard to see many past Mbappe, Vinicius, Bellingham and Haaland. Your basically gambling on teenagers beyond them.
 
Rojofiam said:
Bruno is better as a #10. He's a creative machine, and has that killer x factor that Odegaard doesn't. In these 2 aspects, only he can be compared to KDB from every number 10 in world football currently. You can build your whole team's attack around him. Give him the keys in a good team, and every game your forwards and wingers will get a good number of incredible balls delivered to them. A lot of it is spontaneous and therefore unpredictable as well. With Odegaard, it's much more controlled and systematic, because he doesn't have what KDB/Bruno does, or what Özil had, if we want a past example from Odegaard's current team. He just has a few signature pattern moves, and his playstyle is very aesthetically pleasing, which leads to people overrating him.

Ignore the "loses possession too often" "wouldn't work well under Arteta" "holding us back" talk, etc. all of it is nonsense. Put Bruno in Arsenal or City and he's getting at least 20-25 assists every season. Odegaard has played two full seasons now in a team that's so good they came close to the title vs Pep Guardiola's Manchester City side, despite not having an answer for neither De Bruyne or Haaland in their squad, and he managed 18 assists in 2 full seasons. Bruno gets that in one season without much effort in a half-decent United side, we've seen it in 20/21 and 22/23.

Odegaard will be pushed back deeper to play long-term as an #8, or he will leave, as soon as Arteta finds his own Bruno/KDB, mark my words.
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Odegaard already plays as an 8. He’s only a 10 out of possession as we press in a fairly standard 4-4-2. In the build up he’s a CM. He’s sometimes not even the furthest forward of our midfielders if Havertz is playing in the middle of the park. And yet his non-penalty G/A was the same as Bruno’s last year. Bruno played as a 10 or False 9 and his open play end product still didn’t exceed Odegaard’s.

That’s not even mentioning the number of pre-assist through balls Odegaard plays. There’s a lot more to creativity that the number of assists a player gets and in this regard Odegaard is far superior to Bruno.
 
Now we're back again with the comparison. Like i said previously, you won't find any Arsenal fans willing to trade them. But you definitely will find United fans willing to trade.

I read so many post last season where United fans here admire Odegaard and would pick him over Bruno.

Suddenly since it's a new season, it's back to Bruno is the best in the world.
 
So are we done for the year? Pretty singular focus to make our left side better. I think Arteta and Edu have achieved that, but how much better, that remains to be seen.

Missing that striker to win the PL
 
Yes, we miss a x-factor player who can score crucial goals. Salah and Haaland does that for pool and city, all we can hope now is someone to step up and we get those important points.
 
Funny reading about Bruno. Last season the forum was saying he’s the PL’s best player and how they’d love someone like him. Now we are getting claims that Bruno is better and we would have won the league with him .

Two different players mind, but point me to any Arsenal fan in the world who would initiate a trade.
 
Changeisgood said:
So are we done for the year? Pretty singular focus to make our left side better. I think Arteta and Edu have achieved that, but how much better, that remains to be seen.

Missing that striker to win the PL
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The Nunez rumours are interesting. I think he’d be great at Arsenal.
 
Gene Loblaw said:
There’s no way that’s real
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Probably not. I pay zero attention to who the rumours start with.

It’s be a really fun transfer though. If Nunez could be sold on it. I don’t really buy into the ‘Agent of chaos’ nonsense. I think Nunez is a hugely talented footballer, and at sensible money would be a good signing for them. I don’t think he’s peaked yet by any stretch.
 
Nunez would be good but virtually zero chance of that happening.

Haaland is the clear difference for me between these two teams.
 
Looks like Rams might be a done deal? Might be some room for another arrival then.
 
also saw a casual link to evan ferguson. Very much doubt it's legit just like the nunez stuff but that would be interesting if true.
 
Ramsdale done £25 million.
That's £85 million for him, ESR and Nketiah. Very good business
 
UnrelatedPsuedo said:
The Nunez rumours are interesting. I think he’d be great at Arsenal.
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UnrelatedPsuedo said:
Probably not. I pay zero attention to who the rumours start with.

It’s be a really fun transfer though. If Nunez could be sold on it. I don’t really buy into the ‘Agent of chaos’ nonsense. I think Nunez is a hugely talented footballer, and at sensible money would be a good signing for them. I don’t think he’s peaked yet by any stretch.
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I agree. A new environment could do wonders for him, and in Arsenal I can see him getting at least 20 goals in the league if he would be their starting #9. A player with good physicality, athleticism, pace, and running power shouldn't ever be dismissed in football if they've shown they are good before. His decision making and bad finishing is mostly a mental thing. If Arsenal and Arteta could "fix" him, he would be deadly IMO.
 
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There's some meltdown online from Arsenal fans at the prospect of Arsenal letting Smith-Rowe, Nketiah & Vieira go and not bringing in at least 1 attacking player at least as cover.
 
GoonerBear said:
There's some meltdown online from Arsenal fans at the prospect of Arsenal letting Smith-Rowe, Nketiah & Vieira go and not bringing in at least 1 attacking player at least as cover.
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Is a bit risky if you have injury problems.
 
SilentWitness said:
Is a bit risky if you have injury problems.
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It is, but then at the same time these are the same fans that moan Arteta doesn't give a pathway you to youth like Nwaneri.

I do agree with them in principle, not at the stage of the meltdowns mind you. Think the idea is that Nelson leaves and you get a bit of a level raiser to him that helps cover Saka.

Think the main problem is the fitness of Jesus. If you could rely on his fitness he could cover all across the front 3. But after working all summer on his fitness to be injured 1 game into it is very worrying.
 
Jesus, Tierney and Tomi, especially the latter two cannot really be considered into the squad equation. It is unfortunate, but at this point you build your squad like they are not there. That's why Kiwior is staying and also why we need a forward. Nwaneri will take up a role, but he is still a kid.
 
lurkermania said:
Now we're back again with the comparison. Like i said previously, you won't find any Arsenal fans willing to trade them. But you definitely will find United fans willing to trade.

I read so many post last season where United fans here admire Odegaard and would pick him over Bruno.

Suddenly since it's a new season, it's back to Bruno is the best in the world.
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The whole argument of "Arsenal fans wouldn't swap him" or "Utd fans would definitely have him" are really poor considering how deluded both sets of fans are in their own ways.

If social media existed back in the day, "Utd fans" (i.e. people talking on online message boards) probably would have wanted Keane out or something. And over the years we've had Arsenal fans defending shit players and saying they wouldn't swap them for anyone in the world. So what.
 
Rooney in Paris said:
The whole argument of "Arsenal fans wouldn't swap him" or "Utd fans would definitely have him" are really poor considering how deluded both sets of fans are in their own ways.

If social media existed back in the day, "Utd fans" (i.e. people talking on online message boards) probably would have wanted Keane out or something. And over the years we've had Arsenal fans defending shit players and saying they wouldn't swap them for anyone in the world. So what.
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I agree to certain extent. However, one plays for a side that narrowly missed out on the title is almost universally beloved by his club's fans. The other plays for a team that just had their worst league campaign in decades and has an active thread titled 'Are Bruno and Rashford the problem?'

While fan sentiment is not the always an precise indicator of quality, we're not talking about fine margins here. I doubt this is even much of a discussion outside this forum.
 
GoonerBear said:
There's some meltdown online from Arsenal fans at the prospect of Arsenal letting Smith-Rowe, Nketiah & Vieira go and not bringing in at least 1 attacking player at least as cover.
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I think they’ll get somebody but it may be in January
 
GoonerBear said:
There's some meltdown online from Arsenal fans at the prospect of Arsenal letting Smith-Rowe, Nketiah & Vieira go and not bringing in at least 1 attacking player at least as cover.
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I hope we sign a forward but this is silly. ESR and Vieira hardly played last year and did so largely as 8s, where we’ve added Merino and Nwaneri.

We’ve really only lost Nketiah from the forward line but he had virtually no role in the team once Havertz became the striker.

In the end, Arsenal’s issue up front is the need for more quality, not more quantity.
 
Why did they let Vieira go? I thought he looked quality every time I’ve seen him.
 
Powderfinger said:
I hope we sign a forward but this is silly. ESR and Vieira hardly played last year and did so largely as 8s, where we’ve added Merino and Nwaneri.

We’ve really only lost Nketiah from the forward line but he had virtually no role in the team once Havertz became the striker.

In the end, Arsenal’s issue up front is the need for more quality, not more quantity.
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Agreed. There’s two levels of forward I’d like us to bring in. A real level-raiser like Nico Williams or Rafael Leao, or someone who is both better than Nelson while also willing to be part of the squad and at times not even make the bench.

Williams and Leao seem happy at their clubs and I’m not sure we’ll find any one of sufficient quality who’ll be happy with the amount of minutes Nelson is getting. With that being the case, I’d rather keep our academy graduate around and bank the money.
 
Donut said:
Why did they let Vieira go? I thought he looked quality every time I’ve seen him.
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He got lovely ball striking - his passing, crossing and shooting is brilliant - but as for everything else… not so much.

I think immediate criticism that he’s too lightweight for the league was a little lazy. We’ve had many smaller players be brilliant at Arsenal and other clubs. However, while the likes of Cesc and Cazorla were smaller, they were both incredonly difficult to dispossess. Saka isn’t huge, but he’s one of the strongest players in the squad when it comes to protecting the ball.

Vieira was just too easy to bully. And by that, I don’t mean he was fouled into oblivion and kicked of the park like so many of our players have been. It was pretty easy to take him out of the game in an entirely fair and legitimate manner.

I hope he plays a ton for Porto this year and they buy him back. Maybe we’ll recoup half of the fee we paid.
 
Donut said:
Why did they let Vieira go? I thought he looked quality every time I’ve seen him.
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He's okay but he never improved enough to push for minutes. And his only value was that he was kind of only back up 10 to Odegaard. But now Ethan Nwaneri has improved so much that they felt comfortable pushing Viera out.
 
Donut said:
Why did they let Vieira go? I thought he looked quality every time I’ve seen him.
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He is not a physical player to say the least.Arteta has alluded to that fact as well. He is not made for this league. Not a bad player, just not suited.
 
Daydreamer said:
I agree to certain extent. However, one plays for a side that narrowly missed out on the title is almost universally beloved by his club's fans. The other plays for a team that just had their worst league campaign in decades and has an active thread titled 'Are Bruno and Rashford the problem?'

While fan sentiment is not the always an precise indicator of quality, we're not talking about fine margins here. I doubt this is even much of a discussion outside this forum.
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Most Arsenal fans would put Odegaard along with Saka and Saliba as the club's key players, so the idea that we would gladly replace one of our key players is already a bit contentious.

I think Man Utd fans would be more inclined letting Bruno go for the right price given his age and where the two teams are than us letting go of Odegaard.
 
Looks like Joan Garcia will be snapped up. Quoted price seems a bit higher than expected, but I guess he will push Raya in the long term.
 
Daydreamer said:
I agree to certain extent. However, one plays for a side that narrowly missed out on the title is almost universally beloved by his club's fans. The other plays for a team that just had their worst league campaign in decades and has an active thread titled 'Are Bruno and Rashford the problem?'

While fan sentiment is not the always an precise indicator of quality, we're not talking about fine margins here. I doubt this is even much of a discussion outside this forum.
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So you don't agree with what I said. Which is fine.
 
Toney, Coman, Garcia in and baby we've got a stew going. I wouldn't touch Sterling with a ten foot pole.
 
GlasgowCeltic said:
Gives them time to ship and find someone better than Martinelli
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He's one of our best finds, no way he's going anywhere. He's having a dip in form that's all which can happen as last season his injury record was patchy.
 
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